5 things to look forward to over the second half of the 2025 F1 season

After an action-packed opening half of the season, F1 drivers and teams are enjoying a well-earned summer break. But once those holidays are over, there will be loads to look forward to on the track during the 10-round run-in, as F1.com highlights below…

Piastri vs Norris for the title

With McLaren boasting the strongest car at most tracks this year, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have been locked in a fascinating team mate battle that ebbed and flowed from the opening round in Australia to the Hungarian Grand Prix.

As it stands, just nine points separate Piastri and Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, with the Australian – who is now the only driver to score at every round so far in 2025 – claiming six race victories to the Briton’s five.

After Piastri’s impressive early-season run of five wins from eight weekends, though, it was Norris who entered the break with the momentum – bouncing back from that clash in Canada to win three of the last four Grands Prix and reduce what had been a 22-point deficit.

Off the track, much has been said about their respective approaches, given Piastri’s generally calm persona and Norris’ openness regarding his past mental struggles and self-criticism, which came to the fore after Qualifying mistakes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

As former McLaren driver and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button recently put it to F1.com: “Lando can be his own worst enemy at times – he puts a lot of pressure on himself. He’s unbelievably quick, but if he makes a tiny mistake, he really takes it to heart.

“He’s got to realise that we all make mistakes. It happens, it’s part of racing, and more often than not you lose rather than win. I love his personality, and I really think he’s super-quick.

“Oscar’s a very different personality, very level-headed. Nothing seems to faze him, and that makes him a very, very difficult competitor.”

It is very much ‘game on’ for the final 10 rounds as both Piastri and Norris bid to add their names to an exclusive list of F1 World Champions. Only time will tell who comes out on top…

Several teams fighting at the front

As touched on above, McLaren have been the class of the field so far this season, with Piastri and Norris winning 11 Grands Prix between them and leaving scraps for their rivals.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed two wins thanks to a stunning pole position and victory double at the Japanese Grand Prix and an inspired first-corner pass on Piastri at Imola, while George Russell triumphed for Mercedes in Montreal.

McLaren are expecting more of a challenge after the break, however, with Ferrari appearing to make solid improvements via recent upgrades and Mercedes starting to feel more comfortable after ditching a new rear suspension design that threw the W16 off course.

In an unusual, overcast Q3 session at the Hungaroring, Charles Leclerc managed to grab his and Ferrari’s first Grand Prix pole position of the season – edging out Piastri and Norris and then leading the first stint of the race before encountering car problems.

“I’m not surprised, because Ferrari have been competitive over the last few races,” McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella said of the situation post-race. “They were competitive in the dry in Silverstone, they were competitive in Belgium. Somehow, this wasn’t expressed fully.

“I think Ferrari [are] going to be a contender for victories for the remainder of the season. Anytime we [are] racing for the second part of the season, we would have to take into account that in Qualifying and in the race, we would have to deal with Ferrari.

“We would [also] have to deal with Mercedes, and [in Hungary] Max was a bit out of contention, but Max, I’m sure, will find a way to fight for victories.”

Four teams with the potential to win Grands Prix would make for a thrilling run between Zandvoort and Abu Dhabi, while adding another layer to the Piastri vs Norris title race – every point being vitally important.

An exciting scrap in the midfield

Beyond the front-running group, another gripping battle has developed in the midfield – one that is being led by Williams as they continue their resurgence under team boss James Vowles.

Across the seven seasons staged from 2018 to 2024, Williams scored a combined total of 84 points. Just over halfway through 2025, they are only 14 points off that mark, having taken another step forward year-on-year to bag an impressive 70.

It puts the Grove-based outfit fifth in the Teams’ Championship standings, but they face competition to hold onto that spot across the second half of the year from the likes of Aston Martin, Kick Sauber, Racing Bulls and Haas.

Remarkably, only 35 points cover Williams in fifth position and Haas in ninth place, with Alpine 15 points further back at the foot of the standings – representing one of the closest mid-pack fights F1 has seen in recent seasons.

In addition to Vowles’ team, Aston Martin, Racing Bulls, Haas and Alpine have all earned top-six results this season, while Kick Sauber boosted their tally by spectacularly reaching the podium with Nico Hulkenberg in a wet-dry Silverstone encounter.

So, who can find the best balance between bringing more updates to their current challenger and finishing as strongly as possible in the 2025 championship, while also ensuring they are in good shape for the 2026 rules reset?

Another flyaway adventure

F1’s so-called ‘European season’ began with the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend back in May and, aside from a trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, the sport has been travelling all over the continent – to an array of classic race tracks – since then.

After more European races in the Netherlands, Italy and Azerbaijan, F1 will embark on a final flyaway sequence, taking in trips to Asia (Singapore), North America (Austin, Mexico and Las Vegas), South America (Brazil) and the Middle East (Qatar and Abu Dhabi).

Three of those events will also feature the Sprint format, with bonus points on offer at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas, Sao Paulo’s Interlagos Circuit and Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit – adding to earlier Sprint rounds in China, Miami and Belgium.

It means the F1 paddock will experience a diverse range of continents and cultures over the next few months, as well as a mixture of more old-school venues and all-new tracks, such as the Las Vegas Strip Circuit (which arrived on the calendar in 2023).

With Piastri and Norris so closely matched, the title race looks set to move into the closing stages of the season once more – last year’s championship being settled under the Las Vegas lights when Max Verstappen put the title beyond Norris’ reach.

Whether you will be attending a race yourself, or following the action from around the world, F1.com will be with you for every twist and turn…

Final 2026 seats to be confirmed

Last but not least, several teams still need to confirm their driver line-ups for 2026 amid the backdrop of some intriguing ‘silly season’ chatter so far this year.

The headline was Toto Wolff’s open interest in Verstappen’s future, with the reigning four-time World Champion being linked to Mercedes for several weeks before finally confirming that he will continue at Red Bull into 2026 and the all-new regulations.

Beyond the Silver Arrows, who are now expected to continue with Russell and Kimi Antonelli, Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Alpine all have seats to fill for ’26.

Yuki Tsunoda has experienced similar struggles to his predecessors alongside Verstappen at Red Bull since his early-season promotion, but the last few weekends have brought some more positive signs, as well as a reunion with his Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies.

Over at Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar has positioned himself well for a future call-up of his own with an eye-catching rookie campaign up to this point, while Liam Lawson is getting his career back on track after that troubled two-round spell at Red Bull.

Will Tsunoda do enough over the last 10 rounds to earn an extension at the senior team? Could Red Bull decide that a rapid Hadjar promotion is the right way to go? And might there be room for F2 race winner Arvid Lindblad – who recently obtained a Super Licence – at Racing Bulls?

Alpine also have a decision to make on who will partner Pierre Gasly, with 2024 Williams super-sub Franco Colapinto enduring a tougher run this time out after replacing Jack Doohan, and another hungry youngster in Paul Aron eager for a chance to show what he can do.

That’s not to mention the new team on the block for 2026 in Cadillac, who have been heavily linked with experienced, proven Grand Prix winners Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, but are yet to make any announcements about their debut driver line-up.