As the curtains come down on the 2025 Formula One season at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi this weekend, a thrilling finale with Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri vying for the drivers’ title awaits aficionados.
It is the first time since 2010 that at least three drivers will enter the final race with a mathematical chance of clinching the crown. On paper, this is a dream scenario — a championship undecided until the very end.
McLaren’s Norris (408 points) leads reigning champion Verstappen by 12, with Piastri four points further behind in the second McLaren.
Yet, if one were to judge how history will remember the 76th championship, it will not be as a classic in terms of racing quality. That’s because there is little reason why Verstappen should still have a chance of matching Michael Schumacher’s record of five consecutive titles.
In a year where McLaren has dominated — winning 14 of the 23 races and boasting of the fastest car at more than two-thirds of the circuits — its drivers should have either sealed the title already or, at the very least, prevented a third contender from joining the fight.
But as the saying goes, a house divided against itself cannot stand. McLaren’s two drivers in the hunt — Norris and Piastri — have repeatedly taken points off each other, allowing neither to pull away.
Add to that a mix of driver errors and questionable strategic calls, and Verstappen now has a realistic chance of retaining his title.
Manic period
All of this has happened in the last eight races. After the Dutch Grand Prix — the first race following the summer break — Piastri held a 34-point lead over Norris and a commanding 104-point advantage over Verstappen. Norris, incidentally, retired from that race with a power-unit failure.
But since then, the Australian has managed only two podiums, the latest coming in Qatar last weekend. Norris, who initially failed to capitalise on Piastri’s slump, has since surged back to take the lead.
Three is a crowd: Who will be the last man standing?
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REUTERS
The biggest storyline, however, is how Verstappen and his team have rediscovered their mojo. The Red Bull was capricious for large parts, taking just two wins from the first 15 races.
However, despite falling far behind, the team persisted with upgrades, even as rivals shifted focus towards sprucing up their machines for 2026, which will see a major overhaul in rules.
McLaren, given the cushion it had built up by mid-season, stopped development too. But standing still is akin to going backwards, and the outfit has realised this rather painfully.
When the team had a comfortable lead over the rest of the pack, any missteps in qualifying, or even in the race, could be overcome with superior pace. But, as the post-break phase showed, Red Bull had bridged this gap to McLaren, and had the faster car in Italy, Baku (Azerbaijan), and the United States, with Verstappen cruising home in all three.
The slide
It was around this time that Piastri suffered an extended downturn. The 24-year-old, in only his third year in the sport, was the standout driver in the first half and had the measure of Norris.
Things, though, started falling apart at Monza in early September. Norris endured a slow pit stop and fell behind Piastri, but McLaren intervened to reset the order, taking many by surprise. Piastri later admitted that the episode had affected his confidence, and in the very next race in Baku, he uncharacteristically crashed both in qualifying and the race.
Matters came to a head at the subsequent event in Singapore when Norris elbowed out Piastri in the opening lap and eventually claimed third place. But the team refused to intervene despite an internal agreement which barred drivers from hitting each other.
Even as Piastri was struggling, Norris had underwhelming results in Baku and Singapore, finishing seventh and third respectively. But over the next three races in Austin, Mexico City and Brazil, the complexion changed. All three venues were low-grip tracks, which exposed a weakness in Piastri’s driving style, and he could only muster a hat-trick of fifth places.
Norris, who revels under tricky situations, hit a purple patch, winning in Mexico and Brazil while finishing second behind Verstappen in the U.S. To boot, Norris also won the Brazil sprint race in which Piastri crashed while running second. All of this meant the Brit suddenly built up a 24-point lead over the Aussie with three races to go and sat 49 clear of Verstappen.
Rub of the green
The turning point, though, came at the Las Vegas Grand Prix two weeks ago. Verstappen beat pole-sitter Norris off the line and cantered to victory.
Norris and Piastri took the chequered flag second and fourth respectively, but drama unfolded during post-race scrutineering. The two McLarens were deemed to have had excessive plank wear, leading to their disqualification. This resulted in a 25-point swing in favour of Verstappen.
To compound matters, the Dutchman benefited again last weekend when McLaren squandered a win in Qatar with a poor strategic call. It did not pit its drivers during a Safety Car period when pretty much everyone else did.
This meant that the team running first and third — Piastri ahead of Verstappen followed by Norris — had to service their drivers during normal race conditions, giving up valuable race time. Pitting under a Safety Car would have minimised the loss in time as cars on the track run at reduced speed.
Simply incredible! Adrift by 104 points from the leader at one stage, Verstappen has clawed his way back into the title race.
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Verstappen collected his seventh win of the season while Piastri and Norris finished second and fourth when they could have been first and third. As Abu Dhabi beckons, the Red Bull driver (396) is now ahead of Piastri (392) and is breathing down Norris’ neck (408).
All bets are off
Though all three can win, Norris will feel he has things under control and needs only a podium finish to secure his maiden title. The McLaren should still be the fastest car around Yas Marina, and even with a quick Verstappen around, finishing on the rostrum should not be a challenge if he drives a clean race.
But Norris needs to guard himself from being timid in combat, something he has been guilty of in the past. For Piastri, the equation is straightforward, and in a way, he is unburdened. He needs to win, or at best finish second and hope for his rivals to trip.
The wild card in the pack is Verstappen, a four-time champion and the undisputed best. Crucially, unlike the McLaren duo, the maverick Red Bull driver knows what it takes to prevail in the final race of the year, having done so in sensational — and controversial — circumstances at this venue four years ago, when he edged out Lewis Hamilton for his first crown.
If Verstappen pulls off another Houdini act on Sunday, it would not only mark one of the most remarkable comebacks in F1 history, but further burnish his credentials as one of the greatest drivers — if not the greatest — to have graced the sport.
