George has been maximising his finishing position all year long, so it was only a matter of time until he won a race. And he dominated in Canada, withstanding early pressure from Max Verstappen, then henceforth never looking at threat. This year’s Mercedes may not be able to challenge every weekend but give George a good car and he is a champion in the waiting.
2. Andrea Kimi Antonelli-
Kimi finally got a podium in Formula One, becoming the third youngest podium sitter in the sport’s history. Whilst he was not on Russell’s pace in qualifying, he was right there in the race. If anything, Kimi put more pressure on Max Verstappen ahead than Max did to George. Kimi may not be a complete driver yet, but it’s performances like these which make Mercedes see him as a future superstar.
3. Fernando Alonso-
In his midfield Aston Martin, Fernando outqualified Lewis Hamilton. Whilst he couldn’t match the pace of the Ferrari in the race, Fernando was easily the best midfield driver of the weekend, finishing best of the rest in seventh.
4. Nico Hulkenberg-
Whilst not matching the heights of his fifth-place finish in Spain, Nico delivered another strong performance to emphasise that Sauber is a serious midfield force again. Whilst only occupying ninth place, the team is eight points away from sixth and could easily challenge for best of the rest with more consistent performances.
5. Esteban Ocon-
Haas did not have the ultimate pace around Montreal. However, Esteban Ocon was able to make a bold one stop strategy work, taking his hard tyres further than most. He was rewarded with a ninth-place finish, the best on his strategy.
Oscar bounced back from an average Monaco weekend to reclaim his status as the highest performing McLaren driver. In Barcelona, Oscar easily dominated qualifying and always had the pace to keep Lando behind during the race. With his win, Oscar extended his championship lead to ten points.
2. Charles Leclerc-
Charles sacrificed his qualifying for the race in Barcelona, yet quickly showed that he was the faster Ferrari driver. After Ferrari let Charles past Hamilton, he never looked at threat from the Mercedes drivers behind. Then after the safety car, Charles took advantage of Red Bull’s decision to place Verstappen on the hard tyres to overtake him and take third place.
3. George Russell-
Russell recovered from a Monaco blip to record another top five finish in Barcelona. He was the victim of dangerous driving from Verstappen, who drove his car into the side of Russell in anger. However, Russell was lucky to not receive any significant damage from this collision, whilst Verstappen earnt himself a ten second penalty. Therefore, George took a well-earned fourth place.
4. Nico Hulkenberg-
Nico Hulkenberg was already fantastic before the safety car, having run in the top ten for virtually the whole race, after starting in fifteenth. However, after the safety car, the advantage of brand-new tyres allowed Nico to carve through the field, eventually passing Lewis Hamilton on his way to fifth place. This was Sauber’s best result since 2022 and a fantastic morale booster for the erstwhile struggling team.
5. Isack Hadjar-
Hadjar continued to impress in Barcelona, taking a seventh place to boost his team up to sixth in the standings. Meanwhile, his teammate appeared to be picking fights with anyone he came across.
Lando converted a fantastic pole lap into a comfortable win at the Monaco Grand Prix, taking his second win of the season and placing himself firmly back into championship contention.
2. Charles Leclerc-
As is the case every year, Charles Leclerc was rapid around Monaco. Whilst his speed was not enough to overcome the pace of the McLaren, he still took Ferrari’s second podium of the year.
3. Issack Hadjar-
A fantastic qualifying placed Issack Hadjar fifth on the grid. Whilst Hamilton’s Ferrari was able to overcut Issack, smart tactics from the Racing Bulls team kept the chasing pack behind and allowed Issack to finish the race as the best midfielder in sixth.
4. Esteban Ocon-
Ocon outperformed his machinery in Monaco, as the Haas was not looking like a top ten car throughout the weekend. He was also inadvertently helped by Racing Bulls’ strategy to finish in seventh.
5. Fernando Alonso-
Fernando should have finished in the points at Monaco, after qualifying in sixth. Unfortunately, an engine failure ruined Fernando’s day when he was running just ahead of Ocon.
Max had one of the greatest starts I’ve seen in Imola, timing his braking to perfection to pass Piastri around the outside. From there, he showed superior pace in clean air and took advantage of perfect safety car timing to take his second win of the season.
2. Lando Norris-
Whilst he had a poor qualifying, Lando made up for it in the race. Unlike his teammate, Lando didn’t reactively stop early. This proved to be the right choice for the frontrunners, as traffic nullified the advantage that fresher tyres brought. Taking this strategy allowed for Lando to overtake his teammate after the safety car restart, ending a three-race streak of being beaten by Oscar.
