From huge off-track drama to fierce battles on it – The key moments of an unforgettable 2025 season

Anticipation was high ahead of the 2025 F1 season – and the campaign that followed more than matched up to those expectations.

A title fight that went down to wire, surprise podiums and numerous dramatic battles kept us entertained on track, while plenty of huge stories unfolded off it, from shock personnel changes through to intriguing driver market developments.

Join us as we take a look back at all of the key moments from an unforgettable year…

F1 75 Live kicks off the season

To celebrate F1’s 75th anniversary, the season kicked off with the spectacular F1 75 Live launch event held at London’s The O2 in February, where all 10 teams and their respective drivers unveiled their liveries for the season ahead.

It memorably marked Lewis Hamilton’s first appearance as a Ferrari driver, while the new batch of rookies made their debuts. Comedian Jack Whitehall hosted proceedings, and there were also performances from musical guests including Kane Brown and Take That.

Norris victorious before Piastri takes momentum

The Australian Grand Prix was the first race of a 24-round calendar and it proved to be a chaotic affair, with Lando Norris emerging as the winner following an event that featured changing weather conditions, Safety Cars and numerous crashes.

Team mate Oscar Piastri was amongst those to slide off track – but the Australian bounced back with victory in China one week later, kickstarting an early run of momentum that would see the 24-year-old take the championship lead at Round 5 in Saudi Arabia.

Ferrari go from Sprint win to double DSQ

Speaking of China, Round 2 of the championship proved to be one of highs and lows for Ferrari. Hamilton returned to winning ways in the first Sprint of the campaign, converting pole position into P1 as the Briton gave the Scuderia’s fans something to smile about.

However, Sunday’s race proved to be much tougher. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton initially crossed the line in fifth and sixth respectively – but both were later disqualified, with the former’s car found to be underweight in post-race checks while the rear skid block on Hamilton’s SF-25 was found to be under the minimum thickness required in the technical regulations.

Lawson and Tsunoda swap seats

After being promoted to Red Bull from the team’s sister squad for 2025, Liam Lawson faced a tricky start during the first two rounds of the campaign, recording a DNF in Australia before finishing outside of the points in China.

It was subsequently announced that the New Zealander would return to Racing Bulls as of Round 3 in Japan, marking a direct swap with Yuki Tsunoda as the Japanese racer became the latest to step up as Max Verstappen’s team mate.

Doohan replaced, Colapinto returns and Oakes leaves Alpine

Another driver change took place at Alpine in May. Speculation had long been swirling over Jack Doohan’s position at the team – and it was confirmed in the days after the Miami Grand Prix that he would be replaced by Franco Colapinto going forwards, with the Australian becoming first-choice reserve.

This was just one personnel change at the Enstone-based squad within a short space of time; it was announced only one day earlier that Team Principal Oliver Oakes had resigned with immediate effect.

McLaren come to blows in Canada as Russell wins and Antonelli scores a podium

Amid a dominant showing from McLaren during the early stages of the season – with Piastri and Norris responsible for seven wins in nine races, the other two victories belonging to Verstappen – Norris admitted that it was perhaps only a matter of time until he and his team mate came to blows on track.

Such an incident finally occurred at Round 10 in Canada. As they battled for P4 in the closing stages, Norris made contact with Piastri and suffered race-ending damage to his car, with the Briton later taking responsibility for what happened. George Russell, meanwhile, claimed a debut win of the season for Mercedes, while rookie team mate Kimi Antonelli scored his first F1 podium in third.

F1 The Movie is released

Formula 1 arrived on the big screen in June as F1 The Movie was released in cinemas. Filming of the motion picture – starring Brad Pitt as former driver Sonny Hayes, who makes a comeback to partner rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) at the fictional APXGP team – took place during actual Grand Prix weekends throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

The drivers and teams got a first glimpse of the movie after attending a private screening in Monaco a few weeks earlier, with many voicing their approval of the film afterwards.

