The rest, however, have had their objectives set by the long European leg of the campaign that inevitably sets the tone of the season.<\/p>\n
WINNER: ANDREA STELLA<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1756769048_562_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
This is Andrea Stella\u2019s world. We\u2019re all just living in it.<\/p>\n
Stella has reorganised McLaren from genuine backmarker into dominant championship winner in barely two years, a remarkable achievement.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s the way he\u2019s handled this rapid ascent that\u2019s most impressed.<\/p>\n
Countless teams have fallen over attempting to manage the internal tensions that come with two teammates vying for the championship.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no sign of the same with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.<\/p>\n
There have been flashpoints \u2014 their crash in Canada, the contrastrategy in Hungary and now the team orders in Italy \u2014 but with surprising ease and a lack of fuss both drivers have apparently happily toed the team line about racing for the good of McLaren.<\/p>\n
Stella has fostered an incredible team-first culture \u2014 and in his drivers a truly remarkable fealty that just might see him, the team and even the title protagonists make it to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi without a controversial blow-up.<\/p>\n
Photo by Clive Rose\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
LOSER: ANDREA KIMI ANTONELLI<\/p>\n
The season\u2019s most hyped rookie has fallen flat at the point he should\u2019ve excelled.<\/p>\n
The Italian teenager started the year very strongly, including with sprint pole in Miami, just before the European campaign.<\/p>\n
Given European tracks are the ones with which he\u2019s most familiar, he was expected to really fire through the middle of the season.<\/p>\n
Instead he scored just twice from nine races \u2014 one point in Hungary and two more in Italy \u2014 to reveal his serious lack of experience.<\/p>\n
The punctuation of Canada and Antonelli\u2019s maiden podium was sweet relief in the middle of this barren run.<\/p>\n
The sum of these struggles was enough to earn team boss Toto Wolff\u2019s first criticism, the Austrian describing his young charge as \u201cunderwhelming\u201d in Italy, though he added the results haven\u2019t changed his opinion of Antonelli as the next big thing.<\/p>\n
Ironically, with Europe in his mirrors and now back on tracks known less well to him, we might just see the best of Antonelli again.<\/p>\n
(AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)Source: AP<\/p>\n
WINNER: OSCAR PIASTRI<\/p>\n
Piastri has rocketed from promising rookie to championship favourite in just 29 months.<\/p>\n
The season started with Norris tipped as the heavy favourite, especially after Piastri immediately fell 23 points off the lead at the very first race.<\/p>\n
But the Australian has embarked on an impressive run ever since then. He took the title lead in Saudi Arabia, and he started the European campaign with a 16-point advantage. He\u2019s almost doubled that advantage as he prepares to leave the continent.<\/p>\n
Of course Norris\u2019s engine problem in the Netherlands played a role in boosting that score, but consider that Piastri was the quicker driver but fell behind Norris in Imola (strategy), Great Britain (penalty) and Hungary (strategy). A crude reversal of scores there to account for his own bad luck more than makes up for Norris\u2019s misfortune.<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s points lead is therefore at least indicative of his true advantage after Europe.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Peter Fox\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
LOSER: ALPINE<\/p>\n
The Renault-owned team is having a mare in 2025.<\/p>\n
Its car is uncompetitive. Its driver line-up is unsettled. Its executive team has been shuffled several times.<\/p>\n
It started the European season seventh in the championship, but in the 10 rounds since its dropped to last and is increasingly isolated at the bottom of the table.<\/p>\n
Alpine has scored just 20 points for the year \u2014 all by the excellent Pierre Gasly \u2014 and is 24 points off second-last Haas.<\/p>\n
De facto team principal Flavio Briatore has now openly mulled whether the way he dropped homegrown junior Jack Doohan suddenly in exchange for Franco Colapinto was a mistake, with the Argentine doing no better than the Australian.<\/p>\n
The team considered bringing in the experienced Valtteri Bottas or Sergio P\u00e9rez to replace Colapinto and help give the team direction. Both chose to join Cadillac instead, a team that expects to be anchored to the back of the pack next year.<\/p>\n
Reputationally and competitively the European season has been damaging for Alpine. Its only hope now is for a massive revival under new rules next season.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
WINNER (SORT OF): FERRARI<\/p>\n
This of course is despite Ferrari so far going without an actual grand prix victory.<\/p>\n
But consider the context.<\/p>\n
It has a misfiring Lewis Hamilton in its line-up, the seven-time champion so far outscored by 46 points by teammate Charles Leclerc.<\/p>\n
It has just five podiums in total for the year and has recorded two non-scoring grand prix finishes \u2014 its embarrassing double disqualification in China and its double DNF in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
