The F1 summer break, a month-long shutdown of all F1 activities, doesn’t just give the teams a well-deserved rest, but it also allows us to gather our thoughts and reflect on the season so far, and look forward to a 10-race run in that promises to be a thriller between the two McLarens for the title.
It’s been an intriguing championship so far, one dominated by McLaren with some quality performances from the chasing pack, most notably Nico Hulkenberg’s first podium in the Sauber at his 239th attempt, at Silverstone. I have been grading each driver’s performance out of 10 for each race so far, hopefully you have been reading them, and have given them all an average over the first 14 races of the season. Let’s see how well I have done, and if I even agree with the scores I have given them.
21. Franco Colapinto – 5.43
Franco replaced Jack Doohan after the Miami Grand Prix and hasn’t made the difference Alpine were looking for. There have been a few crashes and no points for the Argentine. His best score was 7.1 at the Canadian Grand Prix where he finished 13th, equalling Doohan’s best result.
20. Jack Doohan – 5.56
The pressure was on Jack before a wheel was turned, as soon as Colapinto was signed, it felt like the clock was ticking. Doohan wasn’t able to get on his teammate’s pace and also crashed the car a few too many times, maybe pushing too hard, especially when he tried to take turn 1 at Suzuka with the DRS open!
19. Lance Stroll – 6.27
It’s been another quiet season for Lance, apart from when it rains. In the two wet races of the season, Australia and Britain, Lance has recorded by far his best results of 6th and 7th, respectively. He did score a surprise 7th in Hungary after Aston Martin’s upgraded car really clicked, but apart from these, he hasn’t really been anywhere and continues to be the most frustrating driver on the grid.
18. Liam Lawson – 6.29
This has been a rollercoaster debut campaign for Liam Lawson. From being unceremoniously demoted from Red Bull to Racing Bulls after only two races, to scoring points in 3 of the last 4 races and outperforming his teammate consistently in that period. His average has been hurt by those early races, both in the low 3, while he has scored a 9.2, an 8.3 and 8.1 in the aforementioned points finishes.
17. Yuki Tsunoda – 6.3
The curse of the Red Bull second seat has worked against Yuki this season. He started well in the Racing Bull, being in and around the points, but hasn’t been at that level since. He has only scored points 3 times in the Red Bull for 4 points. He has really struggled to get on top of this car, which has finally made the team evaluate if they are the issue, not the driver.
16. Gabriel Bortoleto – 6.58
Now, I disagree with myself here. I think Bortoleto has been really solid this season. He started the season with outqualifying his teammate, but couldn’t get the races right, but has now started to do that. Like Lawson, he has scored points in 3 of the last 4 races before the summer break. He should be higher really.
15. Esteban Ocon – 6.75
Esteban has had an up-and-down season, following the form of his car. He has had great races, like in China, but then races where he has been non-existent. He has been ever-so-slightly outperformed by his rookie teammate as well, who has felt more consistent.
14. Carlos Sainz – 6.77
Carlos hasn’t got to grips with his Williams consistently enough for a driver of his talent. He has had some great results, Jeddah for example, but has been outperformed by Albon and has really tailed off in the second half of the first half. His qualifying hasn’t helped him, starting further back and having to battle through.
13. Oliver Bearman – 6.79
Similar to Ocon, Bearman’s form has fluctuated like his car’s suitability to the tracks. He scored his first points in China, and continued that streak until Bahrain, but hasn’t scored since. However, he finished 11th four times between Canada and Belgium, showing a more consistent hand than his teammate and could have collected many more points if the chips had fallen another way.
12. Kimi Antonelli – 6.91
Kimi has had some great highs during his maiden season; his podium in Canada and his sprint pole in Miami topped those highs but we can’t forget he started his career with a 4th and two 6ths! He has been unfortunate with reliability as well, retiring from the points in Imola and Spain but has made mistakes that resulted in DNFs as well. It’s been a true rookie season as he gets to grips with F1. He lost his way towards the summer break as the upgrades made to the Mercedes changed its drivability. Hopefully, the break can give him some space to re-adjust and come back stronger.
11. Isack Hadjar – 7.14
Another one that surprised me when the averages came out, I thought he would be higher. Hadjar has been the surprise of the season and the rookie of the year for me. After his terrible start in Australia, he has shown really strong speed, especially in qualifying. He has finished in the points 5 times and was strategized out of at least 2 more by the Racing Bulls team. He has had a tricky run since Canada, but his acclimatisation to the big stage has been impressive after such a tricky start in Australia.
10. Max Verstappen – 7.15
I know what you are thinking, are you mad having Verstappen only 10th!!? Well, I scored him a 1 for his misdemeanour on Russell in Spain so that really dented his average. A score I stand by, by the way, you can’t be deliberately driving into people. This season sums up the enigma that is Max Verstappen so well. He has almighty drives like in Japan and Imola, where you think ‘Only he can do that’, but then has those moments of red mist, as in Spain. It reminds me of Michael Schumacher; undeniably one of the best to do it, but they have questionable moments that are beneath their talents. The Red Bull has got progressively worse over the course of the season and is now probably the 3rd or 4th best car, but Max has only been out of the top 6, twice, with 4 podiums. Without the 1 in Spain, he would be right up there, but shoulda, woulda, coulda!
