F1 2025: The season of shocks, scandals, and shifting power

In Formula One, each season is ripe with the potential to spawn numerous legendary storylines that propel teams and drivers into racing immortality.

While the sport has previously been scrutinised in the past for favouring the highest-spending teams, the last major rule change in 2022 has significantly bridged the gap between each team across the grid.

With another rules overhaul set to take place in 2026 looming around the corner, the final season of the F1 ground-effect era this year has already given fans some of the best and most controversial storylines in the sport’s history.

If you’re just tuning into the F1 racing calendar, or if you can’t wait for the next season of Netflix’s hit docuseries Drive to Survive, here are some of the biggest and most shocking storylines to come out of the 2025 F1 season so far.

In F1, the driver with the most experience on the grid is typically the lead driver who is prioritised by the team.

Piastri’s rise to the top of the field, coupled with Lando Norris’s consistently strong performance, helped McLaren secure the 2024 Constructors' Championship, the papaya team’s first since 1998.

Though F1 teams tend to favour the driver with the most experience, which would normally be Norris, Piastri’s strong campaign and genuine push for the 2025 Drivers' Championship could derail McLaren’s initial plans.

After the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren relegated Piastri to the secondary driver role as it continued to fight with Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship, while teammate Norris could focus on challenging Max Verstappen in the Drivers' Championship.

While the Dutchman would end up winning his fourth world championship at the end of the 2024 season, it looks as though Piastri could be the next McLaren challenger aiming to finally usurp Verstappen's crown.

The Melbourne-born F1 superstar has already won six out of the 13 races in the 2025 season, most recently at the Belgium Grand Prix in Spa.

Except for the 2025 season opener in Melbourne, where he finished ninth, Piastri has finished in the top five in 12 Grand Prixs so far.

At the time of writing, Piastri is leading the F1 Drivers' Championship at 266 points, 16 points ahead of teammate Lando Norris (250) and 81 points clear of Max Verstappen in third (185).

Whether McLaren continues to prioritise Norris remains to be seen, but if things continue the way they have, Australia could soon be home to an F1 champion again.

Arguably the most shocking news to come out of the paddock this season, Christian Horner’s immediate exit as Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO in July this year sent shockwaves throughout the industry.

After 20 years at the helm, which included a whopping six Constructors’ and eight Drivers’ championships, the Milton Keynes team surprisingly axed Horner from his position just days after the 2025 British Grand Prix.

However, Red Bull has not publicly said why it let Horner go, only that his position as Team Principal and CEO has been replaced by Laurent Mekies, the former Team Principal of its sister team, Racing Bulls.

In a video obtained by Sky Sports, Horner said he was blindsided by the move, with the former team principal taking the time to address and express his gratitude towards the team.

“The decision came as a shock to myself. I haven't had a chance to reflect over the last 12 hours, and I just wanted to stand in front of all of you to break this news, and just express my gratitude to each and every single member of the team that has given so much during the 20-and-a-half years that I've been here,” he said.

“When I arrived 20 years ago... I walked into a team, and I didn't know what to expect, but I was immediately welcomed. We then started to build what became a powerhouse in Formula One. Watching and being part of this team has been the greatest privilege of my life.”

While the team has remained silent on why it axed Horner halfway through the 2025 season, multiple overseas reports said that lacklustre performance, the departure of key figures like Adrian Newey and Jonathan Weatley, as well as internal drama and Horner’s legal battle, reportedly played a part in Red Bull's decision.

The departure of Horner naturally led fans and media to wonder what Max Verstappen’s next move would be.

Despite winning four straight world championships, the Dutchman has not been shy about Red Bull’s shortcomings with its 2025 car.

Though Verstappen signed a contract with the team until 2028, certain performance clauses in his contract would have allowed him to exit the team if he fell out of the top three championship standings by the summer break in August.

But a strong fifth and fourth place finish at the British and Belgian Grand Prix have led to Verstappen accumulating enough points to remain third place, while fending off Mercedes's lead driver, George Russell, who currently sits in fourth.

However, since Horner's axing was announced, rumours around the paddocks centred on whether the Dutchman would join Mercedes.

Further adding fuel to the fire was Toto Wolff, the Team Principal and CEO of rival F1 team Mercedes, who previously confirmed there were “conversations” happening between him and Verstappen’s camp, according to a July 10, 2025 report by Sky Sports.

What those conversations were about has not been confirmed by either Wolff or Vestappen, but all signs alluded to the Mercedes Team Principal potentially convincing the four-time world champion to join the Silver Arrows.

However, Red Bull fans can breathe a sigh of relief for now. Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix – set to take place between August 1 and August 3, 2025 – Verstappen confirmed he will be staying with the team for the rest of the season and into 2026.

