The 2025 Formula One season has finally come to a close, and for the first time in 15 years, three drivers qualified for the championship by the final race in Abu Dhabi. McLaren Automotive’s Lando Norris ultimately won the championship along with seven of the season’s 24 races, while his teammate, Oscar Piastri, placed third, also winning seven races. The driver in second place, Max Verstappen, won eight of the season’s races, ultimately losing his four-year title streak.
Norris’ win, although highly anticipated, has been quite divisive in the world of Formula One. Over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Norris and McLaren have not only portrayed questionable character, but have also used extremely controversial strategies. The most notable of which occurred during the closing laps of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, when McLaren pitted their drivers in an order they quickly regretted, causing Piastri to lose the lead at lap 47. McLaren told Norris to switch race positions with Piastri a few laps later in order to maintain the original race order and let Piastri receive his maiden race win. It wasn’t until after 21 laps of Norris arguing with his team and ignoring race messages that he finally let up the position just two laps before the end of race.
Throughout the 2025 season, McLaren made the decision to prioritize Norris, even when Piastri was performing more sufficiently in the car. This ended up working not in the favor of McLaren, but in favor of Verstappen, who trailed closely behind the two during the title fight. After maintaining third for the majority of the fight, Verstappen was able to pass Piastri and land himself in the second place spot. While he won the final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi, Norris placed high enough to just barely maintain his first place spot and clench the drivers championship.
Verstappen has won the championship the past four consecutive years, and has been using the driver’s number one for the past three. With Norris’ win, he decided to take up the number, forcing Verstappen to return to his original number, 33. Instead, Verstappen decided to take up the number three with the permission of his former teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who raced with the number for the past decade. Aside from Verstappen, Redbull itself has slowly gone from dominating the grid to dwelling outside of point-scoring positions, leaving McLaren with a clear path to the Constructors’ Championship.
As we head towards the 2026 Season, McLaren will have the chance to continue their reign, although I feel that might not be the case. With 11 teams on the grid for the first time since 2012, there is cause for a major shake up, and a lot is subject to change with a new set of rules going in place.