And yet \u2014 and yet \u2014 it holds second in the constructors championship ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull Racing.<\/p>\n
This is a qualified success, particularly considering it started the European campaign 47 points behind Mercedes.<\/p>\n
It ends the European campaign 20 points ahead, a 67-point turnaround.<\/p>\n
It is of course much less than Ferrari targeted this year, but it\u2019s at least on a trajectory to do no worse than last season.<\/p>\n
And sometimes just not being a disaster is a win for the combustible Italian team.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Guido De Bortoli\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
LOSER: CARLOS SAINZ<\/p>\n
Sainz has made heavy weather of his transitions to Williams too often this season to simply say it\u2019s part of the acclimatisation process.<\/p>\n
The most important headline stat is that he\u2019s being pummelled 70-16 in the points by Albon. It\u2019s biggest margin by percentage behind only Pierre Gasly and his scoreless Alpine teammates and also Verstappen\u2019s drubbing of Lawson and Tsunoda.<\/p>\n
You would never have picked this during the off-season, when some assumed Sainz would end 2025 as team leader.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a matter of pace, with the teammates tied 8-8 in qualifying and with just 0.014 seconds separating them on average.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all about the way Sainz is executing his races. Italy was a good example, with the Spaniard wiping himself out of a chance to score good points with a needless crash with Oliver Bearman. Bearman was controversially penalised for the crash, but Sainz cause the collision.<\/p>\n
More than half his points have been won in Europe, but by this phase of the year his mistakes should have been ironed out. That they\u2019re not reflects poorly on the four-time race winner.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Peter Fox\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
WINNERS: GABRIEL BORTOLETO AND ISACK HADJAR<\/p>\n
Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar, winner and runner-up respectively of last year\u2019s Formula 2 championship, were the least hyped rookies of the season.<\/p>\n
And yet they\u2019re easily the most impressive debutants of 2025.<\/p>\n
Bortoleto has outqualified his immensely more experienced teammate, Nico H\u00fclkenberg, 10-6 this season, including the last six grands prix straight. While H\u00fclkenberg has been the more consistent scorer, if you take out the German\u2019s points-boosting podium, there\u2019d be only four points between them.<\/p>\n
Hadjar, meanwhile, is the eighth-best qualifier in the sport this season despite driving what on average is only the sixth-best car. His breakthrough podium in the Netherlands was just reward for a season of astute racing.<\/p>\n
Both will be rewarded next season. Bortoleto was already set to be an Audi foundation driver but will now do so not as a promising young gun but an established star. Hadjar, meanwhile, is now favourite to be called up to senior team Red Bull Racing where he\u2019ll \u2014 at least on paper \u2014 have the chance to win races.<\/p>\n
(Photo by James Sutton\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
LOSER: OLIVER BEARMAN<\/p>\n
Oliver Bearman\u2019s Ferrari and Haas cameos last year considerably raised expectations for his full-time debut this season. He\u2019s clearly been fast \u2014 he\u2019s been slightly faster than teammate Esteban Ocon on average this year \u2014 but his race performances have left much to be desired.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been so erratic, in fact, that he\u2019s now on the cusp of a race ban, having accumulated his 10th penalty point for his role in the crash with Sainz in Italy. Two more in any of the next four races will see him banned for one grand prix weekend \u2014 ironic given he got one of his call-ups this time last year after Kevin Magnussen received a ban in the same circumstances.<\/p>\n
He went eight races in a row without a score and has picked up points just twice in Europe while Ocon has scored regularly. While patchiness is to be expected in a rookie campaign, Bearman is yet to put together the sort of complete weekend to justify the hype.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
WINNER: LAURENT MEKIES<\/p>\n
Laurent Mekies\u2019s sudden ascension to the top job at Red Bull Racing shocked the Formula 1 world shortly after the British Grand Prix, but already the French former engineer is making his presence felt.<\/p>\n
It was notable how much better Red Bull Racing performed in Italy compared to last year. While obviously that can\u2019t be all put down to him, his technically minded approach has played an important role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe preparation of a weekend is a different one now,\u201d Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said, per Autosport, explaining that Mekies was able to harmonise data from the simulator, the design team and the driver to help guide the car into a better place each weekend.<\/p>\n
There have also been some signs he can get more out of the troubled Yuki Tsunoda.<\/p>\n
