In the high-stakes, hyper-competitive world of Formula 1, drivers and teams fight relentlessly for two highly coveted prizes: the World Drivers’ Championship and the World Constructors’ Championship. But beneath the surface of glory and champagne showers, an unofficial, yet profoundly impactful, battle wages on—the “Destructor’s Championship.” This is the leaderboard that no team wants to top, a bleak measure of financial carnage tallied by the cost of crash damage over a single season. The 2025 season has delivered a stark reminder of the immense financial risks inherent in pushing these complex machines to their absolute limit, with the final figures revealing a staggering $30 million bill for damage, and a surprise rookie crowned as the most financially costly driver: Gabriel Bortoleto.
The 2025 season’s Destructor’s Championship has been far more balanced, yet equally expensive, than its predecessor. While the 2024 season saw one team, Williams, dominate the damage reports, this year the costs have been distributed across the grid, largely fueled by a significant influx of new talent. These new drivers, navigating an incredibly high learning curve with cars that are notoriously difficult to follow and overtake, often resorted to what the sport calls “very ambitious moves”—tactics that frequently concluded in disaster, sending carbon fiber scattering and accounting for a hefty percentage of the overall $30 million in damage.
The Anatomy of a Multimillion-Dollar Crash
To fully grasp the magnitude of the $30 million figure, one must first understand the exorbitant cost of F1 components. These are not merely pieces of metal and plastic; they are bespoke, hyper-engineered parts representing the pinnacle of automotive technology, manufactured to tolerances measured in microns. While the total estimated unit cost of a modern F1 car is around $1.3 million, the components most frequently damaged paint a picture of relentless attrition.
The front wing, a seemingly fragile piece of aerodynamic wizardry, is an estimated $125,000 per unit. The 2025 season saw 63 of these crucial components smashed to pieces. More frequent still were the wheels, with 74 destroyed throughout the year. But the true financial horror lies in the rarely broken components: the chassis and the gearbox. The chassis, the central tub that is the very backbone of the car and the driver’s safety cell, is worth between $1 million and $1.5 million alone, a cost so immense it is often left out of the running damage estimate to avoid skewing the numbers too dramatically. The gearbox, traditionally the most expensive single component at unit price, is thankfully the most robust, with only two units destroyed in the entire 2025 season. Despite these lower-frequency breakages, the cumulative minor incidents, often involving front wings and wheels, piled up relentlessly to reach the unprecedented $30 million peak.
The Financially Prudent: Where Talent Meets Clean Racing
Amidst the debris and escalating repair bills, a handful of elite drivers demonstrated that speed and precision can coexist with financial responsibility. The lower bracket of the Destructor’s Championship, comprising drivers who kept their damage under the $1 million mark, represents the “cleanest” racers on the grid, proving their value beyond mere points scoring.
At the very bottom of this unwanted leaderboard—meaning he accumulated the least amount of damage—was the reigning champion and one of the season’s top performers, Max Verstappen. Despite fighting for the championship in what was often described as an “inferior car” for large parts of the season, Verstappen’s damage bill was minimal. This staggering feat is not just a testament to his sheer talent and superior racecraft, but also a profound statement on his value to a team. As the transcript notes, having a driver who causes little damage saves millions, allowing teams to allocate resources to crucial mid-season upgrades and development for the subsequent season.
Verstappen was joined in this elite, financially responsible club by veterans Fernando Alonso and George Russell, alongside promising young drivers Kimi Antonelli and, surprisingly, Esteban Ocon. Ocon’s presence in the bottom five was particularly shocking, given the meme culture surrounding his and Russell’s previous perceived tendency toward on-track incidents. Their low damage tallies are a significant asset for their respective teams, highlighting the marketability of a clean, reliable driver.
The Cost of Inexperience: The $1 Million to $2 Million Burden
The middle tier, encompassing drivers with damage bills ranging from $1 million to $2 million, saw a high concentration of fresh faces whose learning curves proved incredibly costly. This section of the championship is dominated by rookies who, in their aggressive pursuit of experience and points, made expensive errors.