3. Alexander Albon-
Albon had an outstanding race in Imola and for a while looked like he might drag his Williams onto the podium. Staunch defending from Charles Leclerc prevented that from happening and Albon had to settle for fifth, but this was still his joint best performance of the year.
4. Charles Leclerc-
Charles took advantage of an excellent strategy to undercut the slower cars he was behind. Unfortunately, terrible luck with the safety car timing relegated Charles to sixth place behind his teammate. But he was still obviously the stronger Ferrari driver throughout the race and deserved better.
5. Fernando Alonso-
Fernando Alonso put together a fantastic qualifying to start the race in fifth place. He looked set on for his first points of the year, but a poor strategy and atrocious luck meant he had to settle for eleventh. But he was still, in my opinion, one of the five best drivers of the weekend.
Whilst not the faster McLaren driver throughout the weekend, Oscar was able to keep his nose clean whilst his teammate got into too many scuffles. It made it three race wins in a row for Oscar, who is rapidly becoming the title favourite.
2. George Russell-
Whilst not the fastest Mercedes driver in qualifying, George Russell did what he’s done all year, be consistent and end up on the podium. His third place at Miami is his fourth in six races, matching his total from 2024.
3. Max Verstappen-
Max produced a brilliant lap to take pole position for the Miami Grand Prix. Whilst he couldn’t hold back the faster McLaren cars, he showed grit and determination fighting Oscar and Lando. An unlucky virtual safety car relegated Max to fourth, but he reminded us that he will not give up throughout the entire year. It’s what makes him one of the sport’s greatest and most entertaining drivers.
4. Alexander Albon-
Alex matched his best performance of 2025 at Miami, getting fifth place in the Williams. He was genuinely better than both Ferraris and one Mercedes on pace, representing a fantastic turnaround for the erstwhile midfield team. Alex has been outstanding so far this year and has stepped up to the challenge of being Sainz’s teammate.
5. Andrea Kimi Antonelli-
Pole position for the sprint and outpacing Russell in qualifying for the first time of the year represented a breakthrough weekend for Kimi. Whilst his race pace was not enough to challenge for the top positions, Kimi showed me that he has the inherent pace of a future world champion.
Whilst just missing out on pole position, Oscar got the better start, forcing Verstappen into some driving that earned him a five second penalty. Thanks to this start, Oscar won a race that probably should have been Verstappen’s.
2. Charles Leclerc-
Charles made a bold alternative strategy work, taking his tyres further than anyone else for a chance to attack later in the race. His outstanding tyre management led to Ferrari’s first podium of the year.
3. Carlos Sainz-
Carlos outqualified teammate Albon and converted this pace in the race. Bringing back his tactics from Singapore 2023 to ensure that both Williams’ got their maximum result was icing on the cake.
4. Alexander Albon-
Whilst Albon’s weekend was slightly worse than Sainz’s, he was still one of the best drivers. After just being outside the top ten in qualifying, Albon kept his nose clean and maximized his position for a ninth-place finish.
5. Isack Hadjar-
Isack probably deserved an eighth-place finish at Jeddah, given how superior his pace was to the Williams’ at the end of the race. As it was, Sainz’s tactics relegated Hadjar to tenth, but still brought a valuable point to the team.
It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these blog posts. In that time, there have been two races, both won by Oscar Piastri, who has established himself as the current title favourite. Yet, the always tenacious Max Verstappen has fought hard to defend his title, taking pole in both events despite a clear car disadvantage. And in both races, he has faced controversial first lap incidents with the McLaren drivers.
In Saudi Arabia, Max used the high-speed advantage evident in his Red Bull to take pole by one-hundredth of a second from Piastri, whilst Lando Norris crashed out in qualifying and had to start the race from tenth. Yet at the race start, despite being on the dirty side of the grid, Oscar had a fantastic launch and looked set to take the lead. Max, however, was not about to give his position up. He outbroke himself and cut the corner to stay ahead of Oscar. But, because Oscar got a better launch and didn’t back down, the stewards handed Verstappen a justified five-second penalty. Without this incident, Max would likely have won the race, as the dirty air made cars extremely hard to follow, which negated the McLaren’s race pace advantage. Saudi Arabia was a huge test for Oscar, who proved that he could match Verstappen in battle. Yet come Miami, his teammate was to lose out in a similar situation.
