Portrait of a season: photos that capture an intense 2025 F1 championship

Lando Norris won the first race and claimed the title, but as our photo picks from 2025 show, so much happened in between...

Lando Norris at the Australian GP

Lando Norris began the season in style – well, almost – with victory in the Australian Grand Prix

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December 19, 2025
Lewis Hamilton wins China Sprint Race

it seemed like a fairytale. The Chinese Grand Prix was Lewis Hamilton’s second race event as a Ferrari driver, and in the Saturday sprint he took victory. It all began to go wrong after the main event at Shanghai

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Red Bull’s white livery for the Japanese GP

Red Bull’s white livery for the Japanese GP and the Degner Curve underpass creates a bleached-out effect as Max Verstappen pushes on to claim pole position. That achievement set up his superb race victory

Oscar Piastri was number one for the second time in 2025 at the Bahrain Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri was number one for the second time in 2025 at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Australian’s McLaren crossed the finish line 15sec clear of George Russell, moving him onto Norris’s heels in the points

Miami Grand Prix, with poleman Verstappen leading

Blast-off at the Miami Grand Prix, with poleman Verstappen leading fellow front-row man Norris. But it was third qualifier Piastri who went on to take his fourth victory from the first six grands prix

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Max Verstappen leads Piastri at the restart following an early safety car at the Saudi Arabian GP

Verstappen leads Piastri at the restart following an early safety car at the Saudi Arabian GP. But he would have to serve a penalty in the pits for cutting across Turns 1/2 at the initial start, and Piastri went on to win

Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull f1 Imola

back at the scene of his first tryout in F1 back in 2020 for the Team Formerly Known As Toro Rosso, Yuki Tsunoda pushes on at Imola’s Variante Alta chicane. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was Tsunoda’s fifth race since being called up to the senior Red Bull team in place of Liam Lawson. The Japanese finished 10th

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Lando Norris celebrates victory at Monaco

After a run of victories for McLaren team-mate Piastri, Norris did his title chances – and his self-confidence – no end of good by claiming pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix and going on to win one of F1’s blue-riband races. To make it all the sweeter, he did so under pressure from the Ferrari of home hero Charles Leclerc

Barcelona Piastri leads the race

The scoring tower at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona is a famous F1 landmark, and looms over Piastri leading the Spanish GP away en route to another victory. But the race is most notorious for the Verstappen ‘road rage’ incident with George Russell. The points lost from his ensuing penalty were more than he lost the title by

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battle at Austrian GP

Norris, left, and Piastri do battle during the opening stint of the Austrian Grand Prix. An earlier pitstop for Norris paid off and he went on to lead the Australian home for a McLaren 1-2. It meant he closed the points gap to Piastri to 15

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Silverstone clouds at the british gp

Thanks to its own micro-climate, Silverstone is famed for scenes such as this of forbidding clouds. The British Grand Prix was subject to changeable wet-dry conditions, which caught out some, including George Russell, who spun his Mercedes on slick tyres on a damp track

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McLaren side-by-side action Norris and Piastri at Belgian Grand Prix at Spa

More side-by-side action from McLaren duo Norris and Piastri as they blast up the Kemmel straight during the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Unlike in Austria, this time it was Piastri who led home a 1-2 for the team

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Isack Hadjar celebrates win

Isack Hadjar entered the 2025 season as the ‘other’ F1 rookie, in the sense that Red Bull seemed to have promoted him from F2 to Racing Bulls because there was no other option for the seat. He ended up being a star of the season, crowned by his third place in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. “What have we done?” he yelled over the radio, and well he might… It became one of the most significant factors in his ‘promotion’ to the Red Bull senior team in 2026 – an altogether more challenging proposition for any driver

Monza crowd watches the Italian GP podium

The fervent Monza crowd watches the Italian GP podium, after Verstappen beat the McLaren duo. The Woking team’s switcharound to Norris’s benefit after the final pitstops would prove controversial, and Piastri would not win again

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Red Bull celeberate Max Verstappen crossing the line

Hot on the heels of his Monza win, his first since Imola nine GPs earlier, Verstappen doubled up with his second consecutive victory on the streets of Baku in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Combined with seventh place for Norris and a shocker for Piastri, who crashed out on the opening lap, was the title really out of reach?

Panoramic view Marina Bay Circuit

Panoramic view of the Marina Bay circuit during the Singapore Grand Prix. Those with extremely good eyesight may be able to ascertain that Tsunoda leads here from Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz. Williams driver Sainz scooped the final point for 10th in a race won by the Mercedes of Russell

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Hamilton stands on the grid at the Spanish Grand Prix

Hamilton stands on the grid at the Spanish Grand Prix. This was one of the rare occasions he started ahead of ace qualifier Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, although he would finish sixth to the Monegasque’s third

Max Verstappen after the Qatar GP

The title really was on for Verstappen after the Qatar GP. A strategy blunder from McLaren under an early safety car helped the Red Bull man to another win, and set up a three-way title fight

Max Verstappen holding Las Vegas trophy

Verstappen’s win in Las Vegas was further boosted when Norris, finishing second, and Piastri, fourth, were later excluded for insufficient plank thickness. Max left the US on equal points with Piastri

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Lando Norris doing doughnuts

As Piastri alights from his second-placed McLaren, Norris pulls doughnuts in his after taking third in the final round in Abu Dhabi. The result was enough to earn the Briton the championship by just two points

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McLaren Celeberate championship

He’s in there somewhere… McLaren folk go wild for Norris. World champion in his seventh F1 season, a first title since his F3 European glory in 2017, and a second king of the racing world, after Jenson Button, to hail from Somerset

F1 final standings

Who finished where in the final points…

No. Driver Team Points
1 Lando Norris McLaren 423
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 421
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 410
4 George Russell Mercedes 319
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 242
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 156
7 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 150
8 Alexander Albon Williams 73
9 Carlos Sainz Williams 64
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 56
11 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 51
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 51
13 Ollie Bearman Haas 41
14 Liam Lawson Red Bull / RB 38
15 Esteban Ocon Haas 38
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 33
17 Yuki Tsunoda RB / Red Bull 33
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine 22
19 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 19
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 0
21 Jack Doohan Alpine 0

 

No. Constructor Points
1 McLaren 833
2 Mercedes 469
3 Red Bull 451
4 Ferrari 398
5 Williams 137
6 Racing Bulls 92
7 Aston Martin 89
8 Haas 79
9 Sauber 70
10 Alpine 22

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