F1 top 10 drivers of 2025 - Part 1

Well, that was a hell of an F1 year!

Here, the RacingNews365 team gives you its run-down of the top 10 drivers from 2025. Its five writers - Ian Parkes, Sam Coop, Nick Golding, Jake Nichol, and Fergal Walsh - adopted F1's grand prix scoring system, giving 25 points to the driver who they felt performed best over the 24-race season, down to one point for the 10th-placed driver on their list.

That gave a comprehensive breakdown of the top 10, with drivers 10 to six listed here. The top five drivers will be announced on Christmas Day, along with the total number of combined points scored from the five writers overall.

As always, this is a subjective list. You, our readers, may have your own view, so please feel free to provide your comments in the box below.

Make sure you follow RacingNews365 tomorrow when we complete our top 10.

10. Oliver Bearman

Rookie Bearman made the shortlist with three of the five writers, with Nick Golding placing the British driver as high as sixth in his top 10. There is no doubt that over the course of the campaign, Bearman steadily improved, in particular, after starting on such a low note with his heavy crash in first practice for the Australian Grand Prix. There were other wretched moments along the way, notably his crash in the pit lane during the British Grand Prix, and he collected numerous penalty points. As a result, he is two points shy of a race ban going into 2026. But Bearman grew into the season, displaying considerable race craft and pace that allowed him to collect a strong haul of points after the summer break, with the highlight being fourth in Mexico City to equal Haas' best GP result.

9. Alex Albon

If only Albon had finished the season as he had started it, then he would have been significantly higher on this list. But a dismal run of zero points from the final eight grands prix (save for three points in the United States sprint) means he nets ninth spot here. Albon was sensational early on in a Williams that was not expected to perform as well as it did, particularly as its development was stopped soon after the season had started, given the focus on the wide-sweeping changes to the 2026 regulations. The Thai-British driver scored points in seven of the first eight races, including a trio of fifths in Australia, Miami and Imola before the wheels came off with three successive retirements in Spain, Canada and Austria. There were further strong finishes in four of the next five races, only to be thoroughly undermined by the concluding third of the year.

8. Kimi Antonelli

Again, another driver who only made the top 10 on three of our writers' lists. At 18, Antonelli made an inauspicious F1 debut when he crashed his Mercedes minutes into the opening practice session of the 2024 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Far from the impact the young Italian would have dreamed of on home soil, a day later, he was confirmed as the replacement for seven-time Champion Lewis Hamilton. In stepping into such sizeable shoes, Antonelli far from disgraced himself, but endured the most stunning sequence of results, initially scoring points in five of the first six flyaway races before managing only three points in nine European Grands Prix, sandwiching his first podium when he finished third in Canada. Once the flyaways began again, so Antonelli's form improved, with the highlight being his claiming runner-up in the São Paulo sprint and grand prix. You sense there is far more to come from this blossoming talent. 

7. Carlos Sainz

If you could combine the first half of Albon's season with the second half for Sainz, then Williams would have enjoyed as near as perfect a campaign as it could have hoped for. Instead, there is this bizarre imbalance. The reason why Sainz is ahead of Albon, despite finishing nine points and one position behind his team-mate, is that it was a new team for the Spanish driver compared to Albon's fourth with Williams, and most significantly, Sainz scored two podiums late on. Albon is still awaiting his first in 90 starts. Although disappointed not to hit the ground running following his switch from Ferrari, and often bemoaning he could find no rhythm with the car, Sainz still scored points in six of the first 10 races [although he was no higher than eighth]. As the year wore on, and he started to feel more comfortable, performances and results followed, notably those thirds in Azerbaijan and Qatar, playing a key role in Williams securing a superb fifth in the constructors' championship.

6. Isack Hadjar

On December 7, 2024, Hadjar stalled on the grid in the title-deciding F2 feature race, wrecking his championship chances. Just shy of a year later, Red Bull confirmed the young French-Algerian driver would partner Max Verstappen in 2026 following a stellar season that commenced cruelly when he crashed his Racing Bulls on the formation lap of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. As a rookie on his debut, and with the spotlight firmly on him - not least when Lewis Hamilton's father, Anthony, placed a consoling arm around him, and offered soothing words of advice as they walked down the Albert Park paddock - many lesser drivers might have crumbled from there. Not Hadjar. He proved himself to be made of sterner stuff and worthy of his place in F1, with several stand-out drives, the highlight being his third place in the Dutch GP. Arguably, his 51-point haul did not do him justice. Next year, though, he faces the acid test of his credentials.