The Three Way Title Battle: Who will come out on top?
Updated: May 2
Closing into the final leg of this triple header, and the final race of the 2025 season, this year has been one of the most exciting title races in the last few years. Max Verstappen has dominated the titles since the famous victorious end to a glorious title charge in 2021 against the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton. It might be time for someone else to win - right?
In Formula 1's 75th season, the title race, that started pretty dominant, has a three-way spilt - this is the first time since 2010 that we have seen a title battle between more than two drivers. In that season, there were four drivers competing for the championship, with Sebastian Vettel coming out on top, despite a fifteen-point deficit.
A battle that arguably mirrors the current situation with McLaren was the 2007 title battle between the fiery McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. He came out on top by just one point, the two McLaren's being level in the Championship. Does it not seem possible for Verstappen or Piastri to achieve the same result, despite Norris being on top?
The 2025 season started out with the same McLaren dominance the sport saw the year prior. They still had the best car and the results proved that. The first half the season was in McLaren's favour, particularly in Piastri's. Week in, week out, he showed his brilliance in the car, completely calm and composed, never getting too ahead of himself. Going into the summer break, McLaren looked strong, unbeatable in fact. Being leagues above the other teams did not come without their own hiccups. There was a very public discussion concerning the "papaya rules" McLaren laid out for their competing drivers.
With such a competitive car, they believed it was best to almost control their drivers, to do damage control. I think this was possibly to avoid the same fate of Mercedes, when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg drove for them, they had many internal issues which then caused catastrophe publicly in the media and bled into their racing on track. McLaren possibly wanted to avoid that and therefore tried to control the two competitors which resulted in poor decisions in races that soured their relationship. It arguably made things worse for Norris and Piastri.
If we look back at the races pre-summer break, some questionable decisions by McLaren with the intention of keeping the title race "fair" between their drivers saw Piastri lose places and points and caused Norris severe backlash for demanding things to go in his favour where they might have not been the best choice for the driver's championship. Going into the summer break, after Hungary Lando Norris had caught up to Oscar Piastri, just nine points separating them. Their closest competitor, but still eighty-eight points behind, was Max Verstappen. Who would have thought that in just a few races, everything would turn on its head, bringing us to this very moment of a Driver's championship being undecided?
After the summer break, Oscar Piastri had a spell of unfortunate performances, especially during qualifying sessions. Most races before this weekend he was qualifying outside of the top three, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen racking up points from capitalising on Piastri's mistakes and their own driving abilities. With DNFs from both McLaren drivers, Verstappen was able to claw his way back into the fight, while Norris managed to overtake Piastri in the standings. However, just as things looked to be in Norris' favour, last week's disqualification allowed Max Verstappen to level on points with Piastri and was now hot on the young British driver's tail. While he would still be able to secure victory in Qatar, his hopes of a comfortable win had slipped through his fingers.
Before talking about the Qatar Grand Prix, I want to reflect on Max Verstappen's season. While McLaren won the Constructor's Championship in 2024, Max Verstappen comfortably led the Driver's Championship. However, 2025 saw Red Bull's car being much less competitive. A constant running theme this year was the issues with the Red Bull, causing troubles for not only Max but more so the second-seat driver, seeing the early-season switch of Lawson and Tsunoda from Red Bull to VCARB.
However, over the course of the season, we learnt that it was in fact not just the second Red Bull seat who was struggling, but from a bouncing car to having no grip to having steering issues, the Red Bull could be measured as probably the fourth best car on the grid. The only reason they currently sit third in the Constructors Championship is because of Max Verstappen. The sheer skill and maximum potential of that car is only reached because of the four-time world champion. With all of these struggles, Verstappen is mere points away from getting his fifth, and if he does manage this, it could be one of the biggest title comebacks in history.
Going into the Qatar Grand Prix, McLaren could not face any mistakes. The Championship title could have been won right then and there by Lando Norris. His record over the last couple of weeks saw that he was very capable of achieving that. However, when it came to the Sprint, he was out-raced by Verstappen in the first corner and finished P3 - this did not mean the title charge was over just yet, but it also meant he could still win come Sunday. Sunday's race came around and to no fault of their own, McLaren took a gamble during the safety car by choosing not to pit either of their drivers and they suffered for it. Who decided that this was the correct strategy though? Max Verstappen, along with everyone else on the grid. While he was outqualified by Yuki Tsunoda on Saturday, he came back much stronger in the Sprint and in the Grand Prix.