Last year, Lando Norris struggled to get one up on Max. From Austria, to Austin, to Mexico, it seemed like Verstappen was always able to assert his dominance in contentious situtions. Thus, when the front row in Miami was occupied by Max and Lando, it seemed to be the perfect opportunity for Lando to best Max in the way Oscar had in Saudi. However, once again, Lando fumbled his opportunity. He tried to pass Max around turn two, a risky manoeuvrer that could easily go wrong. Thus, when Max got a snap of oversteer, Lando was pushed onto the curb and lost a handful of positions. And crucially, Lando found himself behind Piastri, who was in third. Max occupying first place made the first half of the race quite exciting, as he defended his positions aggressively against the quicker McLarens. Yet, even in this sequence, Oscar was able to pass Max far more effectively than Lando proved, which allowed Oscar to open up a gap that Lando was unable to close. Thus, due to poor positioning at the start of the race and through the battles against Verstappen, Lando lost a race on a weekend in which was the quicker McLaren driver. And now, Oscar has become the first McLaren driver since Mika Hakkinen to win three races in a row and has a sixteen-point lead in the championship. If Lando wants to win this title, he has to turn the narrative around very quickly.
There was some hope for Ferrari fans at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Whilst Hamilton had a poor performance, Charles Leclerc pulled off an amazing tyre strategy. He took his mediums further than anyone else and then used fresher, grippier tyres to overtake his way to the podium. It was Ferrari’s first podium of the year and provided some hope that their season might begin to turn itself around. Then Miami destroyed all of that hope, because the Ferrari was comfortably the fifth fastest car. The team couldn’t even run their race properly. Hamilton, who had started on the hard tyres, found himself behind Leclerc after his stop. Since Lewis was on fresher mediums, he had a chance to make his way up the order. Yet, in typical fashion, Ferrari took three laps of dithering before deciding to swap the cars around. Once they finally had, Hamilton’s tyres had been cooked behind Leclerc and he was not able to make any progress. This scenario has happened to Ferrari so many times and they seem unable to make obvious decisions. It’s really not a difficult task, the teams have meetings before the races, in which they are supposed to plan what to do in different scenarios. Yet whenever Ferrari is in any scenario, they seem to need to have a committee meeting before making their minds up. I do not expect this to change and every time it happens; it loses the team valuable points. The car is bad enough without them sabotaging themselves every other weekend, yet the team never learns.
Under James Vowles’ leadership, Williams have had a turnaround. A few years ago, they were the worst team on the grid and were happy to score points. This season, they have been the best team in the midfield and have scored in all but one race. In both Saudi and Miami, both cars found themselves in the points. In Saudi Arabia, Carlos Sainz brought back his tactics from Singapore 2023, keeping Albon in his DRS to prevent the quicker Isack Hadjar from being able to overtake them. It led to a solid eighth and ninth finish. Then in Miami, the team really shone, mixing it up with the top teams throughout the weekend. Whilst damage relegated Sainz to a ninth-place finish, Alex Albon’s pace was outstanding. He beat both Ferraris and one Mercedes to finish fifth. Whilst Williams has stopped developing this year’s car to focus on 2026, they have established themselves as a serious midfield threat. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m an Alex Albon’s fan, Ferrari’s year would have broken me by now. Instead, I can watch the races to see one of my favourite drivers prove why he’s one of the sport’s best.
Piastri was dominant in Bahrain, taking an easy win whilst teammate Lando Norris struggled to make it to the podium. He’s quickly becoming a championship favourite.
2. George Russell-
George Russell was already having a fantastic weekend, running in second for most of the race. Managing to keep that second place under pressure from Lando Norris whilst driving a car that was falling apart was simply outstanding.
3. Charles Leclerc-
Charles was rather unlucky with the timing of the safety car, as it ruined the tyre offset strategy that could have powered him to a podium finish. But, he still defended brilliantly from Lando Norris and was one of the best drivers of the weekend, even if it didn’t quite come together for him.
4. Pierre Gasly-
Gasly was the star of the midfield in Bahrain. A superb qualifying saw him start the race in fourth and he was unlucky to lose sixth place to Max Verstappen on the last lap. Still, he took his and the team’s first points of the season and elevated Alpine from the bottom of the championship.
5. Esteban Ocon-
Ocon bounced back from the disappointment of crashing out in qualifying, with an aggressive undercut proving a great strategy from the Haas team that allowed him to finish in eighth. An honourable mention also has to go to his teammate Oliver Bearman, who climbed from last to tenth. Together, their performance took Haas above Williams to be the highest midfield team in the championship.
