Who got it right? Have your say on F1’s razor‑thin 2025 title fight
Lando Norris is finally a Formula 1 world champion. After a year that swung like a pendulum between orange and blue, he did just enough in Abu Dhabi – a measured podium under the lights – to beat Max Verstappen to the crown by two points. Two. After 24 rounds, that’s a photo finish.
The bones of it are simple, the story less so. McLaren were the class of the field for long stretches, their drivers trading weekends and lap times with a ruthless civility that was, at times, almost disconcerting. No hard team orders, no obvious number one. That egalitarian streak kept Oscar Piastri right in the title picture too; the Australian led the championship for more races than anyone this year and, for a while, looked the likeliest orange car to take it all.
But as the calendar turned into its final third, Verstappen did what Verstappen does: he hunted. The Red Bull rallied and the four-time champion hauled back a deficit that had ballooned beyond 100 points after Zandvoort, slicing it to single digits with a relentless run. He even acknowledged that a bit of fortune and rivals’ miscues played their part in his late-season charge, and he didn’t hide the belief that, in different machinery, this campaign might have wrapped earlier.
McLaren didn’t blink. They kept both sides of the garage live, even when it was painfully clear a nudge toward Norris might have insulated them from the Red Bull comeback. In the end it didn’t backfire. Verstappen jumped Piastri before Abu Dhabi; Norris, who’d been building the quieter, sturdier case all season, brought it home.
So, did the right driver win?
Here’s the debate. Championships aren’t accidents. They’re stitched together by all the invisible bits: damage limitation on bad Saturdays, the fifth place you dragged from a car that didn’t want to turn, the pit call you trusted because your engineer’s voice didn’t waver. By that measure, Norris’s year was textbook. Not perfect, but complete. When he needed a podium to seal it, he didn’t overreach for fireworks. He banked the points and the title.
On the other hand, Verstappen’s closing speed was frightening. Strip the season into thirds and he was the form driver down the stretch, wrestling a wobbly narrative until it behaved like all his other seasons since 2021. Had the calendar run five races longer, you suspect we’d be talking about a five-time champion today.
And then there’s Piastri, whose campaign will be pored over in Woking with a magnifying glass. For so long the scoreboard said he was the guy, yet a few key Sundays slipped. In a team that refused to call off the fight, that matters. You could argue McLaren won this the hard way and almost lost it trying to be fair.
That’s where you come in. When you take the whole season into account – the early orange surge, the blue-car comeback, the policy of parity at McLaren – who’s your worthy 2025 champion? Did Norris deserve to close the loop on his potential and lift a first title, or did Verstappen’s charge make the stronger case? Would you have backed Piastri if the dice had rolled a touch differently?
Vote in the poll below and drop your reasoning in the comments. We’ll feature the best takes in our weekend roundup.
However you saw it, this was a proper title fight. No politics overshadowing the racing, no awkward footnotes. Just three drivers throwing everything at a season that refused to fall neatly into place until the last laps of the last race. That’s the sport at its best.
Cast your vote: Was Norris the rightful 2025 World Champion?
