A Championship to remember!.*
And why might that be, you might ask.
Simply put, almost without exception, the standards displayed by teams and drivers were excellent, and F1 finally lived up to its promise of the kind of excitement not seen since 2021.
Many spectators may have found some moments kind of boring, a little like watching a game of football with only one goal scored at the end, but for those who truly follow the sport there was much to be admired across each race. So much talent, so many options, and so much personality.
Fogy, as is his want, fully appreciates the technical details—the added understanding of what makes these technical marvels perform as well as they do at this level. Appreciates too what it takes to bring a championship-winning team and driver’s potential to fully meet that aim.
There have to be winners as well as losers, so let’s go through each of these from bottom to top.
Alpine
2024 — 6th — 65 points — Gasly 10th, 42 — Ocon 14th, 23 — Doohan 24th, 0
2025 — 10th — 22 points — Gasly 18th, 22 — Colapinto 20th, 0 — Doohan 21st, 0
2026 — Gasly & Colapinto — Engine = Mercedes
Perhaps the unfair beginning must go to the Alpine team. Faced with a similar conundrum as Red Bull, their driver line-up certainly didn’t help a team labouring under the constraints of an underperforming engine and what appeared to be an outdated car. Some moments of elation for Pierre, but seven races without scoring points is not ideal—and zero points for their second driver(s) doesn’t help their cause.
Kick Sauber
2024 — 10th — 4 points — Bottas 22nd, 0 — Zhou 20th, 4
2025 — 9th — 70 points — Hülkenberg 11th, 51 — Bortoleto 19th, 19
2026 — Audi — Hülkenberg & Bortoleto — Engine = Ferrari/Audi
A strong showing from the experienced Hulk and the rookie Brazilian guaranteed that Audi’s decisions were not misplaced. Having built a strong back-office and a willing partnership, they took the team’s last season under the Peter Sauber moniker one step higher—and 66 points better—in a highly competitive season. Highlights included Hulk’s podium at Silverstone, and the butterfly (borboleta in Portuguese) dominating qualifying(s), while flying from wall to wall at his home race.
Haas
2024 — 7th — 58 points — Hülkenberg 11th, 41 — Magnussen 15th, 16 — Bearman 18th, 7
2025 — 8th — 79 points — Bearman 13th, 41 — Ocon 15th, 38
2026 — Bearman & Ocon — Engine = Ferrari/Toyota
Haas looked to be dropping like a stone, with 10th place all but guaranteed, until a timely update launched it from being an also-ran to a Bearman unstoppable run of points. Then Ocon finally found his mojo and stepped up to the plate—letting fly with his own final haul—guaranteeing that Gene Haas had something to celebrate and sell to a willing Toyota determined to return to the F1 fold.
Aston Martin
2024 — 5th — 94 points — Alonso 9th, 70 — Stroll 13th, 24
2025 — 7th — 89 points — Alonso 10th, 56 — Stroll 16th, 33
2026 — Alonso & Stroll — Engine = Honda
Alonso’s long, extended run of pointless finishes (and races at times) made the bottom of the table seem as inevitable as that of Haas. Yet final rounds of inspired Alonso results kept their fortunes alive, and even Lance stepped up to contribute his oh-so-little bit(s). Honda and Newey should make a great difference to this emerald tradition, perhaps taking them from 007 to 001 if the stars fully align.
Racing Bulls
2024 — 8th — 46 points — Yuki 12th, 30 — Daniel 17th, 12 — Liam 21st, 4
2025 — 6th — 92 points — Hadjar 12th, 51 — Lawson 14th, 38
2026 — Lawson & Lindblad — Engine = RB/Ford Powertrains
Second in last year’s F2 championship and a late inclusion at season ’24’s end made a parade-lap DNF in his first race seem like the death knell ringing before the lights were lit. Yet Hadjar threw all of that aside and demonstrated the tenacity that has earned him the right to partner Max in 2026. Liam, on the other hand, unfairly demoted (Max’s thoughts too), had it all to do to rise above a shell-shocked start to his season. While not as outstanding as his team-mate, he fought through that initial pain to acquit himself well, earning the right to continue another season (so much better than Brendon Hartley, the other Kiwi who tried to please Helmut but failed). Liam’s career has been tumultuous, to say the least, with RB making life as difficult as possible for him under Mr Horner. Let’s hope this more stable environment will bring positive vibes.