Fourth in the championship is far below expectations, but after the European season the team has reduced its deficit to second place to just 41 points. The trajectory looks positive again.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
LOSER: YUKI TSUNODA<\/p>\n
The groundswell of support for Tsunoda after being snubbed from the Red Bull Racing drive at the end of last season was immense, and it was pleasing to see him finally get his shot at the senior team after two rounds this season \u2014 even if Lawson\u2019s struggles were hard to watch.<\/p>\n
He started tentatively, as had been expected, but \u2014 painful though it is to say \u2014 much like Sergio P\u00e9rez before him, his form has tanked since his return to Europe.<\/p>\n
Tsunoda went a remarkable seven consecutive weekends without scoring in a car that\u2019s won three races this season. He could have scored a point or two in Italy but for a tangle with Lawson, but on a weekend Verstappen showed the car was dominant, he was more than 0.6 seconds off the pace in qualifying and miles off in the race.<\/p>\n
Regardless of how much of a role the car is playing in Tsunoda\u2019s downfall, the bottom line is he\u2019s not returning results, and he\u2019s now tipped to lose his drive at the end of the season without a serious post-Europe turnaround.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Joe Portlock\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
WINNERS: ALEX ALBON AND WILLIAMS<\/p>\n
Alex Albon is seventh on the championship table.<\/p>\n
When the top four cars are so clearly faster than the rest, the best a driver should be able to manage in Albon\u2019s midfield Williams machinery is a distant ninth.<\/p>\n
All this despite three DNFs in a row from Spain to Austria, interrupting what otherwise should have been a nine-race points run.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a standout season for the Thai driver, whose partnership with former Ferrari star Carlos Sainz was tipped by some to hurt his reputation.<\/p>\n
Instead the opposite has happened: Albon has never looked like a stronger, faster and slicker operator.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been helped by Williams delivering a competitive car from the first weekend, and though the team has been deeply inconsistent in execution, when it\u2019s been good, it\u2019s been very good \u2014 Italy being a case in point, where it perfectly managed putting Albon on a contrastrategy to elevate him from 13th on the grid to seventh at the head of the midfield at the flag.<\/p>\n
With Williams dreaming big under the new rules, Albon is perfectly positioned to capitalise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re at the two-thirds mark of the Formula 1 season, and teams are setting their sights east. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[944,14214,90118,2095,13273,1724,64,90141,63,3159,961,51020,2065,4971,90121,33102,13275,512,18241,2055,90114,90132,90133,59977,16177,9239,11301,90120,22304,2057,51035,90122,90138,90123,90131,2755,90125,90137,2105,841,90139,21782,90143,14211,90115,4405,939,90129,90117,2328,2045,77349,34866,35551,90140,2082,5140,806,805,803,804,16255,90126,90124,2041,2067,90119,90128,83951,90134,90135,90142,90130,59976,14640,32654,2072,942,90127,2812,3595,2020,85,22784,90116,90136,43324,88570,31283,13773,21784,73207,2614,12000,2062],"class_list":["post-129442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-acclimatisation-process","tag-actual-grand-prix","tag-america","tag-andrea-stella","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-audi-foundation","tag-australia","tag-austria","tag-azerbaijan","tag-breakthrough-podium","tag-canada","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-championship-favourite","tag-championship-table","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-china","tag-clive-rose","tag-constructors-championship","tag-crude-reversal","tag-design-team","tag-dominant-championship-winner","tag-driver-line-up","tag-drivers-title","tag-eastern-asia","tag-eastern-europe","tag-engine-problem","tag-esteban-ocon","tag-europe","tag-european-campaign","tag-european-leg","tag-european-season","tag-european-tracks","tag-executive-team","tag-florida","tag-foundation-driver","tag-four-time-race-winner","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grand-prix","tag-grand-prix-finishes","tag-grand-prix-victory","tag-grand-prix-weekend","tag-grands-prix","tag-headline-stat","tag-helmut-marko","tag-hungary","tag-incredible-team-first-culture","tag-italian-teenager","tag-italy","tag-jack-doohan","tag-james-sutton","tag-joe-portlock","tag-kevin-magnussen","tag-least-hyped-rookies","tag-mark-thompson","tag-miami","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-netherlands","tag-nine-race-points-run","tag-non-scoring-grand-prix","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-penalty-point","tag-peter-fox","tag-points-lead","tag-post-europe-turnaround","tag-race-ban","tag-race-performances","tag-rapid-ascent","tag-rookie-campaign","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-senior-team","tag-sergio-perez","tag-singapore","tag-slicker-operator","tag-south-eastern-asia","tag-southern-europe","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-sprint-pole","tag-standout-season","tag-team-direction","tag-team-leader","tag-team-line","tag-team-orders","tag-team-principal","tag-title-lead","tag-title-protagonists","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-western-asia","tag-western-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}