10 Storylines To Get Excited About In The Last 10 Races Of F1 2025

Formula 1 returns from its summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend with 10 races remaining despite the championship having passed the halfway mark.

So much has already happened on track, from McLaren's dominance to Christian Horner's dismissal from his post as Red Bull team principal and CEO to Nico Hulkenberg finally breaking his podium goose egg.

But that doesn't mean there isn't anything left to come during the climax to the campaign - so what stories should you look out for?

McLaren title fight

Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, McLaren — May 3, 2025; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; McLaren driver Oscar Piastri (81) and McLaren driver Lando Norris (4) during the F1 Miami Grand Prix Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

It has been safe to say for a while now that the fight for the drivers' title is between McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

The Woking-based outfit has only seen its dominance increase in recent races to leave its drivers in a tussle for championship honors, with the momentum shifting from one to the other constantly.

While Norris has displayed more outright speed than Piastri, the Australian has been able to piece together a more consistent effort to ensure he headed into the break on top. But with the Briton winning in Hungary, the gap wasn't as big as it could have been.

McLaren is now in a position to split the team into two garages now that rivals have dropped out of contention, with Piastri and Norris given the freedom to change strategy mid-race to try and get the upperhand.

Will there be a flashpoint that sees the harmony fracture? Only time will tell but in F1, harmony rarely wins out.

Can Red Bull sort itself out

Max Verstappen, Red Bull — Jun 14, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) discusses with a technician during FP3 practice at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images | David Kirouac-Imagn Images

Turbulent is the best way to describe the past 18 months to two years for Red Bull.

A corner may have been turned with Horner's axing after the British Grand Prix and Laurent Mekies' more engineering-focused mind being drafted in from the Racing Bulls operation, but there is a lot that needs to be done to get the squad fully back on track.

Yuki Tsunoda looked much more at home in the last two races before the summer break while Max Verstappen, who has long maligned the performance of the car, has praised being able to talk to Mekies about the engineering side of things and will hope that even if this year is lost cause, the team can hit the ground running next term.

Red Bull does face a mountain with its Ford-backed in-house powertrain after all...

Will Hamilton and Ferrari finally figure things out?

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari — May 4, 2025; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton (44) leaves the Ferrari garage before the F1 Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

It was supposed to be a legendary tale of the statistically best team and statistically best driver in F1 history marrying to create a superpower.

But that's not how the season has turned out for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari. In fact, it has been quite the opposite.

The seven-time world champion has admittedly struggled under the current technical regulations that F1 has used since 2022, but there were glimpses last season that he was finally getting to grips with the ground-effect aerodynamics and the 18-inch Pirelli tires.

A win in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint in just his second weekend with Ferrari backed that hope up but a disqualification in the main race for excessive plank wear has punctuated his season as a whole, with some races showing Hamilton off the pace while unfortunate events like a marmot strike in Canada leaving him with performance-ruining damage.

The biggest thing that must happen at the Scuderia, though, is that there must be more harmony between Hamilton and race engineer Ricardo Adami. Too often has there been obvious tension over team radio - much like with teammate Charles Leclerc and his engineer Bryan Bozzi.

Don't be surprised if there are more shouty radio messages across the final 10 races.

How will Antonelli respond to rough patch?

Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes — Jun 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Third place Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli (12) reacts after receiving his trophy at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images | David Kirouac-Imagn Images

Kimi Antonelli came into F1 with a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders with Mercedes picking the Italian teenager to replace Hamilton alongside George Russell.

Matching Russell was never the aim for Antonelli this season given his fast-tracked junior career into the Silver Arrows seat, and to his credit, he has put in impressive performances here and there to underline just why he was given the call by team principal Toto Wolff.

The Austrian's faith was repaid with pole for the Miami Grand Prix sprint and a podium at the Canadian Grand Prix . But since Montreal, things have been more difficult for Antonelli and he must find a way to rebound.

Wolff and the rest of the Mercedes hierarchy needs to put an arm on the youngster's shoulder to take the pressure off because the talent is clearly there, now the errors that have plagued Antonelli recently have to be cut out.

Williams versus the world for fifth in the constructors

Our duo, reunited again this week 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tacb0MRD33
— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) August 25, 2025

An intriguing battle for fifth in the constructors' standings has been born from seemingly nowhere given Williams' start to the season.

Consistent points scoring - largely from Alex Albon - early in the year made its fifth position in the table look as safe as it can ever be in F1's competitive midfield.

