F1 summer break: points standings, shirtless George Russell, and the season so far

As we wait for the return of F1, let’s recap the events that have happened so far…

Ahhh, summer break. Ice cream, beaches, shirtless George Russell. All the things that make summer, summer. Of course, George can only tide one over for so long. Even though it’s only been two weeks since the official halfway point of the season, I thought I’d go over all the big news that’s happened so far. 

Australia really started the season off with a splash! With rain pouring down, it became a struggle just for drivers to make it to the finish line. Only 14 drivers finished that race, Lando Norris winning it all, and Max Verstappen and George Russell completing the podium as P2 and P3, respectively. Kimi Antonelli made waves finishing P4 in his debut race, one of only two rookies to even cross the finish line. Despite holding P2 for most of the race, Oscar Piastri’s spin out on lap 44 cost him a potential home race victory. However, he fought his way back to P9 from the back of the pack, with a memorable overtake on Lewis Hamilton on the final lap. 

Lewis Hamilton started the Chinese Grand Prix weekend strong, winning the Sprint Race soundly. His history at the track seemed to write a narrative of a good finish in the Sunday race as well, and his result of P6 behind Charles Leclerc’s P5 seemed like a solid end to an overall satisfactory weekend. However, his rear skid block (the board on the bottom of the car used to check ride height to make sure it doesn’t bypass the minimum) was found to be under minimum thickness and therefore illegal, resulting in his disqualification from the race and loss of points. With Oscar Piastri finishing P1 and Lando Norris finishing P2, the Mclarens were beginning to stake a claim on the World Championship.

The Japanese Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen’s first race win of the season, and his fourth in a row at Japan. Both Mclarens rounded out the podium, Norris P2 and Piastri P3. Also in Japan, Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver to lead a race AND to set the fastest lap! In addition to Antonelli, two other rookies finished in the top ten, Bearman and Hadjar, showing that in 2025, the rookies aren’t just here to mess around. As Redbull continued to struggle with 2nd driver drama, they demoted Liam Lawson back down to VCARB and swapped Yuki Tsunoda into the 2nd Redbull seat. Unfortunately, Tsunoda seemed to struggle with the car, and only managed a P12 finish at his home race, compared to Verstappen’s win. 

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Miami all saw Oscar Piastri as the victor. His hattrick of race wins propelled him closer to his teammate Lando Norris in the standings, helping him close the gap started in Australia. However, Lando held on well, finishing on the podium in both Bahrain and Miami, and winning the Miami Sprint race while under a safety car. 

Imola, or the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, saw both Williams cars finish in the points, with Alex Albon at an impressive P5. Though Oscar Piastri started on pole, Max Verstappen ended up claiming the win here, which was fitting as it was Redbull’s 400th grand prix entry as a team. Piastri ended in 3rd after getting overtaken by his teammate Lando Norris as well. Unfortunately for the home race hero Kimi Antonelli, he ended up having to DNF the race due to issues with his engine. In more driver seat drama, this was Franco Colapinto’s first race of 2025 after Alpine dropped Jack Doohan. Colapinto raced last year for Williams after Logan Sargeant was fired mid-season, but only contracted the reserve seat at Alpine for this season. Despite being a good race, due to the discontinuation of its contract, this was the last Imola Grand Prix for the time being. 

The Monaco Grand Prix attempted to make itself interesting this year with a new rule of a mandatory 2 pit stops, instead of just the usual 1. Yet, this didn’t really make the race that much better, as standings barely changed anyway. In fact, all it really did was cause George Russell to crash out live on the radio at Alex Albon because of the Williams strategy. Albon was holding up the cars behind him so that Carlos Sainz could complete both pit stops. This was repeated for Alex Albon, and also utilized by VCARB. The strategy, much to Russell’s dismay, was sound, as all 4 drivers finished within the points. Unfortunately for Mercedes, this race could not have gone worse. They almost seemed to forget about the mandatory pit stops, not pitting Russell or Antonelli until the last few laps, leading both drivers to finish outside the points. Though we were all cheering him on, Charles Leclerc unfortunately could not bring a 2nd Monaco win home this year, as Lando Norris’s solid driving held on to the lead for nearly the entire race after starting on pole position. 