Norris wins at home while Hulkenberg takes first podium

In terms of feel-good moments of the season, the British Grand Prix certainly provided some standout memories. After winning in Monaco for the first time earlier in the campaign, Norris added another iconic victory to his list by triumphing in front of his home crowd at Silverstone for the first time.

Joining him on the podium was Nico Hulkenberg, the Kick Sauber driver finally achieving a maiden top-three finish on his 239th attempt. It was a hugely popular result and one that the German hailed as “quite incredible”.

Horner leaves Red Bull

Just days after F1’s visit to Silverstone, Red Bull announced that Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner would leave the team with immediate effect, bringing a sudden end to his long period in charge of the outfit.

With Horner exiting after some 20 years in the role, Racing Bulls’ Laurent Mekies made the step up to replace him, while Alan Permane moved from Racing Director to Team Principal at the sister outfit as part of the reshuffle.

Verstappen linked to Mercedes move

Another off-track matter involving Red Bull that led to much discussion during the first half of the season was the topic of Verstappen’s future. Despite holding a contract to race for the Milton Keynes-based team until the end of 2028, speculation mounted linking the Dutchman to a Mercedes switch.

The rumours were put to bed when Verstappen confirmed just before the Hungarian Grand Prix that he would stay with the squad into 2026, while the Silver Arrows’ line-up was made official in October as it was announced that Russell and Antonelli would remain with the team.

Piastri leads as Red Bull struggle at halfway point

After an eventful first half of the campaign, Piastri had maintained his championship lead over Norris when F1 entered into its summer break following Round 14 at the Hungaroring, the Australian holding a nine-point margin over his team mate.

Red Bull, however, were at something of a low point going into the break. A difficult outing in Hungary had seen Verstappen finish down in ninth, meaning that the Dutchman was now 97 points adrift of Piastri in the drivers’ standings.

Cadillac announce drivers for debut season

While the remainder of 2025 was still to play out, a significant development for 2026 occurred when Cadillac – the 11th team set to join the grid next season – announced their driver line-up for their debut.

Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez were confirmed to make their returns to the grid with the American outfit, both bringing a vast amount of experience to the new operation.

Norris retires at Zandvoort as Hadjar gets maiden podium

When the campaign resumed at Zandvoort, Norris’ title hopes looked to have taken a blow as smoke started to emerge from his MCL39 in the final laps, forcing the Briton to pull off track and retire from the race. With Piastri taking victory, the points margin had now opened up to 34 points.

While Norris faced heartbreak, it proved to be a much happier day for Isack Hadjar, the rookie scoring his debut F1 podium by crossing the line in third place for Racing Bulls.

Verstappen’s comeback begins

Following the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen had found himself 104 points adrift of Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship – but the four-time World Champion was not deterred, soon kickstarting a remarkable resurgence during the second half of the season.

This began with a victory one week later at Monza, the Red Bull man beating the McLaren duo to win with an impressive margin of 19 seconds.

Piastri has a nightmare as Sainz returns to the podium

Just as Verstappen looked to be on the up, a more challenging sequence started to unfold for Piastri at Round 17 in Azerbaijan. The championship leader hit the barriers during an eventful Qualifying before crashing out on Lap 1 of Sunday’s race, marking his first DNF of the campaign.

It was a better weekend for Carlos Sainz, however. The Williams driver looked to have put a challenging start to his first season with the team behind him, recording the second fastest time in Qualifying and claiming a maiden podium for the Grove-based outfit in Sunday’s race.

Antonelli bounces back after Wolff’s comments

Another driver to have experienced mixed fortunes during the campaign so far was Antonelli, with the rookie enjoying a decent start to his maiden F1 season – which included a Sprint pole in Miami – before running into a difficult spell through the European leg.

The Italian’s performance in Monza was labelled as “underwhelming” by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff – but he promptly delivered a much more promising P4 in Baku, leading to a stronger second half of the year for the youngster.