Williams
2024 — 9th — 17 points — Albon 16th, 12 — Sargeant 23rd, 0 — Colapinto 19th, 5
2025 — 5th — 137 points — Albon 8th, 73 — Sainz 9th, 64
2026 — Albon & Sainz — Engine = Mercedes
And the turnaround—one of the best in recent times (if we discount the McLaren resurgence). James Vowles is not one of their drivers, although he does like to compete at a different level. JV is the team principal tasked with reversing the trend that had plagued them for so long, took a chance with a discarded Sainz, and this leap of faith also leapt them 120 points—from 9th to 5th. Albon led the charge until consistency left him, while Sainz recovered from the transition—Ferrari to Mercedes—and did much more than was expected to secure two totally unexpected podiums, proving to everyone how a skilled manager can direct a well-built team forward given enough time and energy.
Ferrari
2024 — 2nd — 652 points — Leclerc 3rd, 356 — Sainz 5th, 290
2025 — 4th — 398 points — Leclerc 5th, 242 — Hamilton 6th, 156
2026 — Leclerc & Hamilton — Engine = Ferrari
Perhaps the saddest outcome possible for a team that had come so close to winning the Team’s championship the year before—suddenly relegated to fighting for a top-ten finish, race after race, without respite. True to form, Leclerc managed plenty of podiums when fortune favoured the brave, but the hapless Hamilton demonstrated how much more difficult it was to move beyond the strengths of Mercedes to the challenges of Ferrari.
And here I must endeavour to remove the taint of bias I harbour against this racer—Silverstone 2021, Abu Dhabi 2016—but it wasn’t the fact that his results were not as good as was expected; it was the childlike attitude that seemed to dominate each and every response. Even the equally hapless Angela failed to turn this Ham around. It isn’t the skill that has been lost—Schumacher would testify to this after his return from retirement—but the attitude that the Ham holds so highly above everything else. Get it together soon, or all you have achieved will be washed out an ever-spinning door.
Red Bull Racing
2024 — 3rd — 589 points — Max 1st, 437 — Perez 8th, 192
2025 — 3rd — 451 points — Max 2nd, 421 — Yuki 17th, 33
2026 — Max & Hadjar — Engine = RB/Ford Powertrains
What can we say. Universally voted as the very best driver on the grid, Max’s performances made a mediocre car (many times) hum many different tunes as he spun his way forward from an impossible deficit to only two points behind the champion. And how difficult was the car, you might ask? Well, it cost Liam his seat after only two races and Yuki’s career after 20 races. Very few drivers have ever been able to drive such a beast—and few teams have ever been able to tame such a beast—since Michael Schumacher at Ferrari all those years ago. A change in management contributed greatly to their turnaround, as did timely updates that made the beast so much more predictable. Max stated very clearly that it was a massive team turnaround—not luck, nor driver skill.
Mercedes
2024 — 4th — 468 points — Hamilton 7th, 223 — George 6th, 245
2025 — 2nd — 469 points — George 4th, 319 — Kimi 7th, 150
2026 — George & Kimi — Engine = Mercedes
So how does a teenager replace a seven-time world F1 champion? Simple: firm stewarding, along with a willing team-mate in a team used to performing at the highest of levels. Both drivers gave their utmost, with a very young Kimi pushing the experienced George well beyond what he had experienced before. Even Hamilton succumbed to George’s performances—but not Kimi, who gave as good as he got even if his points tally does not reflect that. There is a great future ahead for the youngster, and the older guy as well. Congrats, Mercedes, for being able to climb back so high—and securing first, second, fifth, and seventh places with their engines.
McLaren
2024 — 1st — 666 points — Norris 2nd, 374 — Piastri 4th, 292
2025 — 1st — 833 points — Norris 1st, 423 — Piastri 3rd, 410
2026 — Norris & Piastri — Engine = Mercedes
What can you say about the closely fought fight at the front, dominated by this dominant team that is reliving its glory days of the past while emulating the levels of skill demonstrated by both RB and Ferrari in their heydays.
Leadership was once again on display, and explains the core science behind most winning teams, no matter what sport you might be thinking of.
Was it the mid-year resurgence of Norris or the mid-year decline of Piastri that draws the most compelling comments? Neither, I would venture to say. So many results throughout the year came as a result of luck or good fortune versus bad luck or bad fortune. While we often state that we create our own luck through our own attitudes and beliefs, so much of what happens is beyond what we can control. And so too for both drivers—with the engine blues in Zandvoort for Norris, and the Piastri Brazilian affair that left him walking duck-like from the event.
But that is all “water under the bridge”—which also contributed to deciding the fortunes of so many.
2026 means new regulations, new challenges, and an eleventh team on the grid with the return of Bottas and Perez driving the new Cadillac cars—Ferrari-powered for the moment, but with promises of more home-grown features in the near future.
So much to look forward to after such a compelling end of format.
Looking forward to see the performance of the cars after This crazy season
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