The 2025 Formula One Championship Battle By: Audrey Rubach

The 2025 Formula One season, the 75th in the championship's history, will go down as one of the greatest. The season was highly competitive, with Britian’s Lando Norris winning his maiden Formula One championship title with Mclaren Formula One team, defeating Mclaren teammate 9-time race winner from Australia, Oscar Piastri, as well as the Dutch 71-time race winner and 4-time Formula One world champion Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen. The three-way championship battle came down to the 24th and final race of the season at Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE on December seventh, with Norris leading the championship by only two points from Verstappen after Verstappen closed his mid-season 104-point gap to the leader in the second half. Piastri was sixteen points behind after losing the championship lead to his teammate following a tricky final part of the season following an incredibly dominant seven-win season. Ultimately, Lando Norris took the checkered flag in third place, but it was still enough to clinch his first ever world title. Max Verstappen finished second in the championship, ending his four-year world championship streak, meanwhile Oscar Piastri had to settle for third place in the championship after the Australian had an extremely impressive third season in Formula One. Hillgrove student and Formula One fan Jenny Snyder explained how she felt about a three-way title fight, “I was very excited about three drivers fighting for the championship especially going into the last race.”

At the season starter in March at Albert Park Circuit in Australia, Piastri’s home race, Norris took a significant lead of the championship after a rain-affected race that knocked his teammate Piastri down to ninth place after a slide off track. But, by race six in Saudi Arabia, Piastri had already taken the championship lead from Norris, and Verstappen was right on the tail of Norris by two points. Eventually, as the season continued and reached the halfway point before going into summer break, Piastri was leading with 284 points after a superior first half, his Mclaren teammate Norris was only nine points behind, and Verstappen in third had fallen 88 points behind Norris in second. Verstappen expressed his concern for the rest of the season when he was asked if he was going to win again, he said “No, not the way I look at it now.”

The second half of the season was not what Verstappen had predicted, winning six out of the ten races after summer break, closing his large gap to the Mclaren drivers. Hillgrove Student and Formula One fan Kate Merchant explained Verstappen's comeback towards the end of the season, "I think the comeback is just one of the many instances that show his racing abilities, and even if he says that he's not after his fifth title, being that close had to have motivated him and put the idea in his head after an okay ish but not great start to the season. I think changes to the Red Bull car also helped as the car wasn't in his favor and it performed better later in the season, but he is a four-time world champion for a reason, he knows how to win even if it's just races." Unlike Verstappen, Piastri saw an uncharacteristic drop in performance, while Norris was putting in impressive results, ultimately causing Norris to take the lead back from his teammate, and Verstappen to move up to second, leaving Piastri In third. 

After an exciting, entertaining season, Mclaren Formula One team took the constructors' championship trophy from a season of incredible results from both drivers scoring a total of 833 points, and 26-year-old British Mclaren driver Lando Norris took home the drivers' championship trophy from his seventh season in Formula One with a total of 423 points.