F1 has reached its summer break in 2025, and the mid-term driver rankings by Pit Debrief can be viewed here.
Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and McLaren have dominated both championships, but who has been impressive and who has not through the field so far this campaign?
1 | Charles Leclerc
Although he is yet to win a Grand Prix or Sprint this year, Charles Leclerc has been doing a really excellent job in a SF-25 that has been very temperamental.
With all the noise around Lewis Hamilton’s arrival pre-season, it allowed the 27-year-old to very much focus on himself and trying to extract the maximum from the car.
While he has been doing that, the SF-25 is not a title contending machine. It has not been the best race package over a Grand Prix distance either. Lift and coast throughout a race has been a persistent problem due to worries about plank wear.
In Grand Prix qualifying, the Monegasque leads the seven-time World Champion 10-4. Regarding points, he is 42 clear of his teammate. Leclerc has put Hamilton firmly in the shade on track.
The 8-time race winner has been on the podium 5 times, including a sensational drive to P3 in Saudi Arabia, holding off Lando Norris near the end. Pole in Hungary was also a big steal, this time from both McLarens. Until his chassis issue, a minimum of P2 was in the bag. He had Oscar Piastri covered.
There has been the odd mistake here and there, with Silverstone the standout as he had a shocking and very messy race. Failing to start the Sprint in Miami after aquaplaning into the wall on a reconnaissance lap in treacherous conditions was not ideal either.
Ultimately, however, Charles Leclerc continues to show he is World Champion material. It’s up to Ferrari to give him the tools over a full season to challenge for a championship one day. His talent deserves that.
2 | Max Verstappen
It was a close call between the Dutchman and his former karting rival as to who has been the benchmark in 2025 so far. We have seen the absolute best and worst of him this season to date.
Suzuka was one of those weekends that will be remembered for many, many years to come. On a weekend where McLaren clearly had the fastest car, Verstappen pulled out an astonishing lap to take pole position. He managed the race expertly to take the win.
A complete mugging of Piastri at the start in Imola on his way to victory was also a big highlight. His Sprint win at Spa was also outstanding.
Unfortunately, he has also shown his bad side. A deliberate crash into George Russell at the Spanish GP was completely unacceptable. Verstappen was very lucky to avoid a harsher penalty than the 10-second one he got.
Yet another collision with Lewis Hamilton was avoided in Hungary as the Brit took to the run-off following a very ambitious move at turn 4.
Another mark against him has to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead of letting Oscar Piastri through after cutting the chicane at the start, he kept track position and got a penalty. A shot at the race win was gone.
Nonetheless, the four-time World Champion continues to prove why he has been so successful. Adding to his win total will be the goal for the second half of the year as he will give his crown away to one of the McLaren drivers at the end of 2025.
3 | George Russell
4 podiums in the first 6 rounds suggested George Russell and Mercedes could be the closest challengers to McLaren in 2025. However, despite winning at Round 10 in Canada, the ground effect era struggles for Mercedes continue. Once again inconsistent car performance has hampered their drivers.
2025 has seen George Russell be very consistent. Along with 5 podiums, plus that excellent pole and controlled win in Canada, he has only finished outside the points on a Sunday once this season.
Splitting the McLarens in Bahrain was a very good achievement to take 2nd. That was in a car that was facing gremlins by the end.
While the 4-time race winner has driven very well overall and looked good this year, the fact he is against a rookie means there is not the benchmark of Lewis Hamilton anymore to truly see what he has in race pace and tyre management against an elite driver.
On a very positive note for him, the clumsy mistakes he made in previous seasons are starting to look like a thing of the past.
The goal from here should be to challenge Max Verstappen for P3 in the Drivers’ Championship.
4 | Oscar Piastri
Championship leader by 9 points after Hungary, Oscar Piastri has made a big step forward compared to 2024. In only his third year in F1, the Australian has got an incredible opportunity to become World Champion.
After the heartbreak of Melbourne, he won 3 of the next 4 races. He’s only been off the podium once more (Canada) since the opening round. 6 wins from 14 Grands Prix is a good total, but it could and should have been more.
Piastri’s qualifying and race pace has definitely been a good step this year, as well as his tyre management improving in 2025. It’s been a huge turnaround from the struggles of last year at various points.
