Introduction

The 2025 Formula One season featured one of the most thrilling championship battles in recent history, with Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri emerging as the principal contenders for the drivers’ title. Each brought exceptional skill and determination to the fight, producing a season filled with dramatic races, unexpected twists, and high-stakes moments.

In the end, Norris held off Verstappen by just two points, with Piastri finishing only 13 points behind the champion. It was an extraordinarily competitive championship that remained in doubt until the final race.

Max Verstappen: The Defending Champion’s Pursuit

Max Verstappen entered the season as the reigning champion, seeking a fifth consecutive championship. Early on, however, that goal appeared to be in serious jeopardy. Red Bull lagged behind McLaren in performance, and Verstappen quickly fell well behind the McLaren drivers in the standings.

But Red Bull continued developing its car while McLaren largely stopped bringing major upgrades. Combined with Verstappen’s extraordinary ability to extract the maximum from whatever machinery he has, that development race changed the complexion of the championship. McLaren also made several costly mistakes, allowing Verstappen to mount what seemed like an almost miraculous comeback.

His experience in championship battles proved invaluable, particularly during difficult races, changing weather conditions, and other high-pressure situations. Verstappen continued to win races and score heavily, reinforcing his reputation as one of the most relentless competitors in Formula One history.

Red Bull nearly won the drivers’ championship despite finishing a distant third in the constructors’ championship. That raises an interesting question: How much did Red Bull’s status as essentially a one-car team affect the title fight?

On the surface, being a one-car team may have helped Verstappen. He did not have a teammate taking points away from him in the same way Norris and Piastri inevitably took points from each other. No driver can consistently beat another top-level driver in every race, so having a quality teammate inevitably costs a championship contender some points.

However, Red Bull’s lack of a competitive second driver probably hurt Verstappen more than it helped him. Once Red Bull became more competitive, the team still failed to produce a single 1-2 finish. That meant Red Bull was unable to maximize the number of points it could take away from the McLaren duo. Even more strikingly, Verstappen’s teammates failed to record a single podium finish.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz scored two podiums for Williams. If Red Bull had put Sainz in the second seat, I believe Verstappen would have won the 2025 championship.

Red Bull has often seemed reluctant to give Verstappen a teammate capable of consistently challenging him. Verstappen is already an all-time great, but whether he can enter the greatest-of-all-time conversation may ultimately depend, at least in part, on how he performs alongside a truly elite teammate.

Lando Norris: The Breakthrough Challenger

After showing flashes of championship-caliber speed and finishing a distant second in 2024, Lando Norris entered 2025 poised to make a serious run at the title.

Instead, he quickly fell behind his own teammate, Oscar Piastri. That was surprising, particularly because there were already plenty of people who believed Piastri possessed the higher ceiling. By the middle of the season, that view appeared increasingly justified.

Then the momentum shifted.

Piastri’s form began to fade while Norris raised his level of performance. He displayed greater pace, composure, and maturity as the season progressed. Norris became increasingly effective at managing races, tires, and strategy while capitalizing on opportunities when they presented themselves.

His victories and consistent podium finishes kept him firmly in the championship fight with Verstappen. More importantly, he demonstrated that he could withstand the pressure of a genuine title battle. Winning races is one thing; performing at your best when every mistake carries championship consequences is another.

Norris ultimately held his nerve and secured the championship by the narrowest of margins.

Oscar Piastri: The Rising Star

Oscar Piastri made an enormous impression during the 2025 championship battle. Still relatively inexperienced compared with Verstappen and Norris, Piastri nevertheless demonstrated the speed, composure, and racecraft of a driver who appears destined to contend for championships for years to come.

His form, however, strangely fell off after the summer before recovering during the final races of the season. It is worth remembering just how inexperienced Piastri remains. That fact is sometimes forgotten because his speed and overall driving ability make him appear much more seasoned than he actually is.

There has been speculation that Piastri was never quite the same after team orders forced him to concede victory to Norris at the Italian Grand Prix. I don’t buy that explanation.

Piastri has shown remarkable poise throughout his young career, so I doubt that one team-order decision would be enough to destabilize him for the remainder of the season. More importantly, McLaren’s decision was defensible. The team had its reasons for making the switch, and there was an implicit understanding that if the circumstances were reversed, Piastri would receive the same consideration.

A more likely explanation is simply the pressure of leading a championship for the first time.

Few drivers—or teams—win a championship on their first serious attempt. More often, they have to lose one before they learn how to win one. Piastri may have simply encountered that learning curve in 2025.

If that is the case, I would expect him to rebound strongly in 2026. Piastri remains one of the brightest young talents in Formula One, and his first championship fight should ultimately make him a better driver.

Is Lando Norris a “Worthy Champion”?

The last ten Formula One champions are Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Button, Räikkönen, Alonso, Schumacher, and Häkkinen. With the possible exceptions of Button and Rosberg, they are all widely regarded as all-time greats.

If we go back a little farther, the next two champions are Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill, who are probably better placed in the Button/Rosberg tier than alongside drivers such as Hamilton and Schumacher. That means Norris is hardly the first champion whose career does not immediately suggest an all-time-great trajectory.

There is an important point here, though: you don’t luck into a Formula One championship.

First, you need enough talent to reach a championship-caliber team. Then you need even more talent to actually win the championship. Even the drivers sometimes dismissed as “lesser” champions were accomplished racers who beat extremely talented competition to reach the top.

Norris’ critics also overlook the quality of his teammate. This was not a 2009-style situation in which one driver dominated a championship from a position of overwhelming car superiority while his teammate struggled to match him. Norris had to beat a genuinely talented Piastri, who was himself a legitimate championship contender.

Does that make Norris an all-time great?

Probably not—at least not yet.

His career may ultimately resemble Jenson Button’s: an excellent driver who reaches the top, wins a championship, and remains highly competitive without necessarily becoming one of the defining drivers of his era. But Norris is still young, and his story is far from finished.

If he wins another championship—or two—he will move into a different tier entirely. The 2026 season is particularly difficult to predict because of the sweeping technical and regulatory changes, but Norris is young enough to remain a championship-caliber driver for many years.

Conclusion

The 2025 Formula One drivers’ championship battle between Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri was a showcase of elite motorsport talent and competitive spirit. The rivalry remained compelling throughout the season and demonstrated just how quickly the balance of power can shift in Formula One.

It also provided three very different stories: Verstappen’s remarkable comeback, Norris’ breakthrough championship, and Piastri’s emergence as a future title favorite.

I am glad Formula One uses a traditional season-long championship format. That is what makes a title fight like this so exhilarating. When three drivers can enter the final race with a realistic chance of winning the championship, every lap and every point matters. It creates the kind of drama that is difficult to replicate with a contrived postseason format, such as NASCAR’s.

Without the sweeping rules changes coming in 2026, we could reasonably expect Norris, Verstappen, and Piastri to pick up where they left off. Instead, the new regulations introduce an enormous unknown. The competitive order could change dramatically, and one of these three drivers—or perhaps someone else entirely—could emerge as the early favorite.

Either way, 2026 should be fascinating.