2025 F1 title battle: How Norris, Verstappen or Piastri can win the championship

The 2025 F1 title battle will go right down to the wire at this weekend’s Abu Dhabi GP (December 5-7). 

Max Verstappen secured a crucial win at the Qatar GP to keep his title hopes alive. McLaren, on the other hand, made a costly strategy blunder. As a result, Lando Norris’s championship lead has now been slashed to 12 points from Verstappen, who moves up to second overall. Piastri slipped to third in the standings, 16 points behind Norris.

This sets the stage for a three-way title battle at the Abu Dhabi GP. In fact, this will be the first championship decider since 2010 involving more than two drivers.

So, just what do all three drivers need to do to win the championship? We’ve crunched the numbers:

How Norris can win the 2025 F1 title

Current points: 408

If Norris finishes on the Abu Dhabi GP podium, he will be crowned champion, regardless of where Verstappen and Piastri finish. Should he finish P4 or any lower, though, he’ll need Verstappen not to win the race. 

The topic of McLaren team orders did come up at the Thursday press conference. “I’m not going to ask it. I don’t want to ask it because I don’t think it’s necessarily a fair question,” said Norris. “And at the same time, if that’s how it ends and Max wins, then well, that’s it. Congrats to him, and I look forward to next year. It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change my life. So, he will deserve it over us.”

How Verstappen can win the 2025 F1 title

Current points: 396

Given Red Bull’s early-season struggles, few would have anticipated Verstappen to be a title contender heading into the final race. Just as recently as August, the reigning world champion was 104 points adrift of the championship lead. He’s slashed that gap to just 12 points, making it to the podium in the last nine races. 

In order to clinch his fifth world title, Verstappen will need to finish on the podium. But he’ll also need Norris not to end up in the top three. “I’m very relaxed. Nothing to lose, you know?” the Dutchman said. 

He added, “Having these wins again is fantastic. So, I just take it – everything here is just a bonus, sitting here fighting for the title. So that’s also what makes it very straightforward for me. We will just try to have a good weekend.”

How Piastri can win the 2025 F1 title

Current points: 392

At one point, Piastri held a fairly comfortable 34-point lead over his teammate Norris in the standings. However, he’s since lost ground after a string of poor results from the Azerbaijan GP to the Las Vegas GP. A P2 finish at Qatar dropped him to third overall in the standings.

In order to win his first F1 title, Piastri will need to finish the Abu Dhabi GP in the top two. But it’s not that simple; he’ll also need Norris to finish P6 or lower. “I think off the back of Qatar, I’ve got a lot of confidence that I can perform well,” said Piastri.

“Obviously, I need a fair few things to happen this weekend to come out champion, but I’ll just make sure I’m in the right place at the right time and see what happens.”

What if the drivers are tied on points?

Norris, Verstappen and Piastri have all won seven races each this season. If none of them win at Abu Dhabi, but the top two are tied on points, the title will then be decided based on each driver’s second-place finishes. Norris has the advantage here with eight P2 finishes, while Verstappen has six and Piastri four.

2025 F1 Abu Dhabi GP schedule

All F1 Abu Dhabi GP sessions will be streamed live in India on the FanCode and F1 TV apps.

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