However, he has not demonstrated the level of a truly elite driver to this point. Like his teammate Lando Norris, there has been too many mistakes and moments where he underperformed for a championship contender in the best car.
- Q3 mistake in Japan costs him pole and a victory in the process
- Mugged by Verstappen at the start in Imola, costing him the lead and critical track position
- Crashes in Monaco and Canada practice hurting the rest of his weekend
- Big lock-ups lead to him nearly hitting Norris in Austria and Hungary
- The aggressive deceleration behind the Safety Car costing him the win at Silverstone
With Norris having won 3 of the last 4 races, Piastri has seen his 23-point lead following Canada cut to 9. Nonetheless, he remains the marginal favourite on the evidence of 2025 to this point despite not having taken a GP pole since Spain. Considering it’s only his third season in the sport, there is more room to grow and improve as well.
Minimising mistakes post-summer break will be key for the 24-year-old to take his maiden title, as well as Australia’s first F1 Drivers’ Championship since 1980.
5 | Lando Norris
2025 has seen more of the same from Lando Norris. Brilliant at times, but incredibly inconsistent and prone to poor errors as well.
A fine victory in Melbourne did not disguise the fact that the British driver was not as comfortable with the MCL39 as his teammate Oscar Piastri through the first quarter of 2025. In spite of that, he took a superb victory in Monaco after a fine Q3 lap.
Errors in qualifying and races, as well as some racecraft mishaps, have blighted his campaign once again. It’s a familiar theme and one that might not change as it’s now his seventh season in the sport.
What Norris deserves credit for is how he has bounced back from that terrible lapse of judgement in Montreal. Victories at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Hungaroring has shown there is fighting spirit inside of him. A gap of 23 is now only 9.
The 25-year-old continues to have strong race pace and tyre management, and the Sunday speed has looked closer to 2024 levels since he got a new front suspension in Canada to help his feeling in the car.
Along with his teammate, this could be his only chance to ever win the F1 title. Norris faces a huge test over the next 10 rounds.
While he can deliver, can he do it consistently to get the ultimate prize? That’s a very big question.
6 | Alex Albon
Heading into the 2025 F1 season, Alex Albon had plenty of questions hanging over him. A strong start to his cameo last year by Franco Colapinto raised questions as to what level the Thai was truly operating at in the Williams; Carlos Sainz as his teammate was always going to give an idea. His answer has been emphatic.
It started at the season opener in Melbourne. A brilliant drive to P5 was an instant showing of how strong the FW47 would be at quite a few circuits. He went on to finish P5 at Miami and Imola as well.
A fourth 5th place finish looked a possibility until a cooling issue ended his race prematurely in Austria. In fact, persistent cooling issues also led to DNFs in Spain and Canada.
While qualifying last time out was disappointing and comfortably his worst of the season so far, Albon leads Sainz 8-6 in qualifying. The gap between them is 38 points and 8 places in the Drivers’ Championship. Albon is best of the rest in P8 in the standings.
The key for the 29-year-old will be to maintain this fine start throughout the second part of the season. As things stand, however, he has proven many people wrong in 2025.
7 | Pierre Gasly
P14 in the standings does not do justice to the season Pierre Gasly has been having. When you compare it to his teammates, he has done a mega job against faster cars throughout the campaign.
He’s made Q3 on 7 occasions this year, with his run to P10 in qualifying for the British GP arguably the best Saturday performance seen this season to date. While Hülkenberg grabbed all the headlines in the race, Gasly’s drive to P6 was absolutely superb.
The 29-year-old has also scored Grand Prix points in Bahrain, Spain and Belgium to sit on 20 after 14 rounds.
In the Grand Prix qualifying head-to-head, he is 11-3 up across his battles against Doohan (5-1) and Colapinto (6-2). His performance to make Q3 in Austria was pretty much as impressive as Silverstone.
With Alpine continuing to be quite a mess at present off track, Gasly is really leading the team with his driving, and his measured and sensible words.
Considering Alpine arguably have the slowest car at most tracks since Sauber’s Spanish GP update, it’s an underrated season he is having.
8 | Fernando Alonso
Turning 44 last month, two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso continues to operate at a high level. No points until his home race in Spain, he has been on a great run since then.
