Commentary: Formula 1 to start new season after 2025 turnaround

F1 Drivers lined up during the 2025 Abu Dhabi pre-race parade. (Credit: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

With drivers from all around the world travelling year-round, Formula 1 (F1) not only brings fans high-adrenaline racing, but also strategic thinking and team unity. 

The 2025 F1 season brought nothing but surprises race after race. 

The start to the year was already uncertain as eight of 10 teams started 2025 with a different lineup than they did in 2024, with Lewis Hamilton signing with Ferrari after driving 12 seasons for Mercedes-Benz.

Even though his choice to move to Ferrari stunned some fans, it was already expected since Hamilton was pursuing an eighth title in the Drivers’ World Championship and Mercedes failed to provide him with a world championship-winning car. 

Hamilton’s move to Ferrari marked the beginning of his decline, ultimately becoming irrelevant in a sport where he once reigned supreme.

Due to Hamilton’s move, either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz would have to leave Ferrari. 

Sainz’s 2021 contract with Ferrari came at the right time for his career. 

He proved to be a team player, constantly pushing Leclerc and outperforming him at times. Sainz also had four wins, including the 2022 British Grand Prix and 25 podium finishes, surpassing Leclerc in points in the championship standings. 

Sainz started his 2025 season with Williams Racing, proving that the “Carlos Sainz effect” is alive and well.

The effect refers to his outstanding performance in his first full year of his contract, leading to the team’s overall improvement and competitiveness. After he signed a multi-year deal with Williams Racing and started the 2025 season with the team, Williams Racing moved from 9th to 5th place in the Constructors’ Championship. 

Now, Williams Racing is definitely a team to watch in the upcoming 2026 season, which was not the case before Sainz. 

If there’s something that the 2025 season showed is that Max Verstappen’s reign of terror has come to an end. 

Verstappen came to F1, driving for Red Bull, as the youngest motorsports driver at 17 years old. Even at that age, he pushed every driver in the lineup to their limit and demonstrated a “lock in” driving strategy even before “locking in” became a thing. 

His 2023 winning streak proved to everyone in the F1 world that he did not come to play, nor would he bring any average-racing to the wheel. He had 19 wins overall that year. 

However, in 2025, he only had 8 wins; this was his lowest mark since 2021. 

Many attribute Verstappen’s low standing to Red Bull’s poor team management from Christian Horner, who had been Red Bull’s team principal for 20 years until his departure in the middle of the 2025 season. 

Horner left the team in July 2025 after an 18-month discussion about sexual harassment allegations with a female employee. 

Verstappen’s World Championship-winning streak came to an end in 2025. He had been winning the championship title since 2021.

Along with the many changes that the 2025 season brought to each team, McLaren had the best car of the season. 

McLaren’s leadership and strategy throughout the season got them the Constructors’ Championship and the Drivers’ World Championship. 

Most teams in F1 have their number one driver and their second driver, who often sacrifices their standing to allow the first driver to thrive for the sake of the team’s score. However, this is not the case for McLaren since they have two star drivers. 

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri demonstrated that they are as competitive and capable of winning the Drivers’ World Championship as any great driver in F1 history. 

Norris took the lead at the end, causing some stir between him and Piastri, a drama that had been building up throughout the season. 

Norris had been fighting the championship title for a while now, creating his own competition with Verstappen, his lifelong friend since their karting days. He won the title after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, making it his first-ever championship win. 

Now that the 2025 season has wrapped up, the drivers are preparing for a new season, with almost the same lineup as 2025 but with the addition of a new team to F1: Cadillac Racing. 

Cadillac Racing’s two drivers are Sergio Perez, former Red Bull driver, and Valtteri Bottas, former Mercedes-Benz driver. 

This new addition is like bringing spice to the mix. The 2026 season will not only show which team is the most resilient but also who’s the most promising F1 driver after the dethroning of Hamilton and Verstappen.