AUTOhebdo's Top 50 Drivers of 2025 – 1st: Max Verstappen

Notation method: The journalists at AUTOhebdo each submitted their top 50 from a pre-defined list of 80 names. The driver in first place received 50 points, down to the fiftieth, who received one point. The average of the votes produced a ranking based on the driver's (or crew's) performance in their category during the year 2025.

1.Max Verstappen

• Vice-world champion of Formula 1
• Eight victories

Although he did not win a fifth consecutive world title, Max Verstappen has once again left its mark on the Formula 1 season, with a Red Bull which was not, however, at the level of the McLaren de Lando Norris et Oscar piastri over a large part of the season. The Dutchman finishes this season with eight wins, making him the most successful driver of the year, ahead of the seven wins achieved by Norris and Piastri.

Most importantly, despite trailing the world championship leader by 104 points after the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Max Verstappen managed to reduce the gap and ultimately lose by two points to Lando Norris, while finishing second in the championship, ahead of Oscar Piastri, the man who led the title fight for most of the season.

Author of a "historic comeback" as called by his Team Principal Laurent Mekies (who arrived in the summer to replace Christian Horner), Max Verstappen is preparing to spend his first year in F1 since 2021 in his number 1, but he earns it well deservedly in our AUTOhebdo Top 50 2025!

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