Sports Editor Amaya Sharma breaks down the key storylines of the 2025 season and the battles that will define the race to December, as Formula 1 returns from the summer break.

After a long summer break, the second half of the season picked up in Zandvoort with a spectacle of a weekend. With 10 races remaining of this 24-race season, everything counts from now until December in the teams’ and drivers’ quest for the World Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.

The biggest headlines of the summer break centered on drivers’ contracts, revealing the directions teams wanted to take ahead of the 2026 regulation changes. Max Verstappen finally announced that he is staying with Red Bull for next year, which led to Toto Wolff confirming after the Dutch Grand Prix that Mercedes are ‘continuing with both’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

We also got the long-awaited Cadillac driver announcements for 2026: the experienced Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, with 16 race wins and 106 podiums between them. This has been seen by many as the perfect pairing for the 11th team, their experience seen as a vital part in building up their team. 

Creator: Steffen Prößdorf | Credit: Steffen Prößdorf
Copyright: Steffen Prößdorf

McLaren’s Mixed Emotions 

McLaren has been dominating the season, leading the Constructors’ Championship after Zandvoort with 584 points and 7 1-2’s across the season, one of the best seasons in their history as a team.

Oscar Piastri added to the success this weekend by achieving his first-ever Grand Slam and extending his lead over Lando Norris by 34 points. A Grand Slam is achieved with a perfect Grand Prix weekend: pole position, 100% laps lead, fastest race lap and race win.

Zandvoort brought his number of race wins to 9 in his ongoing 3-year career, matching Lando’s 9 race wins in his ongoing 7-year career. Oscar shone across the weekend, where Lando flailed, and this created a big wedge in both their aspirations to win the World Drivers’ Championship.

Lando’s weekend went from bad to worse as he topped free practice but fell short of Piastri in qualifying, leaving him needing to do double the work on Sunday to beat his teammate. On race day, he managed to maintain 2nd against the strength of Max Verstappen and kept within reach of Oscar Piastri.

However, a few laps from the finish, he smelt smoke from the cockpit, which indicated he had a power unit failure, and meant he had to DNF, further denting his championship chances. This gives Piastri a clear upper hand going into the following races and puts more pressure on Norris to bounce back hard and fast.

Ferrari’s Miseries

Despite the chance to develop over the summer break, there seems to be little change in Ferrari’s lackluster season. They headed into the summer break with a decent end to the first half of the season with Charles Leclerc getting a podium in Spa-Francorchamps and 4th in Hungary, but nothing has compared to their desire to be back to winning ways.

This weekend was no better as, despite them showing speed during free practice and achieving decent grid positions of 6th and 7th, the performance did not translate into the most important part – Sunday. A rare mistake from Lewis Hamilton led to him taking a corner too wide and clipping the wall, destroying his wheels and front wing on lap 22.

Then Charles Leclerc’s race ended in the same corner as Lewis’, with Kimi Antonelli tagging his rear left wheel on the 52nd lap. This dented Ferrari’s constructor standings as they now only have a 12-point lead over Mercedes, which increases the pressure on them as a team.

To make matters worse, after the race, the stewards gave Lewis Hamilton a five-place grid penalty for Monza, the Italian GP, after failing to slow under double-waved yellow flags in pre-race laps. Ferrari are under extreme pressure to deliver at their home Grand Prix, Monza, with the stands full of the Tifosi. 

Rookies Rock

Zandvoort race delivered all the drama, especially with the rookies having flawless drives. Namely, Isack Hadjar, who started off his career spinning out on the formation lap of his first race, Australia, and receiving a lot of negative criticism, but bounced back fast.

He has consistently scored points throughout the first half of the season, sitting in 10th in the drivers’ championship, and has not been out in Q1 all season. To top it off, he had a stellar race starting from P4 and finishing P3, getting his first podium in 15 races, quicker than several other drivers, and the youngest French to do so at 20 years, 11 months and 3 days old.

He stands amongst seven others this season to stand on one of the coveted podium steps, etching his name in history as well as the track. His first podium also helped boost his team’s standing in the constructors’ championship to 7th place.

Also, despite Antonelli’s unfortunate crash with Leclerc, he received encouraging support from Toto Wolff that he is doing well and encouraged his risk-taking as a way to learn.

Major Midfield

This year, the field has been closer than ever, and it has been thrilling to see how the midfield has performed. Williams has been the best of the rest so far, sitting in 5th with 80 points and an 18-point lead over Aston Martin in 6th.

Williams, with their lineup of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, has been pretty solid with both drivers consistently scoring points throughout the first half of the season. Carlos Sainz was unlucky at Zandvoort, receiving a 10-second penalty after a collision with Liam Lawson on Lap 26, dropping them both down the grid.

Aston Martin’s speed showed this race, with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finishing 7th and 8th, their second double points finish of the season. A great change compared to some of their results before the break.

Lastly, Haas shone with their double points finish with Esteban Ocon starting in P18 and Ollie Bearman in P20 and finishing in P10 and P6, respectively. This was Ollie Bearman’s career best and gave Haas some crucial points in the constructors’ fight.

It will be interesting to see how the race to be the best of the rest develops, with the field so tightly packed. 

Creator: EIBNER/Jerry Andre | Credit: imago/Eibner
Copyright: imago/Eibner

Moving on to Monza 

The Dutch Grand Prix provided lots of drama, crucial stories and key talking points to watch out for in Monza.

It will be interesting to see how the title fight plays out with Oscar Piastri having a good lead, giving him confidence heading into the weekend, whereas Lando Norris is on the back foot and needs to perform extremely well to catch up with his teammate.

Ferrari will be vying to have a good weekend at their home Grand Prix to give their fans something to be happy about. However, with Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, they have to really be on top form to produce a good weekend.

Don’t forget to keep up with the Italian GP this weekend from 5–7 September.