At one stage it looked like the Spaniard was destined not to score in 2025. He crashed out in Australia when a candidate for points, and P6 in Monaco looked on until his car was hit with unreliability.
Eventually his first points came in the Spainsh GP. A late Safety Car allowed Alonso to pass Ocon, Bortoleto and Lawson to finish 10th on the road. Verstappen’s penalty meant he took P9. P7, P7 and P9 followed at the next 3 rounds.
The best was saved for the last race before the summer break at the Hungarian GP. Alonso qualified P5, just over a tenth off pole. A superbly executed race saw him manage his tyres perfectly early on in both stints and up his pace as both went on. It was a masterclass in race IQ.
14-0 in Grand Prix qualifying against Lance Stroll is proof his Saturday speed is still very solid at the moment.
On his current run of form, P9 in the Drivers’ Championship is not out of the question.
9 | Isack Hadjar
Runner-up in the 2024 Formula 2 championship, Isack Hadjar is having a very good rookie season in F1. While he has not scored Grand Prix points since Spain, his speed has been impressive.
After crashing out on the formation lap in Melbourne and ending up in tears because of it, the Frenchman showed tremendously strong resilience to bounce back from it.
He would go on to score 5 Grand Prix points finishes across the next 8 rounds, including a superb P6 at the Monaco GP. Hadjar’s outstanding qualifying performance to end up 6th on Saturday laid the foundation for it.
While he only scored a point in the Belgium Sprint since Spain, floor damage in Austria and a reliability issue on the Sunday at Spa cost him more points. Nonetheless, he is only 5 behind Esteban Ocon who occupies P10 in the Drivers’ Championship presently.
Although Liam Lawson has been bagging the points recently, Hadjar still looks the slightly quicker driver overall. Until Q3 in Hungary when the Frenchman made an error, the advantage was 0.1-0.3s in favour of car #6. 8 Q3 appearances in 14 Grands Prix is a really good achievement.
He is far from the finished article. That’s only a good thing for Isack Hadjar as he will look to continue to improve. So far, however, he has done a fine job overall in his rookie campaign.
10 | Nico Hülkenberg
2025 marks the year where Nico Hülkenberg finally achieved his first podium finish in Formula 1. Alongside superb pace in mixed conditions at Silverstone to hold off Lewis Hamilton, his calls on the radio on when to change to fresh inters and then dries later on were key to his superb P3. It was a magnificent effort and long overdue podium.
The 38-year-old German started the season brilliantly with a P6 in Melbourne. Considering how difficult to drive and slow the Sauber was until Spain, his and the team’s work in mixed conditions was excellent that day.
His other outstanding drives came at the Spanish GP and in Canada.
He took advantage of a late Safety Car to pass Lewis Hamilton and cross the line P6 at the Circuit de Catalunya. Max Verstappen’s penalty moved him up another spot. It was all from P15 on the grid as he had plenty of new softs in the race.
After qualifying P13 in Canada, he drove a strong race to finish 8th as he avoided the DRS trains involving his teammate and Colapinto during the race.
Sitting P9 in the standings in a Sauber is good going. However, his recent performances at Spa (tyre deg in the race) and Hungary (qualifying) were extremely underwhelming. In fact, he is 1-5 down in qualifying against Bortoleto in the last 6 Grand Prix qualifying sessions; it’s 6-8 overall.
Hülkenberg needs to find some of his old magic in qualifying or he could quickly find himself playing second fiddle to his rookie teammate on a regular basis.
11 | Gabriel Bortoleto
Even though he is only P17 in points after 14 Grands Prix, Gabriel Bortoleto is quickly delivering performances at the level of a future race winner and potentially more. The future is looking incredibly bright for the young Brazilian.
On paper his F1 rookie season started badly. A crash at Albert Park ended his debut early. In China, he spun into the gravel on the opening lap but continued.
However, he outqualified Hülkenberg on his F1 debut, instantly showing the world while he won the F2 and F3 titles. Until the Spain upgrade came, it was a case of trying to do a solid job in an uncompetitive car.
