Will Verstappen become world champion in 2025? This is what the GPblog editors predict!

The start of the 2025 season is just around the corner. After an exciting season last year where the margins were very small, we are looking forward to a new season. The editors of GPblog have already made several predictions for 2025.

Which team has the fastest car over the whole season?

Nicole Mulder, editor-in-chief at GPblog, expects it to be between Red Bull Racing and McLaren. "Where Red Bull started 2024 strongest, McLaren ultimately proved to have the best car. This year, I expect McLaren to again be strong, especially in the first half of the season. However, I also expect Red Bull to come back strongly compared to last year."

"Max Verstappen already indicated that his team knows what it needs to work on and the extra hours in the wind tunnel will certainly help. Ferrari cannot be excluded either, given the Scuderia's strong performance in the closing stages of 2024."

Cas van de Kleut, editor at GPblog, is putting his money on McLaren. "I think McLaren is going to have the best car. Last year, the team already showed they could make huge strides in development quickly. This season it will be a bit closer, but McLaren is just going to have an advantage over the other top teams."

Kimberley Hoefnagel, editor-in-chief at GPblog, concurs with Cas. "I think McLaren will have the fastest car over the whole season. They had things very well in place in 2024, and I have no doubt they can build on this in 2025."

"Red Bull has some issues to solve first, so they will not be the fastest right away. In addition, they will also definitely notice the loss of Adrian Newey, especially later in the season. For Ferrari, Lewis' experience will help enormously in development, but I think it's just not going to be enough to be the fastest."

And Sandy van Wijngaarden, editor at GPblog, also expects McLaren to have the fastest car. "In most of 2024, McLaren obviously had the fastest car. I think they will still have this advantage in 2025. The first images of the car look promising and the team seems to have found improvements. I do expect Ferrari and Red Bull Racing to be close behind."

Who will win the drivers' championship?

Kimberley has a wild prediction for the world title. "The world title can genuinely go either way. We have some rock-solid drivers among the top teams, and if the teams are indeed close, we can look forward to a great season. Of course, only one person can win."

"I'm going for a very wild guess then. Lewis takes his eighth title. I think with his experience he will just be just a better starting position than Lando and Charles. In terms of experience and talent, he and Max are fairly evenly matched, so it will really be purely down to the car."

Cas, like Kimberley, puts the fate in the hands of the car. "This depends on how good the RB21 will be. Should Red Bull again build a car that comes close to McLaren, Ferrari and possibly Mercedes, Verstappen will take the title. If this is not the case, I think Leclerc will take his first championship."

Nicole, on the other hand, thinks it will be Verstappen again. "Max Verstappen is going to win his fifth world title this year. Like last year, it will not come easily to him in 2025, but the mutual competition between the teammates of rival teams will ensure that no one team starts the season with a clear number one to take on Verstappen."

"That certainly applies to McLaren, where Oscar Piastri has no intention of playing second fiddle to Lando Norris for another year. Even Ferrari will not want to bet on one man from the start, now that it has two star drivers in house with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton."

Sandy joins Nicole. "Max Verstappen is by far the best driver on the grid. Red Bull had a difficult period with the car in 2024, but towards the end of the season the team seemed to have recovered quite a bit. I think this development will continue and the team will be able to produce a good car in 2025. As I don't think Liam Lawson will take many points away from the Dutchman, Verstappen will win his fifth title."

Who will win the constructors' championship?

Cas thinks Ferrari will go for the constructors' title. "Just because I think McLaren will have the fastest car in '25 doesn't mean the team will also be constructors' champion. With Leclerc and Hamilton, Ferrari has a great line-up. Therefore, I think they will take the constructors' championship."

Kimberley concurs. "I think Ferrari will run away with the constructors' championship. Although McLaren has a strong line-up, I don't think they can match the combination of Lewis and Charles. Provided Ferrari is not plagued by all sorts of accidents and technical problems again, of course. Although we should not underestimate Red Bull - and certainly Verstappen -."

Sandy also thinks Ferrari will run away with the constructors' title. "Even though I think McLaren will have the fastest car over the whole season, I think Ferrari will clinch the constructors' title. In 2024, the Scuderia was only a few points off. With Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton as driver duo, I think the full potential will be taken from the car. McLaren, on the other hand, will make wrong choices and lose points due to lack of leadership."

Nicole expects another title for McLaren. "In 2025, the performance of the different teams will be even closer to each other - partly due to looking at the best innovations from each other - but McLaren will probably have the most consistent bolide overall. With two drivers evenly matched, the British team is likely to bring in more points for the constructors' championship than Red Bull, where Liam Lawson is embarking on a learning year alongside Verstappen."

Which driver is going to surprise the most?

Nicole picks two drivers. "From both Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, I expect them to be able to conjure something out of the top hat. Piastri has learned from his mistakes in 2024 and is keen to mount a serious challenge for the world title. Leclerc, in turn, will be extra motivated to prove why he is - and remains - Ferrari's apple of the eye rather than the team's newest addition, Lewis Hamilton."

Kimberley, on the other hand, opts for a rookie. "I think Antonelli is going to surprise the most of the rookies. Bearman will also do extremely well, but we already expect that after his fill-in performances last year. So I wouldn't call that a surprise anymore."

Cas also opts for a driver at the start of his first full season. "I secretly expect a lot from Liam Lawson anyway. It would be nice if for once there will be a teammate who is a bit closer to Verstappen. Max is obviously the absolute number one within Red Bull, but Lawson is going to do better than Perez."

Sandy expects the most from another rookie. "I think Isack Hadjar is going to surprise us. The Frenchman showed a lot of potential in Formula 2 and missed out on the title in that championship by a few points. I expect he could just make things very difficult for Yuki Tsunoda."

Which driver is going to disappoint the most?

Cas also opts for a rookie in this question. "I'm afraid Doohan's F1 career will come to an end sooner than he deserves. By the way, that doesn't mean he will do badly. Furthermore, I don't expect Lance Stroll to do very well this season either."

Kimberley also mentions Doohan. "On the other hand, I think Jack Doohan might disappoint us. He has been sitting on the sidelines for quite a while anyway, so I fear he may have lost momentum. On his debut in Abu Dhabi, he finished just 15th, while Gasly finished seventh. And I think that trend is going to continue."

Sandy opts for an eye-catching name. "I think Liam Lawson may yet disappoint. Expectations are very high because of his promotion to Red Bull Racing. Despite showing good things at the Racing Bulls, I don't think he will be anywhere near Max Verstappen. Indeed, I think that if Lawson had been a mega talent, he would have been given a place in the king class much earlier."

What do the readers of GPblog think? Do you agree with the editors' predictions or do you expect something completely different for 2025? Leave your predictions in the comments!

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy

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