THE 2025 F1 championship is drawing towards a dramatic close – with two drivers from the same team fighting for the title!
McLaren driver Lando Norris currently leads, with Oscar Piastri having been ahead for a large stretch of the 2025 season in F1.
The Aussie driver Piastri had been top of the Drivers’ Championship until the Mexican Grand Prix, but Lando Norris has snatched the lead from him.
However, four-time champion Max Verstappen is closing in on the two leaders, threatening to win a fifth consecutive championship from under the noses of the McLaren duo.
The Dutch driver knows all about tense finishes, having won the 2021 Drivers’ Championship over Lewis Hamilton in the final lap of the final race of the season.
SunSport has everything you need to know ahead of the dramatic conclusion to the 2025 season.
F1 Drivers’ Championship 2025 permutations
Ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, there are THREE drivers still in the hunt, with only two races to go.
Those three are McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as your four-time defending champion, Max Verstappen.
Verstappen picked up a crucial win in Las Vegas, with Norris initially second, and Piastri initially fifth.
However, the McLaren pair were disqualified from the race, blowing the championship wide open.
Piastri closed the gap on his teammate to 22 points after he won Saturday’s sprint in Qatar, while Norris finished third ahead of Verstappen in fourth.
The standings for the top three look as follows right now:
- Lando Norris… 396pts
- Oscar Piastri… 374pts
- Max Verstappen… 371pts
Norris will be world champion for the first time with a race to spare if he is 26 or more points clear of Piastri and 25 points ahead of Verstappen after the Qatar Grand Prix.
This means the British driver must gain four points on his McLaren team-mate and finish ahead of Verstappen.
The clearest way for Norris to seal the championship on Sunday is for him to win the race outright, as he would outscore his two title rivals.
Or he could win it by finishing second in front of Verstappen, with Piastri not making the podium.
