Max Verstappen tops the F1 team bosses list of the top 10 drivers of the 2025 season, Lewis Hamilton misses out

Red Bull star Max Verstappen topped the F1 team bosses' list and was voted as the 2025 driver of the year. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, failed to make the Top 10, whereas his teammate Charles Leclerc ended up P7 on the list.

At the end of the season, F1’s official website asked all 10 team bosses to rank the Top 10 drivers from the season. Each driver is awarded points for the position, which is similar to the current F1 points system. The points from all 10 bosses are then added, and the driver with the most points comes out as the team bosses’ driver of the year.

This year, Max Verstappen prevailed once again and was nominated as the No.1 driver by the bosses. The Red Bull star had a troublesome start to the season in the tricky RB21, but as the upgrades were brought, Max Verstappen closed down a 104-point gap to the championship leader, and lost the title by just two points to Lando Norris.

The 2025 F1 champion was voted as the second-best driver by the team bosses, with his teammate Oscar Piastri close behind in P3. Fernando Alonso was the biggest mover and ended up P5 in the TP’s list of Top 10 drivers, up from P9 in 2024.

Lewis Hamilton, who was P7 in the TP’s list in 2024 and P5 in 2023, failed to make the Top 10 this time around after a tumultuous first season with the Scuderia. The Briton became the record holder for being the Ferrari driver with the most race starts without a podium, and also the first Ferrari driver to get knocked out in Q1 three consecutive times.

Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc, who was the third-best driver according to the team bosses in 2024, slipped four places and ended up P7 on the list.

Max Verstappen tops the team bosses' list for the fifth consecutive year

Max Verstappen became the Team Principal’s driver of the year first in 2021 when he beat Lewis Hamilton to the title. Ever since, the Red Bull star has topped the ranking every single season and won the title as well. The 2025 season was the first time that Verstappen lost the title, but he was appointed as the team bosses' driver of the year.

The 2025 ranking was the 8th time that F1’s official website did the team bosses' ranking. Last year, in 2024, Max Verstappen acquired a total of 250 points, which is the maximum a driver can score in the list, meaning every single team principal ranked him as the best driver.

It was the only time since this ranking began that a driver scored full points. Back in 2020, when Lewis Hamilton won his eighth title, the Dutchman was P2 in the list. Hamilton and Verstappen are the only two drivers who have won the TP’s drivers of the year so far.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi