The 2025 F1 season ended with a major title fight between three drivers, marking the first time in fifteen years that more than two drivers were in contention heading to Abu Dhabi. Both Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri were splendid throughout the season, but it was Lando Norris who edged Verstappen out by two points and won his maiden Championship.

With the season turning out quite remarkable for all three drivers, a strong debate has surrounded the fans: who was the best? The answer might seem simple; however, it’s not, not even for the Formula 1 insiders. So much so that, as the experts have picked their top 10, fans are in sheer disagreement.

F1 pundits rank 2025 drivers based on performance

Max Verstappen was the favorite to win his fifth consecutive title when the season started off; however, McLaren had made a strong comeback, which gave them the edge over Red Bull. Although Norris did not lead the standings for a long time, he remained extremely consistent in the season’s second-half.

It was understood that ranking all the drivers wouldn’t be an easy task, but notable insiders Ted Kravitz, Bernie Collins, Karun Chandhok, and Simon Lazenby took on the challenge. They shared their top-10 drivers of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

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However, not everyone agreed. Fans were simply unhappy with the list. “Have some shame,” a user wrote on X, expressing his dislike for the ranking.

Picking out the 10 drivers with the most points is an easy task. However, the point system in any sport does not truly reveal the form of the players or drivers in F1. There’s also the car’s competitiveness, the team’s performance, and quite simply, the luck.

For example, Fernando Alonso was extremely strong throughout the season, but considering Aston Martin’s performance, he was nowhere near the top in any races. When a list like this one is made, fans expect the pundits to consider these factors as well. However, they seemingly didn’t, as an army of fans slammed online.

Fans upset with the pundits’ ranking

Saying fans were ‘not happy’ with the ranking would be an understatement. There is no single word that could describe how disappointed and outraged the fans were on social media upon reading the list, but this particular comment reflects it properly: “Have some shame and hire people who actually understand racing lol this is embarrassing.”

None of the pundits had kept Lando Norris at the top. He won the championship, he proved himself out on the track. His performance early in the season could be debated. But his literal absence from the top of the table did not attract many happy fans.

“None of them had Lando Norris as the best?” Someone questioned. Another fan claimed a bias that the pundits reflected throughout the season: “All season showing British Bias and now when its all done saving face to show the public how neutral they are.”

F1 features the best drivers in the world driving the most complex pieces of machinery. It can get quite difficult to pick the best from those. But some users felt that the pundits didn’t watch the season completely: “Did yall blind rank or smth?”

At the end of the day, however, these were personal rankings. They can be affected by even the smallest difference in opinions. The season ended with McLaren winning their second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, and Norris winning his first Drivers’ title. It was quite a tough battle in Abu Dhabi amongst the three, but the Briton had the best odds.