The Formula One season has gotten underway, and through the first races, the season has been amazing.
Everyone knew McLaren had the fastest car this year, but what people didn’t expect was the pure domination of Australian Driver Oscar Piastri. Piastri is in his third season with McLaren and up until last season, he had never won a race. However, this year he has been completely dominant, winning four out of six races and proving that he is the best driver. Many thought that his teammate Lando Norris would be the one leading the championship, but it has been Piastri who has driven with confidence and has been winning nonstop. It’s not like Norris is having a bad season by any means, having one win and four podiums; he just hasn’t been on the same level as his teammate. Since both drivers are doing extremely well, McLaren is currently dominating the constructors (team) championship, with over a 100 point lead on the second place team, Mercedes.
It has been a disappointing start to the season for the four year consecutive champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Over the last four years, Max has been in a league of his own, and nobody has had the pace to keep up with him. Although he has won one race this year, that is nowhere near the standards he has. He is used to winning in a dominating fashion and winning quite often. So what is the problem this year? The main problem that Verstappen is having is dealing with the car. In order to do well in F1, you need to have two things: a talented driver and a fast race car. Red Bull has checked one of those boxes with Verstappen being widely regarded as the best driver in the world, but they haven’t been able to produce a quick enough car this year. Another issue is the lack of consistency within the team, as they have already switched their second driver from Liam Lawson to Yuki Tsunoda within six races. Team Principal Christian Horner has himself a mess to deal with, and if they don’t fix things soon, they could lose Max Verstappen to another team next season.
One of the pleasant surprises of the season has been the consistency of Mercedes. Mercedes has been at the top for years, but after losing the greatest Formula One Driver of all time, Lewis Hamilton, to Ferrari, things didn’t look promising going into the season. However, George Russel has been at the top of his game with his lowest finish in 2025 being fifth. Mercedes was able to pair the talent of Russel with the youngest driver on the grid Andrea “Kimi” Antonelli. Kimi is 18 years old and has already shown potential of having what it takes to be the world champion. In Miami, he qualified first for the sprint race, and his highest finish this season has been fourth in the Australian Grand Prix, which is extremely impressive for a rookie.
One team that has been extremely disappointing this season has been Ferrari. Over the last few seasons, Ferrari has consistently been in second place in the Constructors Championship and has had many grand prix wins with the driver pairing of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. That pairing has changed this year though, as Ferrari signed Lewis Hamilton in the offseason to replace Sainz who has found a spot at Williams Racing. On paper Ferrari’s lineup looks amazing, but their car hasn’t been able to deliver for them. Their highest finish this year was third place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from Leclerc and a sprint win in China from Hamilton. Ferrari definitely has the potential to make some noise this year, but they are going to have to make some major upgrades to their car if they want to compete with McLaren or Mercedes.
It has been an astonishing Formula One season so far, and it is just getting started. The next race is the Spanish Grand Prix, which will take place on June 1. The driver’s championship battle is very close between the two McLaren drivers, and there is still a lot to drive for.
