2025 Championship fight

Lando Oscar and Max. No one had anticipated that the F1 Championship will go down to the last race, that too with Max in the mix. This is similar to 2021 season when we saw a generational fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Both were on the exact same points as we headed for the final race in Abu Dhabi. The way race ended is literally stuff of the lore and a pivotal moment in Formula 1. This time though things are a bit different. McLaren had the best car for most of the season. They closed the Constructor’s Championship by Singapore. It was assumed that the title fight will be between the two McLaren drivers – Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. However, Max made an entry in the fore and is not willing to give up the No. 1 badge that easily. 

The season started with Lando gaining an upper hand. He is the more experienced driver and is expected to make the most of the best car on the grid. However he started to fumble as the season progressed. Moreover the cool and calm Aussie Oscar Piastri started making inroads. His calm demeanor ensured that he kept winning races as Lando fumbled at critical points. The turning point though came in Monza and Baku. Oscar had to give up the race position to Lando as Lando had a slow pitstop. This is not as per the so-called ‘papaya rules’ but he still relented. Then in Baku he had a bad weekend where he literally crashed his car in frustration. This set a chain of reaction and he literally was not even on the podium until Qatar. 

All this while Max was making the most of the situation. Even when he was not winning races, as he did not have the best car, he either on the podium or there at the top. Any mistake made by the McLaren drivers and Max was there to pounce on the opportunity and grab the maximum points. The upgrades later in the season also worked wonders and while he still doesn’t have an outright best car, he can fight with the McLarens. 

Still the gap between Max and the McLaren drivers was too much to cover by the middle of the season. A 104 points to leader Oscar was too much. However things started to turn. Max kept chipping on the points and slowly closed the gap. This gap reduced drastically in Vegas as both the McLarens were disqualified due to plank issue while Max won the race. A humongous error in strategy at Qatar ensured that Max won the race despite not having the best car and left Oscar very angry as he had finally found his mojo. 

So now there is only a 12 points gap between Max and Lando, with Oscar now in 3rd poisition, 4 points from Max. If things went smoothly then Lando will win the Championship. However with Max in the mix anything is possible. He had a cool mindset but also aggressive to push to the limit. 

Can’t wait for the final race of the season.