After trailing Hülkenberg 1-4 in qualifying following the Saudi Arabian GP, the Brazilian has gone on a 7-2 run since then to lead the Grand Prix head-to-head 8-6 at the summer break. With the German getting knocked out in Q1 in Austria and at the Hungarian GP, Bortoleto’s Q3 efforts look even better.
While he crashed out of the British GP on a day points would have been on the table, the 20-year-old has been converting most chances.
His first points came in Austria with a P8 finish. Valuable lessons also got learned at the end of that race as Fernando Alonso outsmarted him in their wheel-to-wheel battle.
Since then he has kicked on. A terrific drive at Spa led to a 9th place finish. The best was yet to come, however.
He put his car P7 on the grid in Hungary, beating Max Verstappen in the process. After getting Stroll at the start, he drove a flawless race to finish P6.
Just like he did in Formula 2 last year, Bortoleto is getting stronger and stronger as the season goes on. He has clearly had the edge over Hülkenberg recently.
If he keeps this current form up, plenty of the big teams will be interested in 2027. Right now, however, Bortoleto needs to show he can consistently doing it.
12 | Esteban Ocon
In his first season at Haas F1 Team, Esteban Ocon has been a mixed bag. There has been some excellent performances. It must be said there has also been some very average ones, too.
An outstanding drive in Shanghai led to a P7 on the road, including a brilliant pass on Kimi Antonelli. It got even better post-race for Ocon as Hamilton and Leclerc got disqualified. He backed it up with a 5th at Spa in the Sprint, using a very skinny rear wing to perfection.
A Q3 appearance and P7 finish in the Monaco GP was another big highlight of his season.
However, there has been some very anonymous weekends like his other seasons as well. He was thumped by Bearman at Suzuka. Hungary was heading a similar way until the Brit ended up with floor damage.
In the last 6 GP qualifying sessions, he is 1-5 down against Bearman. That is an alarming run he must get on top of when F1 returns at Zandvoort. He will need to do it as well to maintain any chance of staying top 10 in the Drivers’ Championship.
13 | Lewis Hamilton
Following the massive hype that surrounded Lewis Hamilton on his first visits to Fiorano and Maranello back at the start of 2025 when he joined the team officially, the year on track has seen the balloon burst.
After the disappointment for Ferrari in Melbourne, things looked to be on the up as the seven-time World Champion secured Sprint pole and victory in China. It was the first Sprint win for the Scuderia, too. Unfortunately for them, a double DSQ followed on the Sunday.
For the extraordinary standards of the 40-year-old, it has been a very, very tough year to date. No Grand Prix podiums after 14 rounds is completely new territory for him.
It got so bad after a Q2 elimination in Hungary, he called himself useless. Seeing teammate Charles Leclerc taking pole did not help. 4-10 in GP qualifying and 42 points behind in the standings is a pretty unique experience for the 105-time race winner.
Looking at the positives, excellent Sunday performances at Bahrain and Imola has shown there is still good moments for Hamilton.
However, when you’re up against an elite teammate who is heading into or has just reached his prime, it’s a monumental task at the age of 40. The days of prime Lewis Hamilton who was frighteningly good on a regular basis look to be over.
What would be a good second half of 2025? A couple of Grand Prix podiums, and pushing Leclerc much harder than he has been.
14 | Lance Stroll
Now in his ninth season in Formula 1, it is the usual pattern for Lance Stroll in 2025. Quite anonymous many times, he delivers some great performances in flashes.
Tyre and weather chaos in Melbourne for some faster cars opened the door for Stroll to take a brilliant P6. Aston would nail the calls at Silverstone in mixed conditions again that saw him take P7. The big result in fully dry conditions came in Hungary with a solid 7th once more.
In Grand Prix qualifying, he is 0-14 against teammate Fernando Alonso. Although level on points with his teammate in the standings, the Spaniard is generally the faster driver on both a Saturday and Sunday. That is nothing new since they became teammates.
The strengths and weaknesses of the Canadian are easy to see at this point. Do not expect any drastic or minor changes to his performances for the rest of the year and beyond.
15 | Carlos Sainz
The trickiest driver to rank in 2025 is Carlos Sainz. Since his move to Williams Racing, he has been beset by unreliability problems. There has also been strategy errors. Nonetheless, he has noticeably struggled to match his 2024 performance levels at Ferrari.
