Has the battle for the 2025 Formula 1 championship been decided? Oscar Piastri heads the table with a 31 point lead over Lando Norris, whose retirement at the Dutch Grand Prix saw him lose touch with his McLaren team-mate, and no amount of team orders the following weekend at Monza could make up for that.
Until that point, both drivers had a strong claim on the title, thanks to this year’s dominant McLaren, although Piastri has had the edge for most of the season, having won seven of the 16 races so far, and only twice finishing off the podium.
It’s not all over for Norris yet, though. With eight races to go, we’re far from the point at which the drivers’ title will be decided.
That can’t be said for the constructors’ championship though: McLaren can claim the teams’ crown at the next race in Baku.
The chances of anything but an all-papaya walkover are slim. Max Verstappen‘s bid to defend the title faltered after a series of disasters. He spun at the British Grand Prix and tumbled down the running order. This came shortly after a Spanish Grand Prix where, frustrated at a team order to let George Russell past, he rammed the Mercedes driver and was handed a penalty that dropped him to tenth at the finish line. He’s now almost 100 points behind Piastri, despite winning in Italy.
George Russell sits fourth in the table, 31 points shy of Piastri, who has almost twice the number of points as the lead Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.who sits fifth in the standings. That’s despite glimmers of form for the Scuderia, including Lewis Hamilton‘s win in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint and a recent upsurge in pace.
Behind them, we are seeing a resurgence in form at Williams and Racing Bulls; the emergence of impressive talent among the F1 rookies; and continuing struggles at Red Bull to find a team-mate who can match Verstappen, with Liam Lawson being dropped to Racing Bulls in a swap with Yuki Tsunoda two races into the season.
At least he’s still on the grid: After starting the season for Alpine, Jack Doohan is now sitting on the sidelines, having been replaced by Franco Colapinto.
