A Wild Ride to Abu Dhabi: Formula One’s 2025 Championship

By Jaeda N. '28

(Note: this article was written before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when the drivers’ champion had yet to be decided.)

The 2025 Formula One season has been one for the books! This past season has brought us outstanding performances from rookie drivers, mid-season shake-ups of drivers and team principals, and even a romantic engagement for Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. However, the biggest headlines have been about the three-way fight for the world drivers’ championship between McLaren’s Lando Norris, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. The lead has teetered between Norris and Piastri throughout the season, but four-time championship winner Verstappen has surged in points to put himself in contention. Currently, Norris is leading Verstappen by 12 points and Piastri by 16 points, but these margins are so tight that this year’s champion will not be determined until the final race of the season.

“It’s been a good season, I think,” reflected Piper Youman ’28. “McLaren has been interesting. I think that their strategy has been very, very wrong and I’m confused how [McLaren CEO] Zak Brown hasn’t gotten in trouble for that.” Youman also commented on Red Bull’s recent decision to replace Yuki Tsunoda with Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, saying “I think that [Isack’s] going to perform better than Yuki, but I don’t think he’s going to touch Max.”

The general consensus among students is that the 2025 Formula 1 season has been a thrill to watch. Because this is the final year of the current regulations on the cars, the teams have had time to fine-tune and understand their machinery, culminating in this nail-biting final race. The season has been “dramatic as heck” per Hoda Hekmat ’26, and to echo her, Eleck Fa ’28 remarks that “it's been a wild ride.”

Students also shared their opinions on who they believed will be crowned this season’s world champion. “Oscar’s going to win the [final] race and win the championship,” said Laylah Burstein ’29, predicting that Norris and Verstappen would crash in the final race. “I want Lando to win, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to. He’s my favorite driver!” said Hekmat. Alluding to the birth of Max Verstappen’s daughter, Lily, Hekmat said that “I don’t want Max to win again. He’s had enough, he’s happy this season with his personal life, I don’t need him winning this too. Give someone else the win.”

Likewise, Fa supports Norris, arguing that, “Lando Norris is going to win because he has a 12-point lead.” Norris would have to finish the race in Abu Dhabi in fourth place or lower to be overtaken as the leader of the drivers’ championship. However, Jonah Holloway-Butts ’28 favors Verstappen over Norris, commenting, “I think Max Verstappen is going to win.” Since the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Verstappen has shrunk what was then a 104-point gap between himself and the championship leader to a slim 12-point gap. Verstappen’s average point gain on the championship leader in the past 8 races has been just shy of 12 points, at 11.5, suggesting that the possibility of a fifth championship win for Max doesn’t stray far out of the question.

While the outcome of the drivers’ championship remains uncertain, the final race