A crash in the opening round at a slippery Albert Park immediately put Sainz on the back foot as teammate Alex Albon excelled with 5th. He scored his first Williams point in China as Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly got disqualified.
Sadly for the 4-time race winner, he has been on the end of unreliability, strategy mistakes and bad luck.
- Bahrain: Contact with Yuki Tsunoda leads to sidepod damage and takes him out of points scoring contention
- Miami: Floor damage after contact with Albon on lap one as they tried to avoid an incident in front; a P9 finish that could have been more
- Imola: Williams committing early to a two-stop strategy was a big error; Sainz loses shot at top 5 result
- Austria: Rear brakes catch fire before the race leading to a DNS; he already sustained floor damage in qualifying
- Britain: Running ahead of Albon and in the points until a mistake by Charles Leclerc sends both off the road in the closing stages
A solid chunk of points have been lost with circumstances beyond his control. As his performances in Saudi Arabia and Hungary (qualifying) also showed, Sainz is still fast enough to be considered a very good driver.
Nonetheless, he has had some poor weekends. Aside from the mistake in Australia, he was totally anonymous in Japan. China was pretty disappointing as well. Most of those came early into his first year at the team as he adapted to the car.
While he only trails Albon 6-8 in Grand Prix qualifying, Sainz would have expected a lot more in the opening part of the season. If he can convert some promising performances into more consistent ones after the break, the Thai will face a big challenge.
16 | Liam Lawson
2025 has been a rollercoaster journey for Liam Lawson. Starting out at Red Bull Racing, he would end up in a Racing Bulls by Round 3.
Q1 exits in Australia and China meant a demotion looked inevitable. Lawson’s confidence was shot to pieces. He was ultimately promoted too early. Yuki Tsunoda was finally given his chance.
It took a while for Liam Lawson to properly rediscover his old form. Monaco was the start of it. He made Q3, qualifying P9. Then he placed the perfect team game in the race to help Isack Hadjar. The New Zealander backed up the Williams’, Mercedes’ and lots more cars. Luckily for him, he could still finish P8.
An outstanding one-stop at the Austria GP saw him take P6, arguably one of the midfield drives of the season to date.
P8 finishes at Spa and Hungary is a good sign that Lawson is truly back on track. He is now just 2 points behind his teammate in the standings.
Nonetheless, if he wants to stay at Racing Bulls next year, he has to start putting up more of a challenge to Isack Hadjar in qualifying. He is consistently missing a couple of tenths. It’s 9-3 in the Frenchman’s favour.
17 | Ollie Bearman
It has been a strange season for Ollie Bearman. The Brit has shown plenty of speed but also let himself down at times.
Although Haas had the slowest car in Australia, crashing in FP1 and spinning into the gravel early doors in FP3 was a very bad start to 2025.
He did make up for it immediately with excellent performances at China, Japan and Bahrain to score points in all those rounds. However, he only scored 2 more points since then with a P7 in the Spa Sprint.
From Canada to Belgium, he finished P11 4 times in a row. The race pace of Haas has generally been stronger than the qualifying speed this year.
After trailing Ocon 2-6 in qualifying, the Brit has been rapid recently, going 5-1 to make it 7-7 each in the Grand Prix sessions. It shows he is learning quickly.
Unfortunately for the 20-year-old, he blotted his copybook massively at Silverstone. Crashing on pit entry under red flags was completely unacceptable. A 10-place penalty was the least he deserved.
Then in the race a silly collision with teammate Ocon as he went off the dry line to try and pass cost them points.
Bearman also got hit with a 10-place drop in Monaco for overtaking under red flags. He must cut these mistakes out.
While the Haas youngster has shown flashes of his potential, too many errors have been made. Better execution from him — and the team on strategy — will be required after the summer break.
18 | Kimi Antonelli
A first pole (via the Sprint format), leading a race, a podium and a fastest lap means Kimi Antonelli has achieved 4 big milestones in his rookie season. Ultimately, however, this has been a disappointing campaign to date.
It all started so well. A P4 finish on debut in Melbourne in tricky conditions was excellent, even more so when you factor in his Q1 exit. 5 points finishes from the opening 6 rounds was a very good start to life in F1, although he was clearly a step behind George Russell at almost every round.
