McLaren will enter the 2025 season as the constructors’ championship favourites. That’s after ending their 26-year title drought at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend.
McLaren scored fewer victories than Red Bull (six vs nine) and fewer podiums than Ferrari (21 vs 22). But they won the title because they were most consistent, remarkably avoiding any official DNFs.
In around a year’s time, there will be a major regulation change that could reshuffle the F1 pack. For now, though, teams are only like to make small changes over the winter.
| Position | Constructors’ Standings | Points |
| 1 |
McLaren Racing |
666 |
| 2 |
Scuderia Ferrari |
652 |
| 3 |
Red Bull Racing |
589 |
| 4 |
Mercedes-AMG Petronas |
468 |
| 5 |
Aston Martin F1 Team |
94 |
| 6 |
Alpine F1 Team |
65 |
| 7 |
Haas F1 Team |
58 |
| 8 |
Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team |
46 |
| 9 |
Williams F1 Team |
17 |
| 10 |
Sauber F1 Team |
4 |
That’s why the competitive landscape should be broadly the same in 2025, though even a relative gain of one-tenth could be decisive at the front. Runners-up Ferrari will hope next year is finally their year after signing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to partner Charles Leclerc.
Meanwhile, Red Bull are set to replace Sergio Perez, who’s held them back this year. Perez scored only 25.8% of the team’s points, and while neither Liam Lawson nor Yuki Tsunoda are likely to challenge Verstappen, they should at least be closer.
With no midfield team likely to make a sudden breakthrough, that just leaves Mercedes, who were clearly fourth-best this season. They’ve yet to deliver a contending car in the ground-effect era, but they looked closer than ever at times in 2024.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown shares big expectations for new Mercedes signing Kimi Antonelli
McLaren may have one advantage over their immediate rivals in that they’re keeping the same driver line-up. Red Bull will promote a driver from RB, Ferrari have swapped Sainz for Hamilton and Mercedes have hired Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli is a particularly intriguing signing, set to become the third-youngest driver in F1 history. The two drivers above him on that list – Verstappen and Lance Stroll – both started at midfield teams.
The 18-year-old finished sixth in his one and only Formula 2 season, though he did miss the last two races in Abu Dhabi. His tally of two wins and three podiums was perhaps lower than many expected.
Still, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown is backing Antonelli to be ‘awesome’ in 2025. He sees him as F1’s next elite young talent after the rise of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
“Lewis and Charles, Max punches above his weight – we’ll see who his teammate will be,” Brown told Sky Sports F1. “George Russell’s awesome, I expect Kimi Antonelli, just like Oscar and Lando, to be awesome.
“Those are the obvious competitors, but I also think, with how competitive the sport is, I wouldn’t rule out some other teams getting in the game.”
Lewis Hamilton’s emotional message to Kimi Antonelli before Mercedes succession
Brown’s counterpart Toto Wolff is trying to manage expectations for Antonelli in his rookie year. He may treat it as a learning period for the Italian ahead of F1’s new era.
But it’s not hard to imagine him producing a better qualifying showing than Hamilton did in 2024. George Russell thrashed the veteran 19-5, lowering the bar for the new man.
Hamilton has been helping Antonelli this year ahead of his Ferrari move. Perhaps he sees similarities to his own rookie season, where he was thrust straight into McLaren.
Mercedes co-ordinator Stephen Lord revealed that Hamilton wrote an ’emotional’ message to Antonelli on the walls of Mercedes’ roving race base. He wished him luck and told him to treat the team with care.
