Norris won the title, but everyone knows Verstappen the real champion<\/a><\/p>\nThe story begins in the shadows of Red Bull\u2019s garage, where Verstappen faced an uphill battle from the start. The RB21, once a dominant force, struggled with balance issues and lacked the outright pace of McLaren\u2019s MCL60 or Mercedes\u2019 resurgent W16. As Goodwood\u2019s analysis pointed out, Verstappen\u2019s car was \u201cnot worthy of some of his drives\u201d early on, forcing him into defensive modes and come-from-behind heroics. Yet, the Dutchman rattled off eight wins and eight poles, including a stunning recovery from over 100 points down after his home Dutch Grand Prix to nearly snatch the title.<\/p>\n
Speedcafe lauded this as \u201carguably the greatest season by a driver who didn\u2019t win the championship,\u201d emphasizing how Verstappen\u2019s composure turned a \u201cvolatile\u201d car into a contender. Even Flashscore noted he achieved the most wins and poles \u201cdespite being in a much worse car than Norris and Piastri.\u201d<\/p>\n
The turning point came post-summer break, when Red Bull rectified the RB21\u2019s faults. Verstappen unleashed a barrage of podiums and victories, unsettling McLaren\u2019s duo and dragging his team back into the fight. His peers, in the exclusive drivers\u2019 poll hosted by Formula1.com, voted him Driver of the Year for the fifth consecutive time, recognizing his \u201cremarkable fightback\u201d in the season\u2019s final stint.<\/p>\n
Team principals echoed this sentiment, ranking him first despite the hardware disadvantage. One blemish? A controversial collision with George Russell in Spain, where Verstappen \u201clost his head\u201d and incurred a penalty that cost crucial points. But that moment only humanized the imperious driver, who otherwise delivered \u201cpoles and wins that defied belief.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Norris\u2019s championship run was a masterclass in consistency, bolstered by McLaren\u2019s superior car. Yet, in expert eyes, it was Verstappen\u2019s ability to extract magic from mediocrity that set him apart. As the season wrapped, a chorus of rankings from respected outlets and insiders solidified this view. Autosport\u2019s writers placed him atop their list, praising his all-around brilliance. Even in fan-influenced polls like Clip The Apex, where Norris edged him out, Verstappen\u2019s resilience shone through.<\/p>\n
To determine the overall consensus, we scoured the web for all major published top-10 rankings of 2025 F1 drivers, excluding user-generated content like Reddit . This yielded six key sources: Autosport Writers, F1 Team Principals, F1 Drivers\u2019 Vote, Goodwood, Speedcafe. Each list was compiled into a comparison table below for transparency.<\/p>\n
Compiled Top-10 F1 Drivers of 2025<\/p>\n
Based on a comprehensive web search, I\u2019ve compiled top-10 rankings from key published sources on the 2025 F1 season. These include the official championship standings (for reference) and subjective rankings from motorsport outlets and insider polls. The sources represent a balanced distribution: expert analyses (Autosport Writers, The Athletic, Speedcafe, Goodwood) and insider votes (Team Principals, Drivers\u2019 Vote).<\/p>\n
Pos
\nOfficial Standings
