RacingNews365's 2025 F1 Driver Ratings: Verstappen Tops Final Rankings

Max Verstappen has secured the highest average rating in RacingNews365's comprehensive 2025 driver rankings, capping off a season where his late-year form proved decisive. The Red Bull driver's 8.4 average score edged out champion Lando Norris, highlighting a year of contrasting fortunes and standout performances across the grid.

Why it matters:

Driver ratings provide a quantified, race-by-race perspective on performance beyond just championship points, revealing consistency, peak performance, and costly errors. This final ranking offers a snapshot of who delivered under pressure and who faltered during a dramatic 2025 season, setting narratives for the year ahead.

The details:

The rankings are based on post-race scores from the RacingNews365 team, averaged across the entire 22-race season.

• Max Verstappen (1st, 8.4): The top-rated driver earned five perfect 10 scores, including for a Grand Chelem in Azerbaijan. His pole lap in Japan was hailed as "lap of the gods," but a costly collision with George Russell in Spain resulted in his lowest score of 4.
• Lando Norris (2nd, 7.8): The 2025 world champion overcame a tricky season start and a disastrous Canadian Grand Prix (score: 3) to dominate the latter half of the European summer, securing four 10-rated victories.
• Oscar Piastri (3rd, 7.5): Piastri started "like a train on fire" with three 10-score wins but suffered an "incredible" slump after his Netherlands victory, a downturn that arguably cost him the championship he seemed destined to win.
• George Russell (4th, 7.5): His "best season in F1" yielded 319 points and two wins. His defense against Norris in a glitch-ridden Mercedes in Bahrain was a season highlight, and he dipped below a score of 5 only once all year.
• Charles Leclerc (5th, 7.4): The lone bright spot for Ferrari, Leclerc dragged his car to seven podiums. He consistently outperformed teammate Lewis Hamilton in both qualifying and race head-to-heads.

The big picture:

The ratings reveal several key season narratives. McLaren's driver pairing of Norris and Piastri was the strongest on paper, but Piastri's mid-season confidence loss proved pivotal. Mercedes found a new benchmark in Russell, while Ferrari's struggles were encapsulated in Leclerc's resilient but ultimately lonely campaign. The standout rookie was Isack Hadjar (6th, 6.7), whose eye-catching Zandvoort weekend likely secured his 2026 Red Bull seat, while Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli showed flashes of brilliance in their debut seasons.

What's next:

These ratings solidify the pecking order heading into the off-season. Russell's performance builds a foundation for a 2026 title challenge with Mercedes. For Piastri and Ferrari, the data underscores the specific consistency issues that must be addressed. For the rookies and midfield drivers, their scores provide a benchmark to surpass in 2026 as the grid prepares for another competitive year.