Ferrari Ends Red Bull’s Long Reign by Clinching a Crucial Yet Often Overlooked F1 Title
Ferrari has officially toppled Red Bull in one of Formula 1’s most unique and consistently competitive rankings, securing the 2025 DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award after a season defined not by outright blistering pit-lane speed, but by near-flawless precision and unwavering consistency.
The achievement, which Ferrari chairman John Elkann recently highlighted with pride, marks the end of Red Bull’s extraordinary dominance in pit-stop performance, a streak that had stretched uninterrupted from 2018 through 2024. While championships are typically remembered for victories on track, Ferrari’s triumph shines a spotlight on the equally critical battleground inside the pit lane — a place where races are won, lost, and sometimes transformed entirely.
A Season Built on Consistency and Discipline
Ferrari’s pit-crew has been relentlessly sharp throughout the 2025 season, regularly executing stops in the competitive 2.5-second window. While they rarely produced the fastest individual times of a given race weekend, they excelled where it mattered most: consistency, reliability, and limiting errors.
That approach paid off by the time Formula 1 left Las Vegas. After the high-stakes night race, Ferrari’s lead in the standings became mathematically unreachable. With 522 points on the board, the Scuderia had decisively outperformed Red Bull, who sit on 346 points. McLaren (342) and Racing Bulls (332) are close to the Austrian outfit, but none have a realistic path to catching Ferrari with only 86 points still available — a scoring system that mirrors the constructors’ championship.
This makes Ferrari’s success not just impressive, but emphatic. What began as a quiet push for excellence became an unshakeable advantage by the penultimate phase of the season.
DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award Standings After Las Vegas
1. Ferrari — 522
2. Red Bull — 346
3. McLaren — 342
4. Racing Bulls — 332
5. Mercedes — 248
6. Sauber — 181
7. Alpine — 99
8. Williams — 62
9. Aston Martin — 48
10. Haas — 42
The End of Red Bull’s Historic Run
The outcome marks the first time in nearly a decade that Red Bull will not be lifting the pit-stop crown. The Milton Keynes squad has long set the gold standard, routinely dipping under two seconds and redefining what modern crew efficiency looks like.
Ferrari’s last win in the category dates back to 2015 — the award’s debut year — making this season’s accomplishment both a return to form and a sign of meaningful progress behind the scenes. And while Ferrari may not have topped the charts in individual pit-stop speed, their season-long discipline proved more valuable.
Raw Speed vs. Reliable Execution
One of the most intriguing storylines in this year’s pit-stop competition is that Ferrari did not record any of the season’s six fastest stops. In fact, the top three quickest stops all came from McLaren, while the next three were delivered by Red Bull. Both teams broke the two-second barrier multiple times — a benchmark that signals near-perfect execution and often leaves rival teams applauding.
Ferrari’s fastest stop, meanwhile, clocked in at an even 2.00 seconds, achieved twice. That may not have earned them headline-grabbing accolades on individual race weekends, but it reflected steady, repeatable efficiency that avoided costly mistakes. Ultimately, the fastest crew in Formula 1 this year proved to be the one that combined speed with reliability, rather than chasing single-lap-style glory in the pit lane.
The Ten Fastest Pit Stops of the 2025 Season So Far
1. McLaren — 1.91s | Oscar Piastri | Italy
2. McLaren — 1.94s | Lando Norris | Hungary
3. McLaren — 1.94s | Oscar Piastri | Hungary
4. Red Bull — 1.95s | Yuki Tsunoda | Brazil
5. Red Bull — 1.97s | Yuki Tsunoda | Hungary
6. Red Bull — 1.99s | Yuki Tsunoda | Las Vegas
7. Ferrari — 2.00s | Charles Leclerc | Monaco
8. Ferrari — 2.00s | Charles Leclerc | Saudi Arabia
9. Ferrari — 2.04s | Charles Leclerc | Italy
10. Ferrari — 2.04s | Charles Leclerc | Hungary
A Well-Deserved Return to the Top
Ferrari’s 2025 pit-stop victory highlights a team that has strengthened one of its historically inconsistent areas. While they have not always matched Red Bull’s raw speed or McLaren’s explosive bursts of pace, their calm precision under pressure ultimately secured a championship of their own — one that, though often overshadowed by on-track battles, remains a crucial pillar of success in modern Formula 1.
This overlooked triumph is more than a trophy; it is a testament to Ferrari’s renewed strategic discipline, internal cohesion, and commitment to excellence heading into the final stretch of the 2025 season.
