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The 2025 F1 season is just a few days away now with the expectations and tensions gradually rising. Last season was a breath of fresh air with four different teams winning races. In the end, while it was once again the familiar face of Max Verstappen at the top, the battle did keep everyone engaged.
This season, the field is expected to be even more competitive as we're heading into the last season of the current regulations. For the first time in a while, Red Bull and Max Verstappen do not look outright favorites for the title. So who are we picking to win the 2025 F1 title? Let's take a look.
#10 Arvid Lindblad makes his debut this season
Well, let's start with the first prediction, which would be Kimi Antonelli starting his F1 career as the youngest driver on the grid, but before his rookie season is over, he will be replaced by Arvid Lindblad as the youngest driver on the grid.
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The British driver has been someone that has already been earmarked by quite a few at Red Bull as the next big star. Unlike Antonelli, Lindblad already has the super license in the bag, and with the exemption in place that was introduced last season when it came to the age of the drivers, he can debut as a 17-year-old.
Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar would be racing at the Red Bull sister team, but if we hear what Helmut Marko has to say about either of them, it's not as confident. Lindblad will be debuting in F2 this season with Campos, a team that almost took Hadjar to the title last season.
If the teenager can win a few races at the start of the season and the Racing Bulls are not as impressive, it will not come as a surprise if Lindblad is in one of the two seats before the end of the season.
#9 Haas finishes 5th in the championship
Out of all the midfield teams, if there is one that has arguably made it clear that they would continue to work on the 2025 machinery, it is Haas. The team with Ayao Komatsu has seen a resurgence as it continues to grow and get better. The first pre-season test has the team pegged at roughly 7th fastest with Williams and Alpine ahead.
However, with the French team having driver issues by the looks of it and Williams shifting their focus to 2026, the American team with a somewhat stable line-up will gain an advantage as the season progresses and seal a P5 in the F1 championship.
#8 Kimi Antonelli wins multiple races
There would be a spotlight on Kimi Antonelli and how he fares at Mercedes in his first season. At the same point in time, the talent he has is undeniable. What he's shown already in F2 has warranted a few who have already become fans, while others have questioned if Toto Wolff rushed the young Italian.
The answer to this question will come this season, but we are backing the kid to do well. Mercedes is one of the top 4 teams on the grid, and the gap between these teams is not much. Consistency might just be a concern for young Kimi, but there would be races where the oodles of talent shine through and he will win multiple races in his rookie F1 season, breaking a few records along the way.
#7 Haas scores its first podium
Haas has become one of the permanent fixtures of F1 now and has been a part of the grid for multiple regulation changes. It has, however, never looked this formidable before. The car is decent enough to fight for points, but for once, the team has two capable drivers.
With the grid being as close as it is right now, the pecking order would continue to fluctuate, and when you have a driver like Esteban Ocon who has this uncanny ability to snatch a podium here and there whenever it is available, you can expect one mega result. We're backing the team's first podium in the 2025 F1 season.
#6 We have more than 10 different podium finishers
The top 4 teams are very close to each other in terms of performance. Just like last season, it would mean that these teams would rotate in terms of pecking order placement depending on the track and conditions. At the same time, the midfield has significantly closed up.
Teams like Williams, Alpine and Haas appear to be within touching distance of the front runners. And with each of these teams having capable drivers and former F1 race winners, expect the 24-race calendar to spring a surprise or two that results in at least 2 or more drivers from these teams snatching a podium.
#5 We have more than 7 race winners
We had 7 drivers who won multiple races last season. That is unprecedented already in F1, but in 2025, we're ramping things up even more as we're predicting more than 7 drivers to win races.
The top 4 teams have drivers who can win any race on their day, but then you also have the midfield drivers, who have seen their respective teams close the gap to the frontrunners.
Carlos Sainz knows how to win races, so do Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. If things fall in place, it won't be surprising to see this F1 season produce more than 7 race winners this time around.
#4 Charles Leclerc dominates Lewis Hamilton
Take this prediction with a grain of salt because the 7-time F1 champion has started things off very impressively. Lewis Hamilton has been the apple of the eye for the Ferrari team and the Tifosi.
But the off-track stuff doesn't change cold, hard facts. He's moving to Ferrari, a team that's completely different in the way it works than a Mercedes. The car would be different, and he would have to adapt. On the other hand, there's Charles Leclerc, a driver who has been embedded in the team, and the car is built primarily with his input.
To top it all up, Charles Leclerc is one of the most talented drivers in F1. You add it all up and you can understand why one could predict a struggle for Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
We could potentially see a repeat of the 2024 F1 season in terms of how the legend fared against George Russell at Mercedes.
#3 We will have a 5-way title battle for the drivers championship
This might be the boldest of all predictions, as we're predicting a 5-way title battle for the 2025 F1 season. The top 4 teams are very close to each other, and as we've seen last season, in these regulations, finding that extra tenth or two is very hard, and the development graph has more or less flattened out now.
When that happens, these four teams have their respective strengths and weaknesses, and the aim is going to be how each of these teams makes the best use of it. There are 8 drivers in these top 4 teams and we're predicting 5 of them to be in contention for the title as the season progresses.
#2 McLaren wins the constructors championship
Out of all the driver lineups in the 2025 F1 grid, the McLaren lineup might just be the most formidable at the moment. Both drivers are very close to each other in terms of performance and when it comes to getting the best out of the machinery, neither is far off the mark.
When we get to the business end of the season, having two consistent performers is arguably going to outweigh a Red Bull lineup where Max Verstappen scores all the points, or Mercedes, where Kimi Antonelli is still learning, or a Ferrari, where Lewis Hamilton is getting on top of the demands of the car.
This was also what helped McLaren in 2024 when it came to the championship, and in 2025, this is going to help the team again as it retains the title.
#1 Max Verstappen wins his 5th F1 world title
Max Verstappen heads into the 2025 F1 season on the backfoot. The Red Bull was not the class of the field when the pre-season test came to an end. With that being said, the gaps between the top 4 are very small, and the differentiating factor could be the operational acumen of the team, the ability to be relentless, and, most importantly, having a driver that extracts every bit of performance from the car.
The Red Bull-Max Verstappen combination has this advantage over almost every other team on the F1 grid. This is also arguably the biggest weakness of McLaren as well, where both drivers could potentially take points off each other and then hurt each other in the championship.
The 2025 F1 season is going to be Max Verstappen's toughest campaign, but if there is one driver who heads into the season as the favorite, it's him.
