The 2025 Formula 1 season has closed out under the lights in Abu Dhabi.
A close and exciting title fight headlined the 2025 season, but drivers have quickly abandoned their outgoing challengers for the hopes that next season's cars are more comfortable to drive in.
New regulations are set to hit the grid in Melbourne with smaller and lighter cars that have revised hybrid power units and active aerodynamics. But the new machinery is expected to be roughly two seconds slower per lap.
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It sets the scene for a completely different championship in 2026.
Several drivers battled porpoising and inconsistent downforce this year, to the extent that drivers complained of physically punishing drives as their cars bounced on track.
Lewis Hamilton said there "was not a single thing [he'll] miss about these cars. Simple as that. Literally there's nothing."
But before we jump ahead to next year, Wide World of Sports rates every driver's 2025 performance.
Lando Norris: 10/10
I fear we cannot give the newly minted champion any other rating.
The victor of a tight title fight with Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, it was a season the McLaren driver finally realised his potential after seven seasons.
While the start of the season was shaky, marked by a couple of high-profile mistakes in China and Zandvoort, his overall performance was gold standard.
Especially in the final races of the season, when the championship was on the line, he matured into a consistent race winner and brought McLaren their first drivers' championship since 2008.
Max Verstappen: 9/10
Dethroned of his title, it would be easy to downgrade the 2025season of Verstappen, but even he considers it to be one of his finest.
"Yeah, I think so, I mean I have no regrets of my season, I think the performance has been strong," he said post Abu Dhabi.
"I mean at the end of the day it's always nicer to win it. But honestly, I'm sitting here now with probably a better feeling than what I had last year at this time because the second half of last year was pretty tricky at times as well."
The Dutchman mounted one of the best comebacks in the back-half of the year, taking dominant wins and finding himself on the top step in Abu Dhabi, albeit with no championship to match.
Oscar Piastri: 8/10
We agonised over this one but Australia's great white hope had a superb season that defined him as a formidable challenger for the title fight.
Piastri transformed from a prodigious talent in junior categories into a genuine championship contender in just three seasons, pushing his teammate Norris all the way to the very end.
His consistency at the start of the season was his hallmark, securing three consecutive grand prix victories in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami.
He finished the season third in the standings, narrowly missing out on the runner-up spot to Verstappen.
George Russell: 6/10
George Russell consistently wrung the best available results from his Mercedes, so much so that the team's dip in form can be traced accurately through his finishing positions.
Victories in Canada and Singapore showed his ability to battle with the top title contenders when the car allowed.
Charles Leclerc: 4/10
Ferrari have struggled immensely in 2025.
Despite flashes of brilliance, including a pole position in Monaco, the Monegasque driver was often forced to manage a temperamental car that lacked consistency and tyre-wear resistance.
Leclerc's signature driving style often clashed with the Ferrari's limitations, leading to several high-profile DNFs and unforced errors, meaning he finished the year well behind his championship aspirations.
Lewis Hamilton: 2/10
No-one on the grid has more been vocal about their woes then Hamilton in his first year at Ferrari, but from a seven-time world champion, you can understand the distress.
Hamilton has failed to stand on the podium at all in any main grand prix, securing only a victory in the sprint race in China way back when his season still had promise.
His end-of-season comments summed up his despair.
"At the moment, I'm only looking forward to the break. Just disconnecting, not speaking to anyone," Hamilton admitted.
"No one's going to be able to get a hold of me this winter. I won't have my phone with me. I'm looking forward to that. Just completely unplugged from the matrix."
Asked if he had taken that approach in a winter break previously, he said: "Not particularly. I wouldn't say that.
"No, I've generally always had it around, but this time it's [his phone] going in the fricking bin."
Kimi Antonelli: 9/10
Arguably the best rookie on the grid, at some points during the season Kimi Antonelli was outdriving his teammate Russell.
Thrust into the high-pressure environment of a top team, the young Italian showed pure pace and performance that quickly silenced any critics.
At several points during the season, Antonelli was the quicker Mercedes driver, out-scoring his highly rated teammate George Russell, especially in the second half of the year.
His mature approach makes him one of the sport's most exciting future prospects.
Alex Albon: 8/10
It was an incredible season for the entire Grove squad and their drivers.
Albon and his teammate Carlos Sainz led the team to their best result in decades.
Their immense consistency and supreme pace in qualifying allowed Williams to well and truly deserve the 'best of the rest' moniker.
They finished in fifth in the constructors' championship with Albon repeatedly dragging the car into positions it arguably didn't belong, banking crucial points in races like Monaco and Japan.
As team principal James Vowles stated: "We are still here to win championships. We are a long way away from that. But at least now the work we are doing is starting to pay off."
Carlos Sainz: 8/10
Two podiums for Sainz in Baku and Qatar well and truly put him in contention for moving up spots and fighting with the top drivers and he deserves the 8 as much as his teammate who finished just ahead of him on the standings.