But then Hulkenberg got on a roll for Sauber and picked up top-10 after top-10, including his wonderful maiden podium at Silverstone to close the gap right down.

A strong finish to the first stage of the season for Aston Martin then propelled it into sixth to become Williams' main challengers, while Racing Bulls in eight are the only team to score anywhere near as consistently as the Grove-based squad out of those fighting for fifth.

It's Williams' position to lose but there's time for anything to happen.

Will Horner return?

Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner before the Sprint Race of the Formula One US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-Imagn Images | Erich Schlegel-Imagn Images

Horner's departure from Red Bull is one of THE talking points of the year so far.

The man who had built the Austrian energy drink manufacturer's F1 project from scratch after it bought out the Ford-Jaguar's operation ahead of the 2005 season and been key to every success it had achieved was shown the door in the midst of Red Bull's struggles.

It may take some time until we see Horner back in and around the traveling circus that is F1 and what capacity that will be in is yet to be seen, but rumors have already begun to swirl that he could pop up with the new Cadillac team.

That would be sensational for a multitude of reasons, not least because of the fact that the American car giant has only announced Graeme Lowdon as team principal this year. Horner was instrumental in getting Ford onboard for the Red Bull powertrain project and going to a rival American brand would surely cause controversy between them.

Can Sauber continue form with Audi awaiting its arrival?

That smile says it all 🤩#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/hMAqueqsT0
— Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber (@stakef1team_ks) July 6, 2025

The forecast for Sauber and the incoming Audi project eight months ago was pretty dire.

An awful 2024 season came with a change of leadership and ended with both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu leaving their race seats.

But with former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto now steering the ship as CEO and ex-Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley impressing as team prinicpal, the Swiss-based outfit is giving the historic Sauber name a fitting send-off before the operation morphs into the German giant.

And while Hulkenberg's excellence is far from shocking for anyone that has watched F1 in the past 15 years, the emergence of F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto in recent races means that Audi likely has its 2026 driver line-up sewn up.

Whether the team can chase down fifth in the constructors' standings is difficult to tell but further points scores will be key to ensuring excitement for Audi's entry continues into the new year.

Will Alpine find a resolution for its driver dilemma?

Franco Colapinto, Alpine — Jun 14, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Alpine driver Franco Colapinto (43) looks on during FP3 practice at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images | David Kirouac-Imagn Images

Pierre Gasly is performing just as well as we know he can in what is a disappointing Alpine car, but he is not being pushed by teammate Franco Colapinto in the second car.

It has been a messy season for the French manufacturer with the loss of team principal Oliver Oakes and the carnival that surrounded original second driver Jack Doohan even before the campaign got under way.

Australian Doohan was predictably ousted in favor of Colapinto, who was signed in the winter after a cameo with Williams at the end of last year. But the switch hasn't brought an improvement in results. In fact, crashes have continued and pace has remained difficult to find.

Colapinto looks set to stay in the seat for the rest of the championship year but after that? Who knows. It is something the Alpine hierarchy must figure out because Gasly needs help to turn fortunes around.

Cadillac preparations ramp up

If rumors are to be believed then Cadillac will line-up with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas when it enters Formula 1 next year as the championship's 11th team.

It's a huge ask for the American squad to hit the ground running, but through savvy recruitment it is at least giving itself a chance, with Lowdon bringing past F1 experience as well as others like famed engineer Pat Symonds adding his expertise.

Should Perez and Bottas indeed be the drivers chosen, then Cadillac will also have race-winning experience from both Red Bull and Mercedes to lean on which can only be a good thing.

But we still have the driver announcements to look forward to as well as form of team reveal. Even the team website is in its infancy, so there is plenty to be excited about.

How will 2026 affect the end-of-season run-in?

The FIA World Motor Sport Council has approved a refined version of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 concept. #FIA #F1 pic.twitter.com/Epn7kfdbgC
— FIA (@fia) December 12, 2024

New regulations for next season mean that the end of this campaign will look different to years previous.

Whereas teams typically continue to bring upgrades to cars deep into the season, the focus shift to next year's machinery should dictate fewer changes to this year's cars as we enter the final races.

How much focus has already been taken from this year and put on next at each team is something we aren't privvy to, but in recent regulation switches, some squads have taken clear advantages and dominated - think Red Bull recently or Mercedes in 2014.

With power units also evolving, it is not just the parts of the car we can see that will be different. Getting on top of the car as a whole will separate the champions from the stragglers next term and maybe we will get some clues as to who will be at what end of the table as the season draws to a close.

The Latest F1 News