The Spanish Grand Prix was the final one held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as it will be moved to a Madrid street race moving forward. On track, Oscar Piastri took victory in a relatively calm race for him. However, the rest of the pack generated much more entertainment. After a late safety car, Max Verstappen was unable to change his tires from the soft compound he was on, as his garage had no other tires to give him. This caused Verstappen to rant on his radio to the team. Further, he made contact with George Russell, landing himself a time penalty that, with the late safety car, had him demoted from a P5 finish to a P10. This led to a rather hilarious Driver of the Day graphic, as Verstappen had won the vote before his collision and penalty. Nico Hulkenberg, on the other hand, had a fantastic race. He started from P15, and by lap 2 had made up 5 places. A strong drive from him, even in a Sauber, had him finish in fifth place, his highest of the season so far. 

The Canadian Grand Prix saw the comeback of Mercedes. George Russell won the race from pole position, his first race win of the season, and his teammate Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver to finish on the podium in Formula 1 history with his P3. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris had a heated fight for 4th place, with Piastri showing some strong defensive moves. Unfortunately for Norris, an overtake attempt in a gap that just wasn’t there saw him nearly take both himself and Piastri out of the race, ultimately ending his own. After the race, he found Piastri during his interviews and made sure to apologize, showing both sportsmanship and accountability. 

The Austrian Grand Prix was won by Lando Norris, allowing him to take a few points off the gap that had grown between himself and his teammate following his DNF the previous race. A lockup by Kimi Antonelli took both himself and Max Verstappen out of the race on Lap 1, though Verstappen didn’t seem to be too put-off by it. Gabriel Bortoleto was able to maintain his P8 qualifying position to earn his first points as an F1 driver. 

Silverstone was, quite frankly, the best race of the season so far. Heavy rain earlier in the day meant the race was started on a wet track, with all drivers starting on intermediate tires. Two early safety cars saw Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto out of the race, while Max Verstappen’s struggle with car setup and tires led him to be overtaken by both Mclarens, losing his pole position start. Due to another safety car (because of low visibility) and pit stops by many of the leading cars, the following restart saw Nico Hulkenberg, who started 19th, riding all the way up in 5th place. A 4th safety car was deployed when Hadjar spun, and Piastri was penalized for ‘erratic braking’ on Max Verstappen at the restart, causing him to incur a 10 second time penalty. After serving his penalty, Piastri ended up behind his teammate Lando Norris, who managed to hold on to the lead and win the British Grand Prix, his first home race win. Adding on to the excitement, Nico Hulkenberg finished P3 in the race, managing to hold back Lewis Hamilton and win his first podium ever in Formula 1 after 239 races, setting a new record. For racing in a Sauber as well, it was incredibly impressive and something every fan could celebrate.

The Belgian Grand Prix was Redbull’s first race ever without Christian Horner as their team principal. He was fired from the position the week prior, something many speculate the reason being a last-ditch attempt to convince Max Verstappen to stay. Verstappen, too, had been rumored to be in talks with Mercedes and Toto Wolff. The start of the race was delayed by about an hour due to wet track conditions, and overall meant the race was boring. Spa thrives on being a wet race, and with normal track conditions it wasn’t anything special. Near the end, a race to catch Oscar Piastri by his teammate Lando Norris was exciting to watch, but Piastri held on to the lead and won the race. 

The final race before summer break saw F1 in Hungary at the Hungaroring. This race was devastating for all Ferrari fans, myself included, as we watched Charles Leclerc start the race from pole and finish in fourth, and Lewis Hamilton lose all confidence during an interview. Lando Norris ended up winning the race from third place, as his one-stop strategy targeted Oscar Piastri, unlike Piastri’s two-stop which targeted Leclerc. Despite being on older tires at the end, Norris managed a strong defence to hold onto his lead and sail into P1, closing the gap to his teammate to only 9 points. 

The season so far has seen ups and downs for fans of every team, and we’re only halfway through! With Oscar Piastri leading the World Championship by 9 points to his teammate Lando Norris, many fans are hoping for an intense title fight to continue as the season progresses. Yet, so far, the rivalry between them hasn’t shown much animosity. It’s almost surprising, given what happened the last time two teammates competed for the World Championship (cough, brocedes, cough). Still, the fight’s not over yet, and if we’re lucky, it could come down to the final race.

Unfortunately, there are still 2 weeks left of summer break, which means no racing :(. However! The 29-31 of August is not only the return F1 racing, but also an F1 Academy weekend, so check out the schedule and if you have the time, tune in to what are sure to be an exciting return to Formula racing. 

Formula Femme, August 15, 2025