Isaac Hadjar, who approached the $2 million mark at $1.9 million, accumulated his damage across major race weekends, including Silverstone and Australia. While some incidents were arguably outside his control, others demonstrated a rookie’s lack of self-preservation. Similarly, Franco Colapinto’s huge crash during his first session in Imola broke a significant portion of his car, contributing a large chunk to his tally. Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman also found themselves in this range, though their costs were accrued through a series of minor incidents and small parts damage rather than single, colossal accidents.
The common thread here is the rookie struggle: the desire to prove oneself quickly, often leading to overambitious corner entry speeds or ill-judged overtaking maneuvers. Their financial liability directly impacted team budgets, a stark reminder that F1 success requires not only pace but also consistency and measured aggression.
The Destructor Elite: Bortoleto’s Almost $4 Million Catastrophe
The true financial carnage was reserved for the highest tier: drivers whose damage exceeded the $2 million mark. This group includes established stars and newcomers alike, but one name stands head and shoulders above the rest: Gabriel Bortoleto, who amassed an astonishing nearly $4 million in total damage, sealing the unwanted Destructor’s Championship title.
Bortoleto’s season was a roller coaster. He had shown glimpses of being a clean driver early on, but his final tally was inflated by two catastrophic incidents towards the end of the year. The most infamous was the crash in Las Vegas, where the rookie seemingly “forgot to brake,” going for a move that was described as something one would only do in an “iRacing” video game simulation—a recklessly aggressive, completely misjudged lunge. This single incident was immensely costly, but it was eclipsed by the single most expensive crash of the entire 2025 season: Bortoleto’s mishap during the Brazil Sprint Race. Going for a “very ambitious move” for a low P12 or P13 position, he caused irreparable damage to his car, an unnecessary financial blow that cemented his place at the top of the Destructor’s list.
Bortoleto was joined by other major contributors:
Yuki Tsunoda, who accumulated approximately $3.5 million, largely due to a massive crash during Imola qualifying that dealt a critical blow to the Red Bull (Kick Sauber, according to the team breakdown) budget.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, drivers for the championship-winning McLaren team. It is a stunning irony that the drivers of the most dominant car still racked up massive bills. Norris approached $3 million, primarily due to a big crash in Saudi Arabia, while Piastri’s high cost was attributed to a disastrous Baku weekend. While their team won the Constructors’ title and will easily absorb the costs, their financial footprint is surprisingly large.
Charles Leclerc, whose $2.2 million in damage was somewhat justifiable due to his struggle with a “very weird,” oversteering and understeering Ferrari car.
Jack Doohan, who managed to hit the $2 million mark in just five Grand Prix appearances, notably with a “very costworthy” incident in Japan where he carried DRS open into a corner.
The Team Standings and the Looming Future
When the numbers are aggregated by team, the results are equally revealing, highlighting the financial consequence of driver pairings. Ironically, the team most often subjected to jokes and memes about crashing—Mercedes—spent the least amount of money in the Destructor’s Championship, a fact that certainly deserves high praise.
On the other end of the spectrum, Alpine had a financially disastrous season. With their driver Franco Colapinto scoring no points and contributing heavily to the damage bill, the team achieved the “grand slam” of things you don’t want: poor performance coupled with colossal repair costs. Kick Sauber’s total damage was largely inflated by Bortoleto’s late-season rampage, and Red Bull’s high tally was predominantly the fault of Yuki Tsunoda’s incidents.
The $30 million reckoning of 2025 serves as a chilling prelude to the future. With new regulations looming for the 2026 season, bringing with them new cars, new engines, and an even steeper learning curve for all drivers, the cost of damage is widely expected to skyrocket. Experts predict the Destructor’s Championship could reach the unprecedented and record-breaking $50 million mark.
As F1 cars become more complex, more aerodynamically sensitive, and more challenging to drive on the limit, the divide between the financially disciplined driver and the “Destructor Champion” will only widen. For teams and their accountants, this unofficial championship is a very real, very painful reality—a constant reminder that while pushing the limit makes for entertaining viewing, the cost of crossing it can be measured in millions.
