I know you’re already thinking about 2026 and what the new regulations will bring, but the holidays are all about tradition (and, you know, a little bit of planning), so it’s at this point in the year that I like to pass judgment on all the teams and reflect on how their seasons stack up. Taking both the good and bad sides of each team, the score is clearly indisputable…
We list the teams alphabetically, and in today’s article we’ll introduce you to everyone from Alpine to Mercedes. Check out part 2 tomorrow.
Takayama
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Constructors’ Championship ranking: 10thth (22 points)
Good points: Pierre Gasly. This is what it looks like based on this year. It was very remarkable that he was able to secure a top-six finish in the 2025 Alpine and the fact that he is locked in for the long term is a huge plus for the team. It may be a bit of a struggle to grasp at straws, but a stable driver line-up over the winter should help as Franco Colapinto finally enters pre-season as a race driver and prepares for 2026.
Although it is sad to see Renault’s power unit program end, there is optimism that next year could see a major competitive boost in the form of a supply deal with Mercedes, especially since Enstone has regularly produced excellent chassis. A new era brings a chance to move forward, even if the team still appears to lack a secure foundation.
Bad points: Where do I start? It was not a fun time to be at Alpine, with team principal Ollie Oakes leaving the team after the Miami Grand Prix and an uncompetitive car without significant development investment.
As expected, Jack Doohan was dropped by Colapinto after just six races, giving him no time to learn the ropes as a rookie in an unstable team in an admittedly difficult car. The environment also did not give Colapinto the easiest entry point in the middle of the season, and the two, who shared the second seat alongside Gasly, were the only drivers not to score all year.
Rating: 3/10
aston martin
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Constructors’ Championship standings: 7th (89 points)
Good points: This time last year, I wrote, “The season is over, Adrian Newey is coming in 2025.” So now we should say, “The season is over, here comes Adrian Newey.” Furthermore, Fernando Alonso is still more than capable of securing results that the car seems unlikely to achieve, ending the year with outstanding scores of 5th in Hungary and 6th in Abu Dhabi.
Lance Stroll also delivered solid results in the first half of the year, and despite clearly having a big focus on 2026, Aston Martin remains a regular in a highly competitive midfield.
Bad points: I also said that I would have been surprised to see Aston Martin offering a car good enough to finish in the top five this time last year, and while some of that may be down to the generally more competitive field, it has proven that. With 89 points, it was just 5 points shy of the 2024 total that secured fifth place, but there was clearly no progress from a competitive standpoint.
There are concerns about the lack of stability within the team despite having been in regulation for so long in 2026, and Newey, despite his obvious genius, does not appear to be the right fit as team principal. Andy Cowell’s position change late this year suggests the right parts are not yet in the right place, and that doesn’t bode well for capitalizing on the start of a new era, especially with a good car if Newey et al take delivery.
Rating: 5/10
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ferrari
Poles: 1
Wins: 0
Constructors’ Championship standings: 4th (398 points)
Good points: It’s very difficult to choose something towards this goal this year, but I admit that I never expected it to happen at the end of 2024. Lewis Hamilton won the first sprint of the year – ultimately one of the team’s big highlights of the season – and Charles Leclerc put together a strong campaign with seven podiums and came close to repeating his emotional victory in Monaco in 2024. Midway through the season, Hamilton appeared to be recovering, with a strong performance in qualifying.
There was a point when it looked like Ferrari was aiming for another runner-up spot in the constructors’ championship when the grid was formed in Mexico City, with both cars finishing in the top three and finishing third and fourth in Austin. Leclerc held on to second place in the race, which was great.
Bad points: It’s a pretty long list, but the main focus has to be cars. Ferrari have shown in the past that they can be a very strong team and perform well if they have a good car, but that is a rare commodity from Maranello.
Given the way things ended last year, Ferrari was supposed to be a big threat to McLaren. Instead, they had problems with their new car that needed to be resolved early on (highlighted by a double DSQ in China), and they were out of contention before a quarter of the way through the season. The focus shifted to 2026, but the impact was felt by the end of the season, particularly as Hamilton’s form declined and Ferrari slumped to fourth overall.
Of the final eight races, Hamilton’s fourth place in Austin was an anomaly in terms of results, as he never otherwise finished higher than eighth. Things can still go well, but there is a lot of hard work ahead for both Ferrari and Hamilton.
Rating: 4/10
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hearth
Poles: 0
Wins: 0
Constructors’ Championship standings: 8th (79 points)
Good points: Haas has turned around its early season problems (weak floors meant they had to run the car very high in Australia and were way off the pace) with incredible speed. At the next race in China, the cars were able to run normally, with Esteban Ocon finishing fifth and Ollie Bearman eighth, marking the start of a third consecutive weekend of points. An update to fix the issue was also rolled out in Japan just three weeks after the Melbourne fight.
Haas managed to score points with both cars on five occasions, suggesting good results on both sides of the garage over the weekend, and Bearman’s best finish of fourth in Mexico City showed what the team is capable of and further highlighted the rookie’s potential. Although he fell back to 7th place in the standings, it seemed like he was making further progress.
Bad points: The response was positive, but the floor issue at the beginning of the year provided valuable focus and was an obvious problem to solve. Barcelona is a case in point, but the aforementioned progress was still limited year-on-year as they had some notable off-weekends and missed some big chances. Belgium and Azerbaijan should have picked up strong points, but Haas couldn’t put it all together.
Ocon in particular has been in very ups and downs as he struggles with understeer, and it feels like the 13 points that separated Haas and Racing Bulls in the championship with six wins could have been earned by the team at different times. Although they haven’t maximized everything, it feels like Haas is operating near the ceiling at the moment and needs further investment to realistically reach higher goals in the future.
Rating: 7/10
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mclaren
Poles: 13
Wins: 14
Constructors’ Championship position: 1cent (833 points)
Good points: Despite the final year of the regulations providing a major opportunity for closure, the upward trend continued and McLaren’s technical team did a great job of separating themselves from the other teams at the start of the season.
Lando Norris has developed into a true champion in the last third of the season, and Oscar Piastri has also taken great strides to be fully prepared in every respect for most of the year. And despite the risks of both sides competing for the title, the final result was a championship double, providing plenty of excitement until the final round.
Bad points: McLaren almost lost out on the drivers’ championship due to their own mistakes. Neutrals would have enjoyed a last-minute battle, but the disqualification in Las Vegas only affected McLaren, and then a major strategic mistake in Qatar gave Verstappen a further victory despite not needing to receive an invitation.
I got the job done in the end, but I was worried that the first two races of the triple header put a lot of pressure on the final round, which I didn’t need. The infamous Papaya Rule, while great, was far from perfect. Simplifying the rules may be necessary to successfully continue this approach next year.
Rating: 9/10
