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The 2025 F1 season ended with Lando Norris winning the championship by beating Max Verstappen to the title by 2 points. The British driver had a strong season, but in a tumultuous year, the key to winning and being successful was consistency.
To add to this, it was all about peaking at the right time, and Lando Norris did so, and so did Max Verstappen. As the season concludes, it's always worth looking back at how the 20 drivers stack up in terms of performance over 24 races.
To do that, we're taking the average of driver ratings that we did after every race and then arranging the drivers accordingly. So, where did each driver end up in our annual driver rankings for the 2025 F1 season? Let's take a look.
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2025 F1 Grid Ranked
#20 Lance Stroll (Avg. Rating: 5.42)
Arguably the weakest link in Aston Martin at the moment, Lance Stroll had a few bright spots himself, but when Fernando Alonso is in the other car, it's very hard to look good.
#19 Yuki Tsunoda (Avg Rating: 5.67)
We're not going to see Yuki Tsunoda in the 2026 F1 season, as Red Bull dropped him from the program. For the Japanese driver, the promotion to the senior team proved to be a nightmare, as he now finds himself out of the sport.
#18 Franco Colapinto (Avg. Rating: 5.78)
Arguably a disappointing run from the Argentinian. Franco Colapinto would have hoped for a better season with Alpine, but it appeared that he never found his footing within the team. It would be interesting to see what's next for him in the 2026 F1 season, as performance is the currency needed to keep Flavio Briatore happy.
#17 Liam Lawson (Avg. Rating: 6.08)
Liam Lawson had a shocker of a start as a Red Bull driver. One of the F1's quickest demotions ever saw him move to Racing Bulls, where he slowly found his feet. At his peak, he's shown that he was maybe a tenth off his rookie teammate Isack Hajdar, but he did put together a few impressive drives as well over the season.
#16 Lewis Hamilton (Avg. Rating: 6.19)
Lewis Hamilton would be the first to tell you that the 2025 F1 season was poor in all regards. Except for the highs of sprint races, there wasn't much to write home about, unfortunately, as the Brit now goes home and, in his words, 'unplugs his phone'.
#15 Kimi Antonelli (Avg. Rating: 6.38)
An F1 rookie that everyone was keeping an eye on was Kimi Antonelli. The young Italian had some high moments coupled with a few low points that had him and many others question if he belonged in the sport.
As of now, it's safe to say that Antonelli belongs in F1, and it will surely be intriguing to see how he further evolves.
#14 Gabriel Bortoleto (Avg. Rating: 6.40)
An impressive rookie season from the Brazilian, and he's already proven that the peaks in his form mean he's worth keeping an eye on. He would, however, need to work on his consistency, as there's still a learning curve that he has yet to execute.
#13 Esteban Ocon (Avg. Rating: 6.69)
Ocon would be the first to admit that this was a disappointing season for him. His first F1 season with Haas should have been better, but for some reason, the French driver just couldn't get on top of the car under him.
#12 Ollie Bearman (Avg. Rating: 6.83)
An impressive rookie season for Ollie Bearman, who has once again proved that pace is not a problem for him. The Brit is rapid in an F1 car. He still needs to work on the application, as the driver still has a mistake or two in him, a phenomenon that happens too frequently.
#11 Carlos Sainz (Avg. Rating: 6.85)
Similar to his teammate Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz had a season of two halves; in the first half, he was playing catch-up. In the second, he took things up a notch and secured 2 podiums. Out of all drivers in the paddock, Sainz might just be the one who's most excited about what the 2026 F1 season has in store.
#10 Alex Albon (Avg. Rating: 6.90)
It was a tale of two halves for Alex Albon in 2025. The first half saw him set the benchmark within Williams, where he secured points on the board as well as some impressive results.
The second half saw him be the wingman to his F1 teammate Carlos Sainz, who excelled in the car once he found his feet within the team.
#9 Pierre Gasly (Avg. Rating: 6.98)
Pierre Gasly's ability to extract something out of an underdeveloped Alpine truly made him the benchmark within the team. Scoring 100% of points within the French team is the foundational point from which he hopes things will look better in 2026.
#8 Isack Hadjar (Avg. Rating: 7.10)
Probably one of the surprises of the season was finding out how impressive Isack Hadjar can be in an F1 car. The French rookie had a driver-friendly RB under him, but the way he exploited it was commendable to say the least. Becoming the first driver since Pierre Gasly to put the car on the podium was just the icing on the cake for a spectacular season.
#7 Nico Hulkenberg (Avg. Rating: 7.25)
Nico Hulkenberg's season had some extreme peaks and some poor races as well. Early in the season, Hulkenberg was placing the Sauber in places it just didn't deserve, and that included the podium that he secured in Silverstone.
As he prepares to become an Audi driver in 2026, the veteran continues to show that he's still got it.
#6 Fernando Alonso (Avg. Rating: 7.56)
Fernando Alonso started the first half of the season in a slightly shaky manner, as Lance Stroll was even ahead of him in the championship at one stage. Once he got his bearings right with the car, the Spaniard started finding consistency and pace in that Aston Martin.
While the Spaniard waits for 2026, he continues to showcase that he's still got it.
#5 Oscar Piastri (Avg. Rating: 7.63)
Oscar Piastri arguably lost the championship in the second half of the season when everything went off the rails. A very, very strong first half of the season was unfortunately followed by a second half that wasn't up to the mark.
#4 Lando Norris (Avg. Rating: 7.96)
The first half was a bit of a struggle for Lando Norris, as the driver wasn't comfortable with the car. Once he got his bearings right in the second half, there was no looking back. The 2025 F1 champion finishes in fourth place this season, and it would be interesting to see how he does next year.
#3 George Russell (Avg. Rating: 8.06)
Russell fell off a little later in the season when teammate Kimi Antonelli started getting the better of him a few times. Overall, though, this was the year where George Russell truly blossomed into one of the top 3 in F1.
Mercedes didn't miss Lewis Hamilton this year, and a lot of credit for it goes to George Russell.
#2 Charles Leclerc (Avg. Rating: 8.46)
Looking back at Charles Leclerc, one verdict that several pundits would give is that the driver is now ready to win an F1 championship. This was a season where the driver was pulling off miracles in the Ferrari in qualifying and truly left Hamilton in the shade with the way he went about his season.
#1 Max Verstappen (Avg. Rating: 8.71)
There was a moment in the first half of the season where Max Verstappen appeared not to be as dialed in as he usually is. That was the moment when we had races like Silverstone, Spa, and Hungary, a stretch where the driver arguably didn't optimize things as much as he would have.
The 4x F1 champion just ramped things up in the second half and was back to his imperious best as he almost clinched his 5th title.
