Lando Norris
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Lando Norris won the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship to hand McLaren their first title since Lewis Hamilton won the first of his joint-record seven titles in the 2008 season.
Norris beat Red Bull racer Max Verstappen and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by only two and 13 points to win the F1 drivers’ championship for the first time in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton’s hopes for a record-breaking eighth title proved to be a distant dream after he joined Ferrari.
Only Ferrari have ever won the F1 drivers’ championship more often than McLaren, with 15 and 13 titles each to date. Yet the Scuderia last won the title when Kimi Raikkonen denied a rookie Hamilton in 2007, before the Briton beat Ferrari’s Felipe Massa by one point in 2008.
Hamilton went on to win a further six titles with Mercedes during his time in Brackley from 2013 to 2024. But he quit the Silver Arrows to join Ferrari after enduring winless seasons in 2022 and 2023, only to suffer another winless campaign after moving to Maranello in 2025.
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Lewis Hamilton would not have won the 2025 F1 title for McLaren as his age is ‘simply’ his downfall
Hamilton claimed Ferrari had “every ingredient” to fight for a title in 2025 upon his arrival in Italy, having seen them finish second to McLaren in the 2024 constructors’ standings by only 14 points. Yet Ferrari would finish 2025 a whopping 435 adrift, as McLaren retained the title.
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Ferrari stopped developing their 2025 car in April to focus on the 2026 F1 regulations, which McLaren did in July. But Tom Coronel feels Hamilton’s age is the simple reason why the 105-time Grand Prix winner would not have won the 2025 F1 title, even if he drove for McLaren.
Coronel believes Hamilton’s ex-Mercedes teammate George Russell, his new Ferrari partner Charles Leclerc and the man he replaced Carlos Sainz are among the drivers who could have fought for the title in the McLaren MCL39. But with Hamilton 41 in January, his time is over.
“I’d go with Russell, [who is an] experienced man,” Coronel told RacingNews365. “Carlos Sainz, Lando, Piastri and of course, Max. Leclerc, too.
“Hamilton dropped too many stitches this year. I don’t see him growing as a champion anymore. Sorry to say, you’ve had your time. You see it too, the ageing is simply there because the difference with Leclerc is simply too great.”
Charles Leclerc dominated Lewis Hamilton in their first season as Ferrari teammates
Leclerc dominated Hamilton during their first season as teammates at Ferrari, who saw their new star fail to shine as he adapted to a new car and new team. Leclerc beat Hamilton 19-5 in their qualifying head-to-head and 18-3 for race results, when at least one finished a race.
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Hamilton also failed to secure a single Grand Prix podium in a season for the first time in his 19-year F1 career during his first campaign with Ferrari. Norris reached the most podiums in 2025 with 18 (seven wins), ahead of Piastri (16, seven wins) and Verstappen (15, eight wins).
Leclerc took all seven of Ferrari’s Grand Prix podiums in 2025, with a personal-best of P2 in Monaco and Mexico City. The Monegasque also scored the Scuderia’s sole pole position in 2025 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Hamilton failed to make Q3 for one of nine times.
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