McLaren secure back-to-back Teams’ Championships

The chances of McLaren clinching a second consecutive Teams’ Championship had long seemed likely, with the papaya squad building a sizeable points advantage over their rivals as the campaign progressed.

While Russell was the race winner at Round 18 in Singapore, a P3 and P4 for Norris and Piastri respectively was enough to secure the crown for the Woking-based outfit, their first back-to-back teams’ titles since their run of four between 1988 and 1991.

Norris retakes the lead

As Piastri’s spell off the podium continued, Norris was having a better run of form during the latter stages of the campaign. While both drivers were eliminated in a Lap 1 melee in the Austin Sprint – and lost out to Verstappen in Sunday’s race – Norris put himself ahead via a dominant performance in Mexico.

Converting pole position into a commanding win – crossing the line with a whopping margin of 30 seconds over closest challenger Leclerc – Norris retook the championship lead from his team mate with four rounds still to go.

Verstappen goes from pit lane to podium

While Verstappen had continued to eat into his own points deficit in the standings – leading many to question if a fifth title could now be on the cards for the Dutchman – his charge looked to have hit a snag when he made a surprise Q1 exit in Qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

After starting the race from the pit lane, Verstappen had his work cut out on Sunday at Interlagos – but the World Champion put in a stunning drive to climb right up to third place, ensuring that he was still very much in the fight prior to the final three races of the season.

McLaren suffer a double DSQ

Verstappen returned to the top step with another win in Las Vegas, while Norris and Piastri initially finished second and fourth respectively. However, it was announced after the race that both McLaren cars had been disqualified due to the rearmost skid wear being found to be below the minimum 9mm thickness required in the technical regulations.

The result had quite an effect on the Drivers’ Championship, with it meaning that Verstappen was now equal with Piastri as both sat 24 points behind Norris entering into the last two rounds.

Newey prepares for Team Principal role

Prior to the penultimate event of the season in Qatar, Aston Martin announced a leadership reshuffle for 2026 that would see Adrian Newey – who had joined as Managing Technical Partner in March – take on the additional role of Team Principal.

Andy Cowell – who had previously held the position of Team Principal and CEO – will become Chief Strategy Officer, with the team stating that the change is designed to focus on Newey and Cowell's "individual strengths and expertise, ensuring organisational efficiency".

Ferrari slip backwards in Teams’ Championship

For some time earlier in the season, Ferrari had held P2 in the Teams’ Championship. The Scuderia subsequently lost this to Mercedes after Round 17 in Azerbaijan, before retaking the position in Mexico thanks to a P2 finish for Leclerc.

Things seemed to quickly unravel during the final races, however. A double DNF in Sao Paulo saw the team slip back to fourth in the standings, a position that they were confirmed in prior to the finale in Abu Dhabi. Post-Qatar, a disappointed Leclerc said that he had “no words” after the squad had again struggled for performance.

Red Bull 2026 drivers confirmed

The final pieces of the 2026 driver line-up puzzle fell into place just a few days before the last race of 2025, with Red Bull announcing that Hadjar would replace Tsunoda at the squad as Verstappen’s team mate next year.

Tsunoda will take the role of test and reserve driver for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls, while the sister squad have recruited rookie Arvid Lindblad to fill Hadjar’s vacancy, the youngster making the step up from F2 to partner the incumbent Lawson.

A three-way title decider in Abu Dhabi

For the first time in 15 years, three drivers arrived at the finale with a chance to win the World Championship; Norris led the standings by 12 points from Verstappen, with Piastri 16 points adrift in third.

While a podium would be enough for Norris to seal the title, the Briton slipped to third on the opening lap and faced pressure from Leclerc, as well as a tense fight with Tsunoda later on. But the McLaren driver ultimately managed to hold on to that crucial P3, finishing behind Verstappen and Piastri to memorably clinch his maiden World Championship by two points.