\nAutosport Writers
\nTeam Principals
\nDrivers\u2019 Vote
\nThe Athletic
\nSpeedcafe
\nGoodwood<\/p>\n
1
\nLando Norris
\nMax Verstappen
\nMax Verstappen
\nMax Verstappen
\nMax Verstappen
\nMax Verstappen
\nMax Verstappen<\/p>\n
2
\nMax Verstappen
\nGeorge Russell
\nLando Norris
\nLando Norris
\nGeorge Russell
\nGeorge Russell
\nLando Norris<\/p>\n
3
\nOscar Piastri
\nCharles Leclerc
\nOscar Piastri
\nGeorge Russell
\nCharles Leclerc
\nOscar Piastri
\nOscar Piastri<\/p>\n
4
\nGeorge Russell
\nLando Norris
\nGeorge Russell
\nOscar Piastri
\nLando Norris
\nLando Norris
\nGeorge Russell<\/p>\n
5
\nCharles Leclerc
\nOscar Piastri
\nFernando Alonso
\nCharles Leclerc
\nOscar Piastri
\nCharles Leclerc
\nCharles Leclerc<\/p>\n
6
\nLewis Hamilton
\nNico Hulkenberg
\nCarlos Sainz
\nCarlos Sainz
\nFernando Alonso
\nFernando Alonso
\nIsack Hadjar<\/p>\n
7
\nKimi Antonelli
\nPierre Gasly
\nCharles Leclerc
\nFernando Alonso
\nCarlos Sainz
\nCarlos Sainz
\nKimi Antonelli<\/p>\n
8
\nAlex Albon
\nIsack Hadjar
\nOliver Bearman
\nAlex Albon
\nIsack Hadjar
\nAlex Albon
\nCarlos Sainz<\/p>\n
9
\nCarlos Sainz
\nKimi Antonelli
\nIsack Hadjar
\nOliver Bearman
\nOliver Bearman
\nPierre Gasly
\nFernando Alonso<\/p>\n
10
\nFernando Alonso
\nCarlos Sainz
\nNico Hulkenberg
\nIsack Hadjar
\nPierre Gasly
\nNico Hulkenberg
\nAlex Albon<\/p>\n
Overall Top-10 F1 Drivers of 2025<\/p>\n
To aggregate an overall ranking, I assigned points using the F1 system (25 for 1st, 18 for 2nd, 15 for 3rd, 12 for 4th, 10 for 5th, 8 for 6th, 6 for 7th, 4 for 8th, 2 for 9th, 1 for 10th) across the **six subjective sources only** (excluding official standings). Drivers not in a list score 0 for that source. Ties were broken by number of top-10 appearances, then highest single position achieved.<\/p>\n
Rank
\nDriver
\nTotal Points
\nBreakdown (Points per Source)<\/p>\n
1
\nMax Verstappen
\n150
\nAutosport: 25, Principals: 25, Drivers: 25, Athletic: 25, Speedcafe: 25, Goodwood: 25<\/p>\n
2
\nGeorge Russell
\n93
\nAutosport: 18, Principals: 12, Drivers: 15, Athletic: 18, Speedcafe: 18, Goodwood: 12<\/p>\n
3
\nLando Norris
\n90
\nAutosport: 12, Principals: 18, Drivers: 18, Athletic: 12, Speedcafe: 12, Goodwood: 18<\/p>\n
4
\nOscar Piastri
\n77
\nAutosport: 10, Principals: 15, Drivers: 12, Athletic: 10, Speedcafe: 15, Goodwood: 15<\/p>\n
5
\nCharles Leclerc
\n66
\nAutosport: 15, Principals: 6, Drivers: 10, Athletic: 15, Speedcafe: 10, Goodwood: 10<\/p>\n
6
\nFernando Alonso
\n34
\nAutosport: 0, Principals: 10, Drivers: 6, Athletic: 8, Speedcafe: 8, Goodwood: 2<\/p>\n
7
\nCarlos Sainz
\n33
\nAutosport: 1, Principals: 8, Drivers: 8, Athletic: 6, Speedcafe: 6, Goodwood: 4<\/p>\n
8
\nIsack Hadjar
\n19
\nAutosport: 4, Principals: 2, Drivers: 1, Athletic: 4, Speedcafe: 0, Goodwood: 8<\/p>\n
9
\nNico Hulkenberg
\n10
\nAutosport: 8, Principals: 1, Drivers: 0, Athletic: 0, Speedcafe: 1, Goodwood: 0<\/p>\n
10
\nPierre Gasly
\n9
\nAutosport: 6, Principals: 0, Drivers: 0, Athletic: 1, Speedcafe: 2, Goodwood: 0 (tiebreak over Albon: better highest position \u2013 6th vs. 8th)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the high-octane world of Formula 1, 2025 will be remembered as a season of redemption, rookies, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-387738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}