In a revelation that has sent shockwaves through the world of motorsport, the 2025 Formula One season has concluded with a historic and unprecedented twist. For the first time in the sport’s modern history, the driver who lifted the World Championship trophy has been denied the accolade of “Driver of the Year” by his own peers and team principals.
While McLaren’s Lando Norris rightfully celebrates his maiden World Title, a shadow of debate has been cast over the achievement by the very people who occupy the paddock alongside him. In the annual secret ballot conducted by Formula One and Autosport, both the grid’s ten team principals and the drivers themselves have unanimously voted Max Verstappen as the number one driver of the 2025 season.
This stunning divergence between the official points table and the paddock’s professional opinion marks a watershed moment in F1, igniting fierce debates about what truly defines greatness in motorsport: is it the silverware in the cabinet, or the raw performance behind the wheel?
The Paddock Speaks: A Secret Verdict Revealed
Every year, Formula One conducts a prestigious poll where the ten team bosses and the drivers are asked to rank their top ten performers of the season. The process is conducted under a strict veil of secrecy to ensure honesty, allowing rivals to praise one another without fear of political backlash. Usually, the result is a formality: the World Champion, having proven their superiority over a gruelling calendar, almost always tops the list.
But 2025 was no ordinary year.
According to the newly released data, Max Verstappen topped the rankings in both the Team Principals’ poll and the Drivers’ poll. Lando Norris, despite his triumph in the standings, was relegated to second place in both lists.
The consensus is overwhelming. It suggests that while Norris had the car and the consistency to secure the most points, the paddock believes Verstappen operated on a higher plane of individual brilliance. This sentiment is particularly telling coming from the drivers—Verstappen’s direct rivals—who see the telemetry, watch the onboards, and battle him wheel-to-wheel. To be voted the best by the very men you fight against, even after losing the title, is perhaps the ultimate mark of respect.
The Miracle Comeback: Why Max Won the Vote
To understand this historic anomaly, one must look at the narrative arc of the 2025 season. It was a year of two distinct halves, a drama that will be retold for decades.
By the end of August, Max Verstappen’s season appeared to be in tatters. He was languishing over 100 points behind the championship leader, struggling with a car that seemed to have lost its competitive edge against the surging McLarens. The title fight was, for all intents and purposes, over. Pundits had written him off; the mathematics looked impossible.
But what followed was a display of driving so relentless and precise that it evidently swayed the minds of every expert in the pit lane. Verstappen engineered a turnaround that bordered on the mythical. Clawing back points race after race, win after win, he dragged the championship battle down to the absolute wire.
Although he ultimately fell agonizingly short—finishing just two points behind Norris in the final standings—the quality of his drive in that second half of the season has clearly left a deeper impression than the title win itself. The voters seemingly rewarded the sheer audacity of the comeback. To nearly erase a triple-digit deficit requires a level of perfection that allows for zero errors, and it is this “fantastic” performance, as observers have noted, that cemented his status as the year’s true standout.
The Norris Dilemma: A Title Without the Crown?
For Lando Norris, these rankings may arrive as a bittersweet postscript to his greatest triumph. Winning the Formula One World Championship is the pinnacle of a racing driver’s life; it is the objective fact that goes into the history books. Yet, there is an undeniable sting in knowing that your colleagues and bosses view your rival as the superior performer of the year.
However, placing second in these rankings is no insult. Norris drove a magnificent campaign, capitalizing on his machinery and holding his nerve when it mattered most to secure the title by that razor-thin two-point margin. The voters acknowledged this, placing him firmly in P2. The narrative here is not that Norris was undeserving, but rather that Verstappen was transcendent.
Norris’s ranking confirms his status as an elite tier driver, separating him from the rest of the pack. He finished ahead of incredible talents like Oscar Piastri and George Russell in the eyes of his peers, validating his championship credentials even if he missed out on the top spot in this specific popularity contest.
The “Harsh” Reality for Ferrari and Leclerc
Beyond the headline battle at the top, the released lists have generated significant controversy regarding the rest of the grid, specifically concerning Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
In a move that many analysts and fans are already calling “harsh,” the Monegasque driver was voted down in P7 by the team bosses and P5 by the drivers. This low ranking seems to contradict the raw statistics of his season. Despite Ferrari’s struggles—the team finished a distant P4 in the Constructors’ Championship—Leclerc managed to extract impressive results from a difficult car.
He finished a massive 86 points ahead of his legendary teammate, Lewis Hamilton, and secured multiple podiums in a machine that often looked like the fourth-fastest on the grid. To outperform a seven-time world champion by such a margin is a career-defining achievement, yet the team principals, in particular, seemed unimpressed, ranking him below drivers like Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonzo.
The discrepancy suggests that the team bosses may have punished Leclerc for Ferrari’s overall underperformance, failing to isolate the driver’s efforts from the team’s struggles. The drivers, perhaps recognizing the difficulty of taming an unruly car, were slightly more generous, placing him in the top five.
The Rising Stars: Rookies Make Their Mark
The 2025 rankings also heralded the arrival of the next generation. It was a breakout year for young talent, with names like Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar finding their way into the top ten lists.
For rookies to penetrate this elite list is rare. It signals a changing of the guard and proves that the team principals are keeping a close eye on the future. Bearman, in particular, impressed enough to secure P8 in the bosses’ vote and P9 in the drivers’ vote, a testament to a debut season where he likely punched above his weight. The inclusion of these young drivers adds a layer of excitement for 2026, suggesting that the grid is more competitive and talent-rich than it has been in years.
A Split Verdict: Bosses vs. Drivers
Comparing the two lists reveals fascinating nuances about how different figures in the sport view performance.
The Team Principals’ Top 5:
Max Verstappen
Lando Norris
Oscar Piastri
George Russell
Fernando Alonso
The Drivers’ Top 5:
Max Verstappen
Lando Norris
George Russell
Oscar Piastri
Charles Leclerc
While the top two remain static, the midfield is a battleground of opinions. The drivers seem to rate George Russell slightly higher than the bosses do, placing him on the podium of the rankings. Meanwhile, the bosses showed immense respect for the veteran Fernando Alonso, placing him 5th, whereas the drivers dropped him down to 7th.
Most notably, the team bosses’ list included Nico Hülkenberg in the top 10, a nod to the veteran’s ability to deliver consistent points for a midfield team, a quality highly stricter by those who manage the team budgets. The drivers, conversely, included Alex Albon, recognizing the sheer difficulty of his job at Williams.
Conclusion: The Legend of 2025
The 2025 season will ultimately go down in history as the year Lando Norris became World Champion. The record books will not feature an asterisk explaining the “Driver of the Year” vote. However, in the collective memory of the paddock, this season belongs just as much to Max Verstappen.
His ability to command the respect of the entire grid—turning a 100-point deficit into a campaign of terror that frightened the life out of the title favorites—has reaffirmed his standing as the generational talent of his era.
As the teams head into the winter break and prepare for 2026, the dynamic has shifted. Norris has the trophy, but Verstappen has the psychological edge, knowing that the world of F1 still considers him the man to beat. The rivalry is far from over; in fact, looking at these rankings, it has only just begun.