I know you’re all already thinking about 2026 and what the new regulations have in store, but the holidays are about tradition (and, you know, a little planning), so this is the point in the year where I like to be judgmental of all the teams and think about how their respective seasons stack up. Of course, by picking out both the good and bad aspects for each team, the score is never disputed…
We have arranged the teams in alphabetical order. Yesterday we covered all the teams, from Alpine to McLaren; Today we’ll wrap it up with the rest of the field, starting with…
MERCEDES
Poland: 2
Win: 2
Position in the Constructors’ Championship: 2i.e (469 points)
The good: Mercedes improved to second place in the Constructors’ Championship, and that didn’t seem very likely a year ago. George Russell was once again a standout performer and remains prepared to fight for a title if given the machine, having taken his only two realistic chances to win a race this year.
Kimi Antonelli also developed impressively and began to repay the confidence he had shown at such a young age, with his performances towards the end of the season particularly notable. Credit goes to Mercedes for taking the pressure off the Italian, as well as for building a better all-round car that didn’t bottom out in 2024. Only once in the entire season did it fail to score points.
The bad: Making the car more consistent also seemed to smooth out the peaks the team previously enjoyed, and there was a development misstep when it came to the mid-season suspension. Toto Wolff admitted that the rear suspension stumbled the team, despite the strong weekend in Canada, and that it did not stay on the car all year.
With the same powerplant as McLaren, there was also still a clear performance gap and although the regulations will change next year, it is a worrying sign that Mercedes have never gotten on top of the ground effect cars in the last four seasons.
RATING: 7/10
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RACING BULLS
Poland: 0
Profit: 0
Position in the Constructors’ Championship: 6e (92 points)
The good: Unlike Red Bull, Racing Bulls simply knows how to build a car that drivers can handle on most circuits. Much more consistency than in 2024, even with a new driver change mid-season. Perhaps helped by the fact that the swap between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson took place so early, Racing Bulls provided the environment in which the New Zealander could find his feet again. and nurtured an extremely impressive talent in Isack Hadjar.
However, it was not only the drivers who changed: Laurent Mekies switched to Red Bull and Alan Permane took on the task of team boss with confidence. It was a seamless transition, as evidenced by Hadjar’s excellent podium in Zandvoort, where Permane led for just three races.
The bad: There were still a few missed opportunities, with the team losing their way a bit for a short series of races from Singapore. Probably unfair to direct this specifically at the team (rather than Red Bull itself as team owner), but the lack of stability around the driver line-up never helps create continuity either.
Hadjar was beaten 18-13 by Lawson in the final third of the season, perhaps suggesting that more development time wouldn’t hurt him if he were to get a Red Bull seat in the future, but the constant need to justify the team’s role as a home for junior drivers means that after just one year he is next in the fire alongside Max Verstappen, and Arvid Lindblad – another big talent who doesn’t necessarily need to rush – is in.
RATING: 7.5/10
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RED Bull
Poland: 8
Win: 8
Position in the Constructors’ Championship: 3rd (451 points)
The good: The turnaround from Monza was spectacular. Red Bull took two wins when given a chance with Max Verstappen in the early part of the year, but when the car was upgraded in Italy it suffered a crack that almost set up the greatest championship comeback ever.
Execution was also excellent on Verstappen’s side in the garage, capitalizing on every McLaren mistake as the pressure mounted to come within two points of the title. Resolving many of the car’s issues over the past twelve months is also a big positive and should not be overlooked amid all the off-track turmoil the team has faced.
The bad: The first part of the year was so inconsistent, and when the car was bad, it was really bad. Liam Lawson’s handling was abysmal – both choosing him over Tsunoda and then giving him only two races on such a difficult side of the garage – and the second driver problem was never resolved.
The departure of Christian Horner was followed at the end of the season by that of Helmut Marko and highlighted the leadership issues we faced, and ultimately the performances in the first part of the season prevented Verstappen from achieving a fifth title in a row. As impressive as the recovery was, it still fell just short and could be his last chance for a while unless Red Bull surprises with its debut power unit next year.
RATING: 7/10
SAUBER
Poland: 0
Profit: 0
Position in the Constructors’ Championship: 9e (70 points)
The good: What could have been a write-off year when Sauber switched from Stake Kick Sauber to Audi was anything but, with some very encouraging signs. The start to the year looked relatively bleak despite Nico Hulkenberg’s seventh-place finish in Melbourne, but then came a very impressive upgrade in Barcelona and the whole complexion changed.
Not only did it make Sauber much more competitive, it also showed that the car development department is operating effectively, which bodes well for the future. Third place at Silverstone was a brilliant result for Hülkenberg – a long overdue podium not only for the German but also for the team – and Gabriel Bortoleto looked like a star in the making for much of the year.
The bad: The start of the season left Sauber with too much to do for a better position in the championship. There were only four race weekends in which they failed to score after the introduction of the Barcelona upgrade, but scoring just six points in the first third of the year was costly.
Bortoleto also struggled in the latter part of the year, especially with two crashes during his home race weekend in Brazil, as he scored just one point after the end of the European season. That was just a reminder that he is a rookie and will continue to improve over time, but Hulkenberg also had some qualifying issues that needed to be addressed.
RATING: 6.5/10
WILLEMS
Poland: 0
Profit: 0
Position in the Constructors’ Championship: 5e (137 points)
The good: Williams replicated the work it did with its 2024 car, but this time without the weight issues that held it back a year ago. Quick out of the box, a competitive car was fully utilized by a sensational Alex Albon for the first two-thirds of the season – including three top-five finishes in the first seven races – and P5 was almost a formality by the summer.
Carlos Sainz was always going to be a great signing, but after a difficult start he also showed his worth in the latter part of the year, with two excellent podium finishes and a third place in a sprint in Austin. The car remained fast on certain circuits even without upgrades, and impressive engineering was backed up by the Spaniard’s flawless driving, at a time when Albon was struggling for consistency.
The bad: It took a while for Sainz to achieve the results he and the car were capable of, and while that was partly to be expected given the change in teams, it was also partly due to poor execution in the first half of the year.
Albon’s decline in form after the end of the European season was also a real surprise, and more worrying was his and Williams’ failure to turn the tide towards the end of the year. There was also the double disqualification during qualifying in Singapore, which could have been costly, and it was rare for both sides of the garage to click on the same weekend.
RATING: 8/10
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