After McLaren’s dominance until the summer and the question of whether Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris will become world champion, Max Verstappen is making a phenomenal comeback in the Red Bull. It could be even more exciting than 2021.
The season finale of Formula 1 2021 in Abu Dhabi was argued, discussed and ultimately judged under sports law. None of this changed the result: Max Verstappen celebrated his first world championship title by overtaking Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the last race.
The question is: What does this have to do with the 2025 season? The answer before the upcoming race in Mexico: The excitement is back. After three more or less dominant years for Verstappen, there is currently a lot to suggest that three drivers can go into the last race of the season – again in Abu Dhabi – and still become world champions.
Verstappen continues to catch up
At the beginning of August, with the start of the summer break, the otherwise combative Verstappen made people sit up and take notice. “We’re not fighting for the World Cup anyway”said the Dutchman at the time after his failure in Spielberg (Austria). At that point, Verstappen had almost half as many points (155) as championship leader Oscar Piastri (284). Lando Norris had 275 points.
| driver | team | Points |
|---|---|---|
Oscar Piastri (AUS) | McLaren | 346 |
Lando Norris (GBR) | McLaren | 332 |
Max Verstappen (NED) | Red Bull | 306 |
George Russell (GBR) | Mercedes | 252 |
Eight races later, the lead has melted so much that the fight for the world title is no longer a McLaren team affair. After the dominant weekend in Austin, with victory in the sprint and victory in the race, Verstappen is only 40 points behind Piastri and 26 behind world championship runner-up Norris.
Piastri shows nerves, Norris fights for every point
The clear trend at last: Piastri, who is known for his stoic calm and in the past let the results speak for themselves instead of attracting attention through radio messages, is showing nerves. After an excellent performance in the first half of the season, the Australian is the hunted.
McLaren has been able to modify the fact that the pursuer, Norris, comes from their own team for a long time, but gradually it becomes a test. The infamous “Papaya Rules” (based on the car color of the McLaren) have recently become a point of contention in Singapore. In principle, they should create fairness between teammates; there is no stable order.
McLaren suddenly weakens
But if the car no longer has the superiority from the first part of the season and the competition, including Mercedes or Ferrari depending on the route, catches up, solutions are needed to bring the comfortable championship lead to the finish. McLaren is so superior in 2025 (at least so far) that the constructors’ world championship was already decided at the beginning of October.
However, the team was unable to win any of the last four races. The winner was Verstappen three times. In addition to smaller updates and a new internal team approach from the new team boss Laurent Mekies, this is thanks above all to Verstappen himself. No expert would currently question that the Dutchman is the superior driver in the field.
Five more races and two sprints
A look at the recent past shows: This trend could also continue in the upcoming race in Mexico on Sunday evening (October 26, 2025). Since 2017, Verstappen has only failed to win there twice. Four more race weekends follow until the beginning of December, including sprints twice (Brazil and Qatar).
| Date | Location | sprint |
|---|---|---|
October 26th | Mexico (Mexico City) | – |
November 9th | Brazil (Sao Paulo) | Yes |
November 23rd | United States (Las Vegas) | – |
November 30th | Qatar | Yes |
December 7th | Abu Dhabi | – |
In theory, a driver can still score 141 points. This means that Mercedes driver George Russell (252 points) still has a theoretical World Cup chance. This is mentioned for the sake of completeness. Against this background and in view of the trend of the last races, the 40 point gap between the top three seems like a small thing.
But even if it could easily give the impression that Verstappen now has everything in his own hands: McLaren is still the team to beat. “We have a great opportunity and the outcome of the season is in our hands”said team boss Andrea Stella after the race in Austin, but also criticized his drivers: “To a certain extent, the drivers themselves also recognize that they could have done a better job in the last few races.”
Right here we are back to the trend. He speaks for Verstappen. The experience too. After all, he should never forget his first World Cup title in 2021. The drama is inevitable.