QUALIFYING DEBRIEF: How have teams performed in qualifying so far in 2025?
Unsurprisingly, McLaren have been the dominant force in qualifying, but Red Bull and Mercedes have been relatively close to the papaya team over a single lap. F1Technical's Balazs Szabo analyses how strong teams have been so far in qualifying trim.
The 2025 F1 season has been a real surprise so far in terms of performance. After the dominant start to the season last year, Red Bull dropped down the order as the championship was progressing in 2024.
The second half of last year saw McLaren emerge as the field-leading outfit, and the Woking-based team managed to carry over this form into the current season. The papaya team won five of the first six rounds, and finds itself on top of the constructors’ standings 105 points clear of second-placed Mercedes.
Fortunately for fans, McLaren might have been dominant in the opening six races, but Red Bull and Mercedes have also shown flashes of great performances. Reigning champion Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix for Red Bull and came tantalizingly close to another victory in Jeddah, but a five-second penalty deprived him the chance of beating eventual winner Oscar Piastri.
Mercedes have looked incredible quick over a single lap so far this year, with George Russell coming very close to securing pole position in Bahrain and Jeddah while his rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his maiden F1 pole position for the Miami F1 Sprint.
Ferrari have been so far disappointing in 2025. The Scuderia displayed a promising performance after the debut of a new floor at last season’s Italian Grand Prix, and was in very strong form until the very end of last season.
However, having switched to a pull rod front suspension for 2025, the Italian team struggled with the balance of the brand-new SF25 which is simply too sensitive to the tiniest of changes in ambient and track temperatures or setup tweaks.
Analysing team’s performance in qualifying in 2025, McLaren are placed at the sharp end of the field, having only been 0.02 percent adrift of the pole time across the opening six qualifying sessions.
Although Red Bull have continued to be a one-driver team so far in 2025 thanks to outstanding performances from reigning champion Max Verstappen, they are the second quickest team in qualifying so far, with Mercedes just fractionally behind.
Ferrari used to be eye-catchingly quick in qualifying at the start of the current ground-effect era, they changed the philosophy of their car for last year, which led to a drop in outright performance in low-fuel conditions. The Italian outfit have so far continued to struggle over a single lap, while their car have usually come alive in race trim.
However, their deficit in qualifying is more significant than last year, and it has become uncomfortable for the Scuderia as they often get beaten by Racing Bulls, Williams and even by Alpine on Saturdays.
The midfield is led by Williams, followed by Racing Bulls and Alpine which have made great inroads compared to their struggles in 2025. Aston Martin, Haas and Sauber have currently a big deficit even compared to Williams, Racing Bulls and Alpine.
