{"id":212522,"date":"2025-10-14T10:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T10:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/212522\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T10:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T10:52:08","slug":"jolyon-palmer-makes-one-surprising-omission-when-naming-his-best-three-f1-drivers-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/212522\/","title":{"rendered":"Jolyon Palmer makes one surprising omission when naming his best three F1 drivers of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has given his verdict on the best-performing drivers of the current Formula 1 campaign, leaving one name out that may come as a surprise to some.<\/p>\n

With the 2025 F1 season now in its final quarter, many members of the F1 paddock, as well as fans watching at home, have given their verdict on several different topics regarding performances throughout the current term. <\/p>\n

For example, Martin Brundle believes George Russell is the most underrated driver<\/a> on the grid, highlighting his impressive performances that have often left him in the best of the rest category behind Max Verstappen<\/a> and the front-running duo of Oscar Piastri<\/a> and Lando Norris<\/a>.<\/p>\n

F1 fans believe Isack Hadjar has been the most impressive man<\/a> to take to the track, even before he secured his maiden podium at the Dutch Grand Prix in August. <\/p>\n

Hadjar<\/a> has had an incredible debut year in the sport, with it looking likely that he will be the man to partner Verstappen at Red Bull following the conclusion of his rookie season. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Juan Pablo Montoya names the F1 driver who can be \u2018as good\u2019 as Max Verstappen in the future<\/a><\/p>\n

Jolyon Palmer and ex-Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley name their top three F1 drivers of 2025<\/p>\n

In a recent episode of the F1 Nation podcast, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer<\/a> and journalist Tom Clarkson were joined by the ex-Ferrari race engineer for Felipe Massa between 2006 and 2013, Rob Smedley<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Clarkson asked the two former staples of the pit lane which of the 20 drivers on the grid they think have been the most impressive in the current campaign, to which Palmer answered first with, \u201cVerstappen, Russell<\/a>, Piastri, for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smedley countered with, \u201cMax, of course. Oscar and\u2026 Hadjar,\u201d much to the dismay of Palmer, who believes Russell\u2019s 2025 performances have cemented him as one of the best drivers in the pinnacle of single-seater racing.<\/p>\n

Described by Mercedes<\/a> chiefs as \u2018perfect\u2019, Russell could be the best driver on the F1 grid without a title<\/a> to his name, something that he is hoping to rectify with F1\u2019s new regulations<\/a> next season.<\/p>\n

Clarkson then offered his own verdict, to which he said, \u201cI actually would go the same as you, Jolyon. I think Russell has been right up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, all three snubbed the second-place man in the championship and the winner of five Grands Prix this year in McLaren\u2019s Norris.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018Incredible\u2019 F1 star has now replaced Lando Norris as the most popular driver after thousands of votes<\/a><\/p>\n

Jolyon Palmer explains why Lando Norris hasn\u2019t been one of his top-three F1 drivers in 2025<\/p>\n

The competition is a relatively tough crowd to beat, in his own opinion, Norris believes Verstappen is \u2018probably\u2019 the best F1 driver ever<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The two rivals have raced against each other since childhood, with the Dutchman eventually entering the premier category four years earlier than 25-year-old Norris.<\/p>\n

Clarkson pointed out the \u2018interesting\u2019 fact that no one opted for Norris in their verdicts, to which Palmer replied, \u201cI just think the job of Verstappen and Russell, you can see that they\u2019ve been demolishing their teammates, which makes you have to think that they\u2019re getting the most from the car. <\/p>\n

\"LandoPhoto by Mark Sutton \u2013 Formula 1\/Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you can\u2019t really see any errors from them. And you actually can, from Lando, some from Oscar, as well, obviously, Baku. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I think they\u2019re right up there as well, and they\u2019re in a title fight, but the others just look like they\u2019re so well-rounded. I know they\u2019ve obviously got inferior machinery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen has entered himself into the championship fight in recent races, winning in Monza and Baku, as well as fending off the advances from Norris to finish ahead of both McLarens in Singapore.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman could find himself with a fifth consecutive title in Abu Dhabi if he manages to continue outscoring his papaya-adorned rivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has given his verdict on the best-performing drivers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,3875,10114,17134,1737,825,913,2333,130574,85],"class_list":["post-212522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-isack-hadjar","tag-jolyon-palmer","tag-lando-norris","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mclaren","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-rob-smedley","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212522","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=212522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}