As Formula 1 heads into its 2025 summer break, the first 14 races have painted a clear picture of which teams and drivers are thriving – and which are struggling to keep pace.

From McLaren’s rise to dominance to Ferrari’s frustrating inconsistency, and from breakout performances in the midfield to disappointing campaigns from once-reliable contenders, the opening half of the season has delivered a mix of triumphs and setbacks.

Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers of 2025 so far.

Winner – McLaren

Undeniably the biggest winner of 2025 so far, McLaren has emerged as the dominant force this season, winning 11 of the first 14 races of the year.

Although there are still 10 rounds left in the championship, it’s clear that either Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris will take the crown this year. Max Verstappen would need a miraculous comeback to beat the McLarens; the Dutchman nearly 100 points behind Piastri in the standings.

There’s even less doubt, if possible, that McLaren will also secure its second consecutive constructors’ championship, overtaking Williams to move into second place behind Ferrari as the team with the most titles (10 to Ferrari’s 16).

At this point, McLaren’s main worry is how to handle its intra-team rivalry between Piastri and Norris.

The team’s approach of not enforcing team orders has so far created what can be considered minor issues.

Even if there has been contact between its two drivers, McLaren’s is so far ahead of the competition both in terms of performance and points that the on-track clashes have had little impact on the team’s dynamic.

It remains to be seen what will happen once the end of the season gets closer and tensions between Piastri and Norris grow, but unless they start taking each other out of races, McLaren should be able to cruise to both titles.

Loser – Lewis Hamilton

Not even the most pessimistic of observers could have imagined the first part of Hamilton’s debut season with Ferrari would go so poorly.

It’s still odd to keep mentioning his Chinese GP sprint victory as the highlight of the year so far, but here we are, with Hamilton not only having not made progress on track, but with his attitude and morale having changed for the worse.

Since joining Ferrari, Hamilton has been in somewhat uncharted territory, unable to match his team-mate Charles Leclerc more often than not and having no real answers as to why.

The Ferrari is not the most competitive car out there, but Leclerc has been on the podium five times while Hamilton continues seeking a top-three finish 14 races into the season.

While the results have not been there, what’s perhaps more worrying for Ferrari is how Hamilton’s mental strength appears to be cracking.

Calling himself “useless” or suggesting that Ferrari might need to replace him is not what’s expected from a driver who was hired as a key element in leading the Scuderia as it tries to return to winning ways.

The public negative self-talk is not new from Hamilton, who already last year said at one point he wasn’t fast anymore, but lately it has reached new lows.

It’s no wonder that there are questions about his future again, as Hamilton himself was cryptic about it in the last race before the break in Hungary, saying he would “hopefully” be back after the summer shutdown.

The break will be a good opportunity for Hamilton to try to reset his mindset as he tries to find the form that he has been missing.

Loser – Red Bull

The end of the 2024 season, in which Red Bull already showed signs of having fallen behind its rivals, made a weak start to 2025 not a complete surprise.

Two wins and three second places in the first five races were a pretty solid start to the year for Max Verstappen, even if he had to put on some sort of supernatural performances to beat the McLarens.

However, the results didn’t tell the full story, and the writing was on the wall pretty early on: Red Bull was hardly a match for McLaren.

There was some hope that the development race would help Red Bull close the gap, but in reality, things have gone the other way, with Verstappen enduring his weakest weekend of the year in Hungary.

The Dutchman is no longer a championship contender, and while speculation about his future is over for now, things were less than rosy in Milton Keynes.

Off the track, Red Bull has undergone a team principal change for the first time in 20 years after Christian Horner was sacked, a decision that highlighted the current instability at the team.

Its decision to swap drivers after two races has also backfired, as Yuki Tsunoda is now behind Liam Lawson in the standings, the Japanese having dropped to 18th in the championship after seven point-less races in a row.

Short of some sort of magic turnaround after the break, Red Bull could be set to finish a distant fourth in the championship, a disappointing end to an era in which it was once the dominant force.

Winner – Alex Albon

Although Williams has, in recent races, not been the same consistent performer that it was throughout the first half of the season, the Grove team still have plenty to be happy about.

Albon has been one of the stars of the first 14 races, scoring more points in 2025 (54) than in his previous three seasons combined at Williams.

The three DNFs during the Spain-Canada-Austria run – caused mainly by mechanical issues outside his control – were a low point, but he has bounced back since, putting on a stellar performance at Spa to qualify fifth and finish sixth.

Albon has, for the most part, dominated team-mate Carlos Sainz, although luck has not been on the Spaniard’s site all season long.

Even so, Albon has looked like the most solid he has been since entering F1 and it would be fascinating to see what he can do if Williams gets the 2026 regulations right and takes a step towards the front.

Winner – Sauber

Sauber’s story this season has been quite remarkable in how it turned the worst car of the field in the early races into a podium scorer by the British Grand Prix.

Sauber went seven races without scoring a point – from China to Monaco – before it introduced a major upgrade package that changed it all from Spain.

In Barcelona, the Hinwil squad scored 10 points, and has finished in the top 10 in all races since, becoming a solid contender in the fight for sixth in the standings.

The team has also produced feel-good stories with its drivers, as Nico Hülkenberg finally celebrated his first Formula 1 podium and Gabriel Bortoleto showed his credentials with a remarkable sixth-place finish in Hungary.

In the process, Sauber has helped Audi have1 not only have a much more positive outlook for when it takes over next year, but it has also enhanced the credibility of a project that had initially looked chaotic, to say the least.

Loser – Yuki Tsunoda

It’s probably lucky for Tsunoda that McLaren is so far ahead of Red Bull that Verstappen doesn’t really need a team-mate to stay in the championship fight, otherwise the Japanese might be facing even more pressure to perform.

As the summer shutdown kicked off, it had been nearly three months since Tsunoda last finished in the points, 10th in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May.

There’s no doubt that the Red Bull is not a particularly easy car to drive, but Tsunoda’s gap to Verstappen has been excessive in most of the races they have been team-mates.

Tsunoda appeared to make some progress in Belgium and Hungary, but was still left unrewarded.

The Japanese driver’s case has not been helped by the fact that it was him who had urged Red Bull to promote him, feeling he was ready to deliver alongside Verstappen.

As things stand, Tsunoda will need a much better second part of the season to make sure he continues as Verstappen’s team-mate in 2026.

Loser – Alpine

In the super-competitive fight that it’s the 2025 Formula 1 midfield, Alpine has emerged as the most consistent of the worst performers, particularly since Sauber took its big step forward and escaped the bottom of the standings.

This year, Alpine has made the headlines mostly for the wrong reasons, including the loss of its team boss.

A controversial driver swap, dropping Jack Doohan and installing Franco Colapinto, has not been justified, as the Argentine hasn’t delivered any points.

Alpine’s saving grace has been Pierre Gasly, who has singlehandedly kept the team somewhat near its closest rivals, although still at the bottom of the standings.

With very limited development upgrades planned for the current car, Alpine will face an uphill battle to avoid last place.