“Who Will Win Formula 1 in 2025? I Asked the Data.”

(Spoiler: It’s Not Just About Speed, It’s About Python and Prediction Power.)

What do you get when you cross a Formula 1 obsession with a machine learning brain? A Saturday spent not watching races, but building models to predict the next F1 world champion. And yes, I let the data do the talking, because who needs crystal balls when you’ve got RandomForestRegressor and Linear Regression models?

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From Track to Tech: The Data Science Pitstop
Every great F1 race begins in the garage, and so did mine, with historical data on drivers, races, and standings. I engineered features like:
• Age & Experience (because wisdom can beat raw speed)
• Wins per Season (obviously)
• Team Affiliation, color-coded for storytelling flair
It wasn’t just about crunching numbers. I wanted to tell a story, one where the data reveals the drama.

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The Models: Linear vs Random Forest
I started simple: a Linear Regression model. It was decent, but something was missing, it just couldn’t capture the twists and turns of an F1 season.
Then I unleashed the big gun: Random Forest Regressor
Model RMSE R² Score
Linear Regression ~1499 0.28
Random Forest ~1284 0.47
The improvement? Like going from a pit stop in 6 seconds to a clean 2.1.

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Predicting the 2025 Grid: Who Tops the Podium?
After training and testing, here’s what my model predicted for 2025:

1. Max Verstappen – The king stays king.
2. Lando Norris – The new kid has talent.
3. Charles Leclerc – The Ferrari fire is still burning. And here's the fun part, visualized with team colors, so you don’t just see the points, you feel the rivalry.

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Data is the New Commentator
I didn’t just want to model the data, I wanted to speak its language. With visualizations like:
• Driver performance over years
• Age vs points (yes, experience matters)
• Team-colored bar charts of predicted standings
…it became less about predictions and more about painting the future of Formula 1.

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What’s Next?
This is just Lap 1. I’m exploring:
• Real-time dashboards
• Weather & track condition variables
• Constructor vs Driver impact modeling

Still Building!!
Check it out -> https://github.com/KellyKiprop/Formula1_2025_Prediction