Last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix felt like a turning point within McLaren. Oscar Piastri was outstanding, taking a comfortable pole, followed by a win that never looked in doubt. Lando Norris, on the other hand, qualified in sixth and had a scruffy race to third place. Lando still leads the championship by three points. But after seeing Lando get penalised after starting outside his grid box and finishing behind George Russell, whose car was broken, it feels like Oscar is becoming the favourite to win the championship. This is a stark contrast from last year, where Lando, despite having quite a few scruffy weekends, was easily the faster McLaren driver. Whilst Oscar showed flashes of pace and potential, I did not expect him to take the step-up required to become fight for the championship. But, after witnessing the last four weekends, I’ve been proven wrong in my assumptions. Furthermore, the signs of Oscar’s ascension have been evident since Round One of this season.
Oscar was unfortunate to lose out at Round One in Australia. Whilst Lando outqualified him and Max Verstappen overtook him at the start, once Oscar got past Max his pace was stunning. He quickly caught up to Lando and whilst team orders prevented him from making a move at that point, Oscar appeared to have a good chance of winning. However, when the race’s second spell of rain came, everything fell apart for Oscar. Both McLaren drivers went off the track after being the first to hit a wet patch, but Oscar came off worse, as he slid onto the grass and struggled when recovering his car. Whilst he put on a comeback drive to ninth after the safety car, Oscar was twenty-three points behind Lando in the championship afterwards. For Oscar to turn things around, he had to impress quickly.
At Round Two in China, Oscar was the stronger McLaren driver. After a decent sprint in which he finished second to Lando’s eighth, Oscar pipped Russell and Norris to take his first pole position. He then comfortably led the whole race, whilst Lando held on to finish in second, despite some awful brake problems towards the end. Oscar’s weekend in Shanghai showed that he could be the stronger McLaren driver throughout an event. After this win, he was only ten points behind Lando in the championship and had moved up from ninth to fourth.
Round Three in Japan left me wondering what could have been if Oscar had hooked everything together. The race proved to be a processional affair, with qualifying largely determining where people finished. Lando was OK in qualifying, putting together a decent lap. But Oscar had the potential to be stunning. He was so quick in sectors two and three. Unfortunately, he made a costly mistake at turn two, so despite his superior pace, could only qualify third, behind Lando and pole sitter Verstappen. The three drivers finished the race in that order, despite calls to the team from the faster Piastri to let him past Lando. Thus, Oscar lost three points to his teammate and now sat thirteen points behind, though had jumped past George Russell to third in the championship.
Then came Round Four. Where everything came together for Oscar. He had such a convincing performance in Bahrain. Whilst Lando was lucky to finish in third. Furthermore, as this short rundown of the races has demonstrated, there’s a case to be made that Oscar has been faster in every weekend this season. Now sitting second in the championship, only three points behind Lando, there’s a good chance he takes the championship lead this Sunday. Whilst it is not over for Lando, who is a very quick driver with great potential, Oscar is the more consistent and faster driver at present. Lando really needs to turn things around, or Oscar could start running away with this championship. But, if the two drivers fight, they need to keep it clean. Because Max Verstappen is still shadowing them and will take every opportunity he can to be in the championship hunt. Oscar and Lando may be the favourites for the championship now, but they both could still easily lose.
P.S. The Bahrain Grand Prix was the first truly great race this season. Whilst the wet conditions made for fun in Australia, the best F1 races are those where there are multiple different tyre strategies. I hope that Pirelli learnt the lesson from the Japanese Grand Prix and continue to bring the appropriate tyres to each race weekend, which thankfully appears to be the case for this weekend’s race in Saudi Arabia.
Max was outstanding in Japan, recording a mighty qualifying lap to take a shock pole position. The difficulty overtaking meant that he could hold on in front of two faster McLaren’s to take an amazing victory, whilst sporting a beautiful Honda tribute livery.
2. Charles Leclerc-
The Ferrari was probably the fourth fastest car in Japan. It was only thanks to Charles’ fantastic performance in qualifying that he found himself ahead of both Mercedes cars. Charles was back to his usual brilliance in Suzuka, ensuring that he got the maximum out of his machinery whilst Russell and Hamilton were a step behind.
3. Isack Hadjar-
Isack withheld agony to outqualify his hero, Lewis Hamilton. In the race, he delivered on the promise he had shown in his first two weekends, finishing an impressive eighth. Isack is now the second highest Red Bull driver in the championship, despite being the only man not have driven in the senior team.
4. Alexander Albon-
Alex continued his fantastic early season form to qualify and finish in ninth place. Thanks to his brilliant performances, Williams already have more points than they scored last year.
5. Oliver Bearman-
Ollie put his new floor to good use in Japan, far exceeding the performance of his more experienced teammate to finish in tenth place. I did not expect Haas to score points in Japan after their struggles in the high-speed corners in Australia; Ollie Beaman continues to impress.
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