Ranking the top five driver lineups for the 2025 F1 season

Heading into the 2025 Formula One season, eight of the 10 teams have at least one new driver in their lineup, but which team has the best? Let’s take a look at the five teams with the best driver partnerships heading into the 2025 season.

5. Williams, Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz

Team boss James Vowles might believe he has the strongest lineup on the grid. While it’s not No. 1, it is, without a doubt, the strongest lineup of the midfield teams. 

Sainz was added off the back of his best season at Ferrari to partner with Albon, who has always been one of the strongest drivers in the midfield and is almost a completely rebuilt driver compared to the one Max Verstappen demolished at Red Bull. 

Williams finished ninth in the constructors’ championship in 2024, scoring only 17 points, but with the addition of Sainz, Williams is no doubt expected to make a major jump in 2025.

4. Red Bull, Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson

Verstappen is an all-time great, coming off his fourth consecutive driver’s championship, and he makes any lineup formidable to go up against. The only reason Red Bull is fourth is because of Lawson.

Replacing Sergio Perez was the right call by Red Bull, as his performances were detrimental to the team, but there is no guarantee that Lawson will be a significant upgrade. 

The 22-year-old has only 11 grand prix under his belt in Formula 1, and it remains to be seen how the young driver will be able to handle being teammates with Formula 1’s top dog.

3. Mercedes, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli 

Russell has proved he is ready to lead Mercedes after tipping an inter-team battle with Lewis Hamilton in his favor in 2024. Russell now has a completely different teammate, 18-year-old Antonelli. 

Mercedes rates Antonelli extremely highly and has a lot of faith in the driver; however, that faith in the long term is not necessarily what he’ll do this season. The young driver has had extensive testing time with the team to prepare for the jump from F2 to F1, but as his crash in his first practice session in Monza showed, there will be plenty of ups and downs. 

Antonelli’s potential high ceiling compared to Lawson and both Williams drivers is why Mercedes is higher on the list.

2. McLaren, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Norris and Piastri are a well-balanced, constructors’ championship-winning team, with both drivers proving to be race winners. Norris has gotten closer to Verstappen than any driver over the past number of years. However, there are still a few small things holding this team back.

Piastri is still struggling with his qualifying pace compared to Norris, being down a tenth of a second on average. When it comes to Norris, he is still missing that final edge to make him one of F1’s elite drivers. His championship collapse in Brazil is the best evidence of that. 

1. Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc 

When you combine F1’s most successful driver with arguably the quickest driver over one lap, you get the best lineup in F1 in 2025. 

While there may be some skepticism over Hamilton’s abilities given that he is now 40 years old and his somewhat up and down 2024 with Mercedes, even if his delivery is uncertain, Ferrari has a champion waiting in the wings with Leclerc, who will perform at the top in 2025.