Revealed: New leader of F1 2025 standings if McLaren results removed
McLaren are dominating the story of both F1 world championships this year, but how would things look if they weren’t involved?
Let us have some fun for a moment and picture a 2025 F1 season without McLaren, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (sorry Papaya fans).
While Piastri and Norris are delivering an enthralling intra-team duel for F1 silverware this year, McLaren have won 11 of the 14 races to have taken place so far. That got us thinking, how would the season be shaping up with no McLaren involvement?
We’ve crunched the numbers and it makes for some interesting, if ultimately pointless, reading…
Three-way driver, team title battle
A generational F1 title battle would be hotting up between George Russell and Max Verstappen if McLaren were not involved in the 2025 season.
Instead of Piastri leading the way by nine points over Norris, it would be Russell sitting at the top of the standings for Mercedes.
Russell would have claimed five wins and 11 podiums to be eight points clear of Red Bull’s Verstappen, who would be in the hunt for a fifth successive drivers’ crown. Verstappen would have taken four victories, 10 podiums and a sprint win.
Charles Leclerc would be clinging onto the pair in third place, just 26 points behind Russell with four wins and eight podiums to his name, including a second straight home victory at Monaco.
Lewis Hamilton would be out of the championship picture, but having a much better season. Two sprint wins and five podiums would be helping to ensure that Ferrari are well in contention for the constructors’ world title.
| 2025 FORMULA 1 DRIVERS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (without McLaren) | |||||
| Pos | Driver | Nat. | Team | Wins | Points |
| 1 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 5 | 250 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | NED | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 4 | 242 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari HP | 4 | 224 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Scuderia Ferrari HP | 0 | 165 |
| 5 | Kimi Antonelli | ITA | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 0 | 91 |
| 6 | Alex Albon | THA | Atlassian Williams Racing | 0 | 91 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | GER | Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber | 1 | 64 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 0 | 52 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | 0 | 51 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 0 | 48 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 0 | 44 |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | 0 | 41 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 0 | 39 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Atlassian Williams Racing | 0 | 38 |
| 15 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRA | Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber | 0 | 29 |
| 16 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 0 | 28 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 0 | 25 |
| 18 | Jack Doohan | AUS | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
Wins and podiums for F1 underdogs
There would have been some fantastic storylines further down the grid, too.
Nico Hulkenberg would have emerged victorious from the chaos to give Sauber a shock win at Silverstone, having already ended his podium drought a few rounds earlier in Spain.
Alex Albon would have two podiums for Williams, Fernando Alonso would have finished third for Aston Martin in Hungary, and Esteban Ocon would have made it onto the podium in China.
Based on the overwhelming majority of your reactions, this would be an even better world championship fight than the one we have currently.
“This would honestly be so much more fun and entertaining,” Eddie Haynes wrote on Instagram.
Another user said: “This championship would be really fun without McLaren. It would have us at the edge of our seats for the entire season.”
Sidd Harthroyy wrote: “Not surprised. Three of the best drivers currently.”
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Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