"I think the US fans love a bit of an underdog, an underdog fight, and I think they see myself with Williams as an underdog but also as an [upcoming] project," said Sainz after an impressive qualifying result in Las Vegas.
"We [Williams] are becoming stronger every race, every lap that we do together, and it's great to see them supporting us."
Fernando Alonso: 4/10
Fernando Alonso's failure to score a point in the first eight races of the season signalled a hard fought battle with a twitchy Aston Martin car that did not allow the two-time champion to drive to the limits. He had five DNF results in the year.
The Aston Martins were nowhere in multiple grands prix in 2025, but Alonso did out perform his teammate multiple times.
His best result was fifth place at the Hungaroring, but his season was defined by a lot of lacklustre weekend outings.
Niko Hulkenberg: 7/10
We have to give Nico Hülkenberg credit, scoring a memorable first career podium in Silverstone is no easy feat.
Hülkenberg gets a solid 7/10 from us for proving he is still one of the most capable drivers in the midfield.
His experience and ability, alongside coaching his rookie teammate, meant he was the perfect driver to capitalise on strategic opportunities and was vital in hauling the team past rivals in the constructors' standings.
Isack Hadjar: 8/10
Isack Hadjar will be the fourth teammate in two years for Max Verstappen when he jumps into the senior Red Bull team for 2026, so the young driver must have done something well.
His stellar rookie campaign at Racing Bulls earned him the coveted promotion and his ability to perform under pressure were standout qualities.
The French driver consistently outscored his experienced teammate Yuki Tsunoda on race weekends and proved he has the temperament and pace to thrive in the Red Bull environment.
But will he succeed or crash and burn like the trio before him?
Ollie Bearman: 6/10
Haas have found themselves topping scoreboards and with top-five results in 2025, something that hasn't happened in a long time.
I'm giving Ollie Bearman a 6/10 for his part in the renaissance.
The young Brit started his season with a frantic practice crash in Australia but as his teammate Esteban Ocon stepped up to deliver crucial data, the team quickly found their feet.
The duo established a strong partnership that hauled the team into a consistent mid-grid points battle, showcasing the promise he showed in his initial Ferrari stand-in drive.
Liam Lawson: 5/10
It was an up and down season for the Kiwi.
Liam Lawson started his 2025 in the main Red Bull stable, before being dropped after only two grands prix.
He clawed his way back into contention and and his consistent, solid points finishes earned him a permanent seat with Racing Bulls for the 2026 season.
Overall, a decent year defined by resilience.
Esteban Ocon: 4/10
Ocon delivered in the Haas right off the bat.
Haas have well and truly found a good thing in the Bearman and Ocon partnership, but a mid-season slump and a series of frustrating DNFs mean that Ocon's year lacked the spectacular points hauls his younger teammate managed.
Lance Stroll: 3/10
Stroll tends to be given the wooden spoon at the end of each season of Formula 1.
Many of his points came from strategic gambles from his team, for example on the drying track in Melbourne where he started the season with a haul of eight points.
The rest of the year…eh.
Yuki Tsunoda: 2/10
Look, we'd love to give Tsunoda more leverage here but the 25-year-old was consistently off the pace of Verstappen and finds himself locked out of 2026 with Hadjar snatching up the vacant Red Bull seat.
We won't be seeing Tsunoda on the 2026 grid, other than as a test driver for Red Bull, so not a great showing.
Pierre Gasly: 2/10
The Alpine chassis was one of the worst on the grid, plagued by reliability issues and a fundamental lack of pace.
Pierre Gasly struggled to find any momentum, with the team often battling for the last positions on the grid.
Gabriel Bortoleto: 7/10
Coming off winning back to back Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles, Gabriel Bortoleto came in with an impression to make in Formula 1.
He has outpaced his veteran teammate in single-lap pace or else lapped just a few hundredths of a second shy of his team mate.
The rookie was especially impressive at Miami, an unfamiliar circuit which was also a sprint race weekend.
Franco Colapinto: 1/10
Scoring zero points in the season, Franco Colapinto did not make a impression he wanted to on the grid after a controversial mid-season swap with Australian Jack Doohan.
A host of mistakes and errors marred the Argentine's season and highlights the gaping points gap from him and 19th placed Gabriel Bortoleto who sits on 19 points.
2025 Formula 1 Drivers' Championship standings
1. Lando Norris – 423
2. Max Verstappen – 421
3. Oscar Piastri – 410
4. George Russell – 319
5. Charles Leclerc – 242
6. Lewis Hamilton – 156
7. Kimi Antonelli – 150
8. Alex Albon – 73
9. Carlos Sainz – 64
10. Fernando Alonso – 56
11. Nico Hulkenberg – 51
12. Isack Hadjar – 51
13. Oliver Bearman – 41
14. Liam Lawson – 38
15. Esteban Ocon – 38
16. Lance Stroll – 33
17. Yuki Tsunoda – 33
18. Pierre Gasly – 22
19. Gabriel Bortoleto – 19
20. Franco Colapinto – 0.
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