Autobayng News Team
There’s little doubt which team had the fastest car in 2025, but how close was each of their rivals?
Here’s our annual ranking of which team had the fastest car based on the quickest lap time set over every session in every race weekend last year.
10. Alpine
1.36% slower than the fastest car on average
For proof of how close the field was in 2025, look no further than Alpine. The slowest car last year was 1.9% off the pace on average; this year Alpine were only 1.36% away yet came a distant last in the world championship.
The team made it clear from the outset they had prioritised development for 2026, when they will switch to customer Mercedes power units, after Renault abandoned its F1 engine programme. They paid heavily for the decision late in the year, when they were often slower than they had been 12 months earlier. To justify their gamble they will need to see an immediate transformation in their performance next year.
9. Sauber
1.34% slower than the fastest car on average
Having taken points just once over the opening eight rounds, Sauber produced a mid-season upgrade which made the C45 a more predictable car for its drivers, and transformed their performance. Nico Hulkenberg capitalised on a damp race at Silverstone to take a shock podium finish.
Rookie Gabriel Bortoleto chipped in several points finishes too. But in the closely-fought midfield, the days when both made forays into the top 10 were rare.
8. Haas
1.33% slower than the fastest car on average
Haas were sixth-fastest on average in 2024 and were almost as competitive again in terms of raw performance this year. But as the field tightened up that left them eighth on average as well as in the points. On their best days the VF-25 looked potent – such as when Esteban Ocon finished fifth on his second appearance for the team or Oliver Bearman out-ran Oscar Piastri for a fine fourth place in the Mexican Grand Prix.
7. Aston Martin
1.1% slower than the fastest car on average
A difficult start to the season left Aston Martin perilously close to the bottom of the points table at one point, while it took Fernando Alonso until round nine to score. Although they made some progress with their AMR25 its straight-line performance remained a weakness, though the two-times champion’s regular points-scoring over the second half of the year delivered a seventh place in the standings which matched the car’s potential.
6. Williams
0.95% slower than the fastest car on average
Most teams’ championship positions match their places in this ranking. One exception was Williams, who had the sixth-fastest car but took fifth in the standings, their best finish in 10 years.
5. Racing Bulls
0.93% slower than the fastest car on average
Would Racing Bulls have beaten Williams had they kept the same driver line-up all season? The experienced Yuki Tsunoda looked much more comfortable in this car than he did in Red Bull’s RB21. Liam Lawson took several races to play himself in following his demotion.
4. Ferrari
0.56% slower than the fastest car on average
Lewis Hamilton must have gone into the off-season 12 months ago eager to get his hands on the car which had just finished a close second in the constructors’ championship to McLaren. But Ferrari’s revisions to its chassis during the off-season backfired and the team decided early in the season it was better off concentrating on the coming regulations change for 2026.
The result was the team’s first win-less year since 2021 and a depressing start to life at Ferrari for Hamilton, who went a full season without finishing on the podium for the first time in his career – aside from his sprint race victory in Shanghai, a false dawn on his second weekend at his new team.
3. Mercedes
0.45% slower than the fastest car on average
Although they moved back up to second place in the constructors’ championship (arguably one place higher than the car deserved based on this ranking) there was clear potential for Mercedes’ season to be much better than it was. They began the year well but went down the wrong path with a suspension upgrade which didn’t deliver for either driver and was only dropped after several races of underperformance.
George Russell conjured up fine wins in Montreal and Singapore – the latter upending the team’s expectation that the car would thrive in cooler conditions. But even accounting for newcomer Andrea Kimi Antonelli finding his feet, Mercedes could have secured second in the standings sooner against Red Bull.
2. Red Bull
0.33% slower than the fastest car on average
Over the course of the current regulations Red Bull have found themselves in a position where – whether by design or accident – they have a competitive car but one that only Max Verstappen can drive. Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t produce anything like the kind of lap times their team mate could.
But Verstappen’s knack for extracting the very best over a flying lap in qualifying ensured his RB21 usually started at or near the front, from where he took more wins than any other driver. An exceptional performance which almost delivered an unlikely championship triumph.
1. McLaren
0.06% slower than the fastest car on average
In 2024 McLaren steadily emerged from a competitive field to become the team to beat. In the final year of the current regulations they cemented that position, despite not upgrading their car as frequently as Red Bull did.
The upshot was one of the earliest constructors’ championship triumphs in F1 history. Only the similar abilities of their two drivers meant the title fight went down to the final round – otherwise this could easily have been a rerun of 2023. But will such a feat be possible for any engine customer in the first year of the new power unit regulations in 2026?
Compare the data above to last year’s ranking:
Formula 1
- Which F1 teams created the best – and worst – special livery designs during 2025?
- RaceFans’ readers best F1 Caption Competition winners of 2025
- Lindblad: Many things I learned this year may not translate to Formula 1
- Max Verstappen voted Formula 1 Driver of the Year by RaceFans readers
- The five best and worst Formula 1 races of 2025, as rated by our readers