The error was costly for both McLaren drivers. While Piastri was pitted earlier than Norris by one lap, it meant that he was able to finish the race second, but Norris was only able to pass Antonelli to go up to P4 because of a driving error, which meant he was unable to win the Driver's Championship in Qatar. McLaren also had pitstop issues, with each driver suffering one slow pitstop out of the two they took, which again caused issues when it came to being competitive in the race and coming out of the pits under the most ideal conditions.
But who really wants the title? As someone who was saying that "we can forget about that" when asked about his Championship title chances following a Q1 exist in Brazil, Verstappen also made us aware of his feelings about McLaren sill not securing the Driver's Championship, according to Sky Sports F1:
"We wouldn't be talking about a championship. It would already have been won, easily.
"I mean they won the Constructors' Championship so early that yeah... you can fill it in yourself."
He also made it clear that he thought he was only still in Championship contention because of the failure of others - is he so wrong? With McLaren's errors they have taken what could have been a comfortable Driver's Championship and turned it into something out of a nightmare for their drivers.
He spoke at length about his struggles with the car and how hard he has fought this season, and to think he has a chance of winning it all again can be mind-blowing:
"I try everything I can. But at the same time, if I don’t win it, I still know that I had an amazing season. So, it doesn’t really matter.
“It takes a lot of the pressure off. I’m just out there having a good time like I had today. I also started today with ‘we’ll see how it goes’.
“I know that when I sit in the car, I always try to maximise everything I can. And that’s what I’ll try to do in Abu Dhabi, but at the same time, I also know that we need to rely on probably some external factors to have a go at it. But a race like today shows that when you think it's going to be boring and straightforward – it’s not. So, I’m hoping Abu Dhabi is going to be similar.”
His experience is what sets him apart from McLaren. With his championships he has learnt a lot more from his mistakes and reflected on it in order to improve. Verstappen talks about this, taken from Sky Sports F1:
"Even in the championship years, there are always things that you look back at and you're like, ‘I could have learned a bit more’, or ‘I could have done a bit more there’. And this can go from how you set up the car, what you did yourself in terms of execution in a race, or the way that you work together with the team.
“To still be in this fight, I think we can be really proud of it because in the middle of the season, at some point, it was almost – not like you lose motivation, but you don’t really see a way forward of actually winning again in this season. It's almost like you have to hope that 2026 would be better.
Lando Norris did have some words to say following up from Verstappen's interview. The Championship leader felt that it was understandable why Max thought of the Championship in such a way, but he also disagreed about his points, saying he was not completely aware of the entire situation. When asked for his thoughts, according to F1 Official's statements, Norris said the following:
“Max is very welcome to say everything he wants. He has kind of earned the right because he has won four world championships.
“I have a lot of respect, and he has achieved an incredible amount – more than anyone could dream of achieving – and that gives anyone credit.
“He generally has a good clue about a lot of things, but there is also a lot of things he doesn’t have much of a clue about.
“But it is also Red Bull’s way of going about things, an aggressive nature and just talking nonsense a lot of the time.
“It depends if you want to listen to it and talk about it he like he would love you to do, or do what we do as a team which is keeping our heads down and stay focused.
“Maybe he would have done (won the title easily) but he hasn’t done so far.”
Emotions and tensions are running high. If anyone is feeling the pressure it would be Norris. Not only was he unable to win in Qatar, due to both his own stress limiting his results and the team's errors, but if he wins the Driver's Championship, it would be his first. Your first Championship has a lot of pressure riding on it, and with the pressure faced by the media. his team, his supporters, Lando Norris is in hot water. With more seasons and experience under his belt than Piastri, and also being outscored by his teammate for half of the season, Norris has the most to gain and the most to lose.
Who do you think will win? Who will take the title? Abu Dhabi fast approaches: the finale of the 2025 season's title race comes to a dramatic ending soon.
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