As Mercedes regressed, so did Antonelli’s performances to a degree. Unreliability cost him points at Imola and Spain.
The young Italian crashed in qualifying at Monaco, locking him into a lowly P15 start. His first lap error in Austria that saw him crash into Verstappen was a bad misjudgement.
Spa was the lowest low. 2 painful exits from SQ1 (a huge spin into the gravel damaged the car) and Q1 (lacking pace) left the Italian upset. It was a reminder to many that these drivers are human beings. Getting thrust into the spotlight at 18 cannot be easy.
Following promising practice running and a good Q1, a messy Q2 left him well out of position on the grid in Hungary. He recovered to P10 for his first points since the superb drive to a maiden podium with P3 in Canada. However, with Russell P3 himself at the Hungaroring, it was not a great result.
At the summer break, Antonelli is 108 points behind Russell in the Drivers’ Championship; the average in GP qualifying does not make for good reading either: the Italian is at 9.21; the Brit is at 4.43.
While it was always going to be a steep curve for Antonelli in his rookie season, he will need to take a step and get closer to George Russell post-summer break.
Otherwise there could be plenty of questions as to whether a swap should potentially take place with one of the Williams drivers.
19 | Yuki Tsunoda
If Yuki Tsunoda was in a Racing Bulls through to Hungary, it’s likely his ranking would be quite a bit higher. Unfortunately for him, he is the latest driver to seriously struggle in the second Red Bull seat.
It all started so well at Racing Bulls. He qualified a superb P5 in Melbourne, before a strategy blunder by the team when it was time to switch to inters dropped him out of the points.
A P6 in the China Sprint was his last points for the team as he was promoted to Red Bull ahead of his home race at Suzuka.
The 25-year-old scored points in 3 of his first 5 races at Red Bull, including a P6 in a wild Miami Sprint. Unfortunately for him, a P10 at Imola back in May was his last point. Belgium should have seen that run end until a horrendous mistake by the team to not call him in for inters on time.
Red Bull have slowly gone backwards as the season has worn on, too. It has naturally hurt Tsunoda more due to his normal position and pace against Verstappen. He’s only made Q3 4 times in 12 rounds.
Nonetheless, there has been moments where he’s looked closer to the Dutchman than Lawson did in Australia and China. He was less than 0.2s off in Q1 in Hungary. Tsunoda has also had some promising practice sessions.
Following his huge crash at Imola, he has been a spec behind Verstappen on parts as well. He only got the same package again at Spa.
However, the first guy you always get compared to is your teammate. That does not make good reading for the Japanese.
To guarantee himself any chance of a drive in F1 next year, he must start making Q3 and scoring points consistently after the break.
20 | Franco Colapinto
Joining Alpine at Round 7 was always going to be difficult for Franco Colapinto. That became even tougher after Sauber’s upgrade in Spain moved them a significant step forward. Alpine have had the slowest car at most venues since.
There has been good moments from the Argentinian driver, although he has struggled to really shine like he did in his first few races at Williams.
He outqualified Pierre Gasly fair and square in Canada and Hungary but is 2-6 down overall. In terms of race pace, he has looked closer to the Frenchman than Doohan. However, when you’re near the back at most rounds, it’s hard to truly see that.
Crashes in qualifying at Imola and Silverstone did not help his perception.
Ultimately Colapinto has done relatively okay to date in a car that is tough to drive. Getting closer to Gasly on Saturday consistently will help him. That will be the key in the second part of 2025.
21 | Jack Doohan
Australian Jack Doohan had 6 races to prove himself at the start of 2025. Unfortunately he didn’t do enough for Alpine’s liking.
Big crashes at the Australian GP (race) and the Japanese GP (FP2) meant he was always going to be in trouble. Nonetheless, from pre-season he looked to have no chance of surviving post-Miami, even if he did very well against Pierre Gasly. Franco Colapinto took his place.
Despite promising flashes of pace at times through practice sessions, Doohan only got the better of Gasly once in Grand Prix qualifying. His race pace was not too great either.
Formula 1 can be a brutal business as has been proven many times. It is virtually impossible to see Jack Doohan returning to the grid.
