In the high-octane world of Formula 1, points dictate the champion, but respect dictates the hierarchy. While the 2025 World Championship trophy may sit in Lando Norris’s cabinet, a quieter, more revealing verdict has just been delivered by the only people whose opinions truly matter—the drivers themselves.

For the fifth consecutive year, Max Verstappen has been voted the “Driver of the Year” by his peers. But beneath this headline lies a far more uncomfortable truth, a seismic shift that signals a changing of the guard more brutally than any lap time could. Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion and a permanent fixture of excellence for over a decade, has completely disappeared from the top 10 rankings.

The Verdict of the Grid: Respect Mixed with Fear

The annual F1 Drivers’ Vote is unique. There are no PR filters, no fan biases, and no media narratives. It is a secret ballot where the grid ranks their rivals based on raw performance, racecraft, and that intangible quality of “inevitability.”

In 2025, despite losing the title battle to McLaren’s Lando Norris by a razor-thin margin, the grid’s verdict was almost unanimous. Max Verstappen is still the king. Six different drivers ranked the Dutchman number one, allowing him to edge out the newly crowned world champion, Norris, for the top spot.

This result speaks volumes about the psyche of the current grid. It reveals that while fans obsess over standings and strategy errors, drivers value something primal: the feeling of being hunted. Verstappen’s victory in this vote isn’t a popularity contest; it is an admission of fear.

Drivers know that even when the Red Bull stumbles—as it did early in the 2025 season—Verstappen remains the benchmark. He is the driver who breaks later, defends harder, and exploits every centimeter of the track with a “predictably unpredictable” aggression. As the transcript notes, the drivers aren’t voting on Instagram highlights; they are voting on the wheel-to-wheel battles where a mistake should have happened but didn’t because it was Max.

The Hamilton Shock: A Legend Erased

If Verstappen’s retention of the top spot is a nod to his dominance, Lewis Hamilton’s exclusion is a siren signaling a crisis. For the first time since the peer vote began, Hamilton did not feature in the top 10. He wasn’t second, he wasn’t tenth—he was nowhere.

The 2025 season was Hamilton’s maiden voyage with Ferrari, a move that was supposed to reignite his championship aspirations. Instead, the reality has been described as “brutal.” While his teammate Charles Leclerc managed to drag performance out of the SF25, Hamilton appeared disconnected, struggling with a car that demanded compromises he has historically detested.

This vote suggests that his rivals no longer view him as the threat he once was. In the ruthless assessment of his peers, the “Hamilton factor”—that aura of invincibility and the ability to turn a race on its head—was missing in 2025. When helmets go down and cars dive into Turn 1, drivers no longer felt they had to adapt their driving to survive an encounter with Lewis. In a sport that ruthlessly prioritizes current relevance over historical legacy, this snub is a devastating critique of his first year in Maranello.

The Rising Stars and the Mental Game

The vote also highlighted the shifting dynamics among the younger generation. George Russell climbed to third in the rankings, rewarded for his “consistency plus control.” Oscar Piastri, despite a late-season dip, also climbed the ladder, recognized for a composure that belies his age.

However, the shadow of Verstappen looms largest over them all. The drivers’ vote confirms that the grid is suffering from a collective form of PTSD regarding the Dutchman. They recognize that his loss of the 2025 title wasn’t a loss of skill but a failure of machinery.

This distinction is crucial as the sport heads toward the massive regulation changes of 2026. The peer vote implies that the grid knows Max is entering this reset not defeated, but dangerous. He didn’t lose confidence in 2025; he lost patience. While Norris celebrated his title, the perception is that Verstappen is already refining, analyzing, and preparing to unleash a new level of intensity.

Relevance Over History

Ultimately, the 2025 Drivers’ Vote serves as a stark reminder of Formula 1’s unforgiving nature. The sport does not reward what you did yesterday; it only cares about what you can do today.

Lewis Hamilton’s legacy as statistically the greatest driver of all time is secure, but his relevance in the immediate “here and now” of wheel-to-wheel combat has been questioned by his rivals in the harshest way possible. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen, shorn of his crown, remains the driver everyone measures themselves against.

As we look toward 2026, the grid has sent a clear message: The trophy may have changed hands, but the fear remains in the same garage. And for Lewis Hamilton, the road back to respect will be steeper than ever.