In an interview, Verstappen said the announcement was made to “basically stop all the rumours, and for me it’s always been quite clear that I was staying anyway”.

“Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but for me it’s always been quite clear and also for next year.

“I’m discussing with the team already the plans, the things that we want to change next year, so that means I’m also staying with the team,” he explained.

When asked if his yacht would be parked next to Wolff’s, with media hinting at possible ongoing negotiations between the Mercedes Team Principal and his team, Verstappen dismissed the speculation.

“If my boat is next to Toto’s, then it’s next to Toto’s. You can have a personal relationship with someone even if you don’t have a working relationship with someone,” Verstappen said.

It’s hard to imagine seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton continuing to struggle after enjoying a dynastic run with Mercedes that included eight consecutive Constructors' Championships and six driver titles.

Since his departure from the Silver Arrows, the 40-year-old driver joined Ferrari in the off-season in the hopes of rejuvenating the last leg of his legendary career.

Despite high hopes for himself in the off-season, the British driver is yet to regain his old championship form, and coupled with Ferrari’s ongoing struggle with its cars as well as racing strategies, it’s been a tumultuous first half of the season for the Maranello team.

Hamilton has not yet secured a podium in the first 13 races of the 2025 F1 season, though the Brit has come close, finishing fourth at the Italian, British, Austrian and Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ahead of the upcoming race weekend in Hungary, Hamilton told Sky Sports, “The last god knows how many seasons have been hard in their own way. This one has definitely been the most intense one, I would say; just from a work perspective”.

“Integrating into a new culture and into a new team. It’s not gone smoothly in all areas, and it’s been a real battle.

“I definitely need to get away and recharge, be around kids, laugh, let go. I’m sure there’ll be some tears at some point, and I think that’s really healthy,” he added.

It might have taken him 15 years, but after 239 grand prix starts, Kick Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg has finally secured the elusive podium finish at the 2025 British Grand Prix.

Though he started 19th on the grid, the German driver excelled throughout the race at Silverstone, and a combination of changing weather conditions, flawless strategy and supreme execution helped propel the 37-year-old to third place at the conclusion of the race.

Hülkenberg, who entered the F1 grid with Williams in 2010, has come close to a top-three finish in seasons past, but could never quite get over the hump until this year.

In the post-race interview, the German driver was beaming with happiness as he told the media, “It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? I always knew we have it in us, and I have it in me somewhere.”

“I mean, what a race, coming from virtually last and doing it all again from last weekend [at the Austrian Grand Prix] was pretty surreal to be honest.

“Not sure how it all happened, but obviously crazy conditions, mixed conditions – it was a survival fight for a lot of the race. I think we were just really on it – the right calls, the right tyres at the right moment. We made no mistakes and it's quite incredible,” he added.

Image: Getty Images/Andy Hone/LAT Images

For a team as dominant as Red Bull has been, the team's inability to find a consistent secondary driver behind Verstappen has been head-scratching.

Since the Dutchman joined the team from Milton Keynes in 2016, Red Bull has cycled through six different drivers and failed to maintain a consistent driver line-up.

The team has previously employed various drivers with a range of experience, driving styles and age, in the hopes that one of them could live up to the incredibly high bar Verstappen has set.

Close to a decade since his arrival at Red Bull, drivers like other Australian legend Daniel Ricciardo (2016–2018), Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Williams's Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez (2021–2024) previously suited up next to Verstappen without much success.

It seems as though the curse of the second Red Bull seat continues in 2025, with the Austrian team previously replacing Perez with rookie driver Liam Lawson at the end of the 2024 season.

Though Red Bull typically promotes drivers from its sister team Racing Bulls to the main team, the decision to bypass Yuki Tsunoda (then lead driver of Racing Bulls) in favour of the young New Zealand driver shocked the paddock.

Lawson was a reserve driver for Red Bull who replaced Ricciardo at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix following the Australian's hand injury.

He went on to race a further five grand prix while Ricciardo recovered, scoring his first points at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix. By September 2024, Racing Bulls permanently swapped Ricciardo with Lawson for the last six races of the 2024 season.

Despite his best ninth-place finishes at the Austin and Brazil Grand Prix last year, Red Bull promoted the young driver in the off-season.

However, Lawson's Red Bull career was cut short after just two races into the 2025 season, with the New Zealand rookie demoted to Racing Bulls before the Japanese Grand Prix in early April, with Tsunoda finally getting his opportunity at the second Red Bull seat.

But this season continues to be a struggle for the second Red Bull driver, with Tsunoda yet to finish in the top five since his promotion in Japan.

The Japanese driver's best result was ninth in the fifth round at Bahrain, and since then, Tsunoda has finished in the midfield despite backing from the main Red Bull team.

Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.

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