9. Pierre Gasly – 7.25
Pierre has had to deal with the slowest car on the grid this season but has taken the opportunities given to him. His weekend in Bahrain was fantastic, qualifying in 6th around much faster cars and holding onto 7th for Alpine’s first points. When he’s been able to get on top of the car, its worked but more often than not, he hasn’t been able to trouble the points. Another stand out performance was 6th in Great Britain, taking advantage of the wet weather chaos. Is Pierre’s talents being wasted at Alpine? Almost certainly.
8. Lewis Hamilton – 7.36
The final surprise of the averages. I think Lewis wouldn’t be in my top ten if I wrote a 2025 driver list off the top of my head, but when you look at his results, he has only not scored points in two races. China and Hungary. And he was disqualified in China through no fault of his own. It’s the colossal expectations that came with his move to Ferrari and Lewis’ negative talk about himself that has made this such a tricky season to watch. It hasn’t been disastrous but he has been thoroughly outperformed by Leclerc. The sprint win in China is the peak of his season so far, with three 4ths, two 5ths and 2 6ths, again not disastrous but not up to his very high standards.
7. Fernando Alonso – 7.37
Fernando didn’t score points until Spain, and is tied in the championship with this teammate, who ranks 19th on this list, so you are probably wondering, why is he so high up? Well, let me explain. He retired from points-paying positions in Monaco and China, a safety car cost him in Imola and he was driving a dog of a car to 11th 3 times. Oh, and since Spain, he has scored points in every race, bar Belgium. His best result of 5th came in Hungary just before the summer break. Despite being ancient by F1 standards, his performance levels haven’t dropped; he can be trusted to maximise whatever car he is in. He is the eternal man.
6. Alex Albon – 7.47
Alex started the season so strongly, scoring points in 7 of the first 8 races, until a 3-race reliability-induced DNF streak derailed his momentum. Since then, he has scored 2 out of 3 before the summer break. What a turnaround from last year. While his teammate has been struggling, Alex has been leading the team to 5th in the championship with fantastic consistency. Even with Williams giving up development of their car very early, looking at his season as a whole, you wouldn’t really notice.
5. Nico Hulkenberg – 7.7
You may think this score is propped up by his podium at the British Grand Prix (which is my drive of the season so far), but Nico actually leads the pack with three 9+ scores at the Spanish, Austrian and British GPs, as well as an 8.4 in Canada during that 4-race points streak. While he has been out-qualified by his teammate, Nico has shown great racecraft and experience to take the flashy results, showing exactly why Sauber and Audi wanted him in the first place.
4. George Russell – 7.8
This has been George’s strongest season in F1, truly stepping into a leadership position at Mercedes. He has barely put a foot wrong, been consistently fast and only been out of the top 6, twice. He has stood on the podium 6 times, including a great win in Canada. Looking back, I think he should really be ahead of Leclerc in 3rd place, but his teammate’s proximity early in the season may have affected my scoring, reluctant to give him particularly big scores. For example, Bahrain really should be in the 9s with his late electronic issues while holding off a much quicker Lando Norris, but I only gave him 8.8. You live and learn, but this shouldn’t take anything away from George.
3. Charles Leclerc – 7.87
Comparing Charles and George more, I think that George started with a better car, as Charles’ Ferrari was very temperamental and difficult, especially in difficult conditions. The results point to George having the better season, but I’ve been very impressed with Charles’ ability to pull a result out – thinking sticking it on the front row in Monaco to secure 2nd, that fantastic one-stop in Saudi, comfortably leading in Hungary before reliability caught up with him, and that great drive in Spain for a podium. What they have in common was the Ferrari didn’t deserve to be there, but Charles did. That is what has impressed me so much this season from the Monegasque. There we go, I got there! Convinced myself that my scoring and order, are in fact, right. Nicely done James.
2. Lando Norris – 7.97
We have made it to the two easiest scores of the day. Lando has had the slight raw speed over his teammate over the season, but mistakes have cost him points and momentum during this first half, thinking back to Saudi Arabia and, of course, Canada. This has been coupled with sublime performances like Australia, Austria and Monaco, where he has shown his class and bottle. Winning 3 of the last 4 races has brought him right back into play with his teammate for the Championship, who has just been consistent. I feel you must have noticed from this post that I value consistency in drivers!
1. Oscar Piastri – 8.13
Oscar has stepped it up a notch this year. He was outperformed quite comprehensively by Norris last year, but Piastri has been the performer of the season so far, no doubt. He lost at least 15 points when sliding off track in Australia, but since then has been virtually faultless. I still don’t think he should have got that penalty at Silverstone that cost him victory. He has shown speed, mental toughness, and a no-holds-barred approach to racing that has put him in this position and shown why he has won every category he has ever raced in. Don’t put it past him to complete the set this year.
The Perfect Formula 