No one expected the 2025 F1 season to turn out to be so exciting. With a continuous battle ensuing every race between the McLaren drivers and Max Verstappen, Williams’ resurgence into the top 5, Ferrari’s struggles and brake issues, and so much more.
These are the moments highlighting the best of F1 in 2025 as on date:
Charles Leclerc fighting against a 7x World Champion and McLaren
Charles Leclerc had known that his teammate would Carlos Sainz would be replaced by the 7x World Champion Lewis Hamilton in 2025. Since the start of this season, Leclerc has had to fight against the talent of Sir Hamilton, Ferrari’s issues which have plagued the race and qualifying pace of the car, while also fighting a battle for points in the Drivers’ Championship.
Charles has managed to win most of his fights. He has maintained his position in Ferrari as the better driver, and has also claimed two podiums in the starting eight grand prix, one of which came at Monaco where Charles almost managed to grab first place from Lando Norris, as he brilliantly put up a fight against McLaren, eventually finishing second.
Charles has never backed down once this season, despite having issues with pace and also not being confident in the SF25 due to unreliable brakes. Leclerc has managed to finish in the top 5 in five races out of eight, including his disqualified finish at the Chinese GP.
This is no small feat when your fight is against the fastest cars on track and with the man who has stood on the championship podium 7 times.
Max Verstappen taking leaps to stay in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship
Max Verstappen started out this season in second place as he finished second, behind Lando Norris at the season opener in Australia. Unfortunately for Max Verstappen, Adrian Newey leaving RedBull, and all the added mis-management within the team has led to a not so fast RB21. Still, Max has fought to the teeth in every single race.
In Japan, Max Verstappen delivered a masterclass in Japan, much like he did in Sao Paulo last year when he came 1st from 17th on the grid. In qualifying at the Japanese GP, Max took pole by a miraculous lap by barely 0.012 of a second, then during the race Verstappen proved that F1 is still a driver’s sport and not down to the best car.
Max managed to win twice and gained 4 total podium finishes in the first 8 grand prix this season. Even in Monaco, Max managed his tires beautifully, but his hopes for a safety car or a red flag were dashed due to teams relying on a slow race strategy so as to not risk any accidents.
The unluckiest man in Formula 1 – Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso, the man who once made the most brilliant overtake at 130R, and passed Michael Schumacher, because he knew that Schumacher had a wife and kids at home, has failed to score even a single point this season. The season opener in Australia led to a DNF due to a crash in the rain. At the second race in China, he retired due to a brake failure. In Japan, he managed to finish, but his luck wouldn’t have it, he finished 11th. In Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, he finished 15th and 11th respectively.
He witnessed a similar result in Miami.
In Imola, he made his first Q3 appearance and bagged 5th place, but sadly lost out six places in the race and finished 11th again.
Finally, in Monaco, he managed to get himself in Q3 again, qualifying 6th, but his luck was truly not by his side as he had to retire due to a power unit issue.
Alonso remarked to his race engineer that he was “the unluckiest guy in Formula 1”, at the Imola GP.
Failure of the 2 pitstop rule in Monaco
The Monaco Grand Prix is the most prestigious grand prix in F1. The Monaco track and the city are the F1 life. Monaco embodies all that F1 is, fast cars, luxury and parties. But since the past five or more years, the Monaco GP has been won by the pole sitter due to the very wide current F1 cars.
This year, it was expected that since F1 in 2025 introduced two mandatory pitstops, there was possibly going to be a surprise winner.
But no, teams adopted a strategy of slowing down cars behind them to allow one of their cars to pit first and then the other car would complete its pitstops, and that is exactly what VCARB and Williams accomplished.
This made another Monaco GP, as boring as the last five races. There was no actual racing action just 20 cars going around a small track, with absolutely no overtakes or fights to win a corner. This has resulted in a call for updates to the Monaco track to allow overtaking possible at least once on track.
Kimi Antonelli’s sensational Pole at the Miami GP Sprint Race
Kimi Antonelli, the 18 year old, Italian driver for Mercedes, proved his mettle when he got Pole at the Sprint race in Miami. He has broken the world record for the youngest driver to get Pole in an F1 race. Antonelli has a lot of speed and drive in him, and he has not let that go to waste, he has qualified at the same level and sometimes higher than his teammate George Russell.
He is currently in 7th position in the drivers’ championship, ahead of veteran drivers like Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, and Fernando Alonso. He is just behind Lewis Hamilton, the man whose seat Kimi now sits in, by only 15 points. He has great talent and skill, which he displays in every race.
Antonelli is the future for Mercedes, they intend to create another 7x world champion of him.
F1 in 2025, has been more exciting than in the past three years. There have been continuous battles for championship position between teams and drivers. Teams like Williams have found pace and are now fighting in the top 7, while teams like Aston Martin have dropped into 8th position. Haas and Sauber have managed to get their cars into Q3 a couple of times.
F1 in 2025 season is going to get even more exciting and fun for F1 fans around the globe as the championship fight between Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen heats up.
Who are you rooting for?
With so much at stake and plenty of arresting narratives including George Russell being an outlier in the not always so fast Mercedes and with Alex Albon delivering a mega season thus far, it could be said for certain that F1 in 2025 is a different ball game altogether. Wouldn’t you agree?