Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton receive fresh targets ahead of F1 return

At the halfway point of the F1 season, it is a good time to take stock and evaluate how every driver is doing, and what they must do in the remaining 10 races when the campaign resumes.

With this in mind, in a two-part special, RacingNews365 has taken a look at each of the 20 drivers and has come up with a simple target each should aim to achieve. 

Part one, including a Red Bull-sized target for Liam Lawson, was published on Saturday, August 23rd, and is available to read here. 

Find out who needs to reassert his authority against his team-mate, who is chasing a near-decade best result and a scarcely believable target for Lewis Hamilton.

Oscar Piastri

Piastri must arrest the growing momentum Norris has gained since their Canadian GP collision. 

Norris has three wins from four and came out on top in a wheel-to-wheel battle in Austria. 

Piastri must reassert his authority on this championship. 

Lando Norris

Since Miami, Norris has only finished one grand prix, not in first or second – that was the classified 18th in Canada after his moment of indecision, which could yet come back to haunt him in the final points standings. 

But he simply must continue this run of form, which has seen him win four of the last seven races, finishing second in two others.

Max Verstappen

For Verstappen, the 2025 title has gone. He won’t be winning a fifth crown this year. 

Therefore, all attention must be on 2026 and ensuring this team, which has been through so much turbulence in the last year, is fighting fit for the massive change on the horizon. 

George Russell

Now it is almost certain he is staying for 2026, Russell’s goal for the rest of 2025 is simple: Beat Max Verstappen to third in the drivers’ standings. 

He is 15 points behind, with 14 races remaining.

Charles Leclerc

Leclerc must continue to be Ferrari’s figurehead and try to lead the team to second place in the constructors’ standings, given the struggles across the garage.

Lewis Hamilton’s arrival has given him a boost in confidence, and he is delivering. 

Lewis Hamilton

As remarkable as this is, the goal for the seven-time champion, 105-time grand prix winner, 104-time pole-sitter and 202-podium visitor must simply be to score a podium.

It has, China Sprint excepted, been dreadful so far, and a simple podium visit, whilst not that big in the grand scheme of things, is the low-hanging fruit Hamilton needs.

Kimi Antonelli

Antonelli has had a typical rookie season. Some outstanding highlights and typical rookie mistakes. 

His goal is to continue gathering knowledge and understanding rather than chasing the big headline results. 

Just keep plugging away and taking each race as it comes. He’s got another season in the bank already for 2026.

Alex Albon

Since 2016, the highest points return for a Williams driver was Valtteri Bottas in 2016, with 85. Albon currently has 54. 

Beating that, and guiding Williams to fifth in the constructors’ would represent an outstanding season.

Nico Hulkenberg

Now that the podium monkey has firmly been shifted, Hulkenberg’s goal is to ensure this team is as ready as it can possibly be for the transformation to Audi. 

It is why he was signed to lead the project. There has been remarkable progress from Stake, and it is now a regular Q3 and points contender, and ensuring that progress is not lost and transformed to Audi is key. 

Esteban Ocon

Of all the team-mate battles, Ocon and Oliver Bearman is the closest in the field. 

The Frenchman must simply try to beat Bearman as much as possible and make the final tallies as reflective of a driver in his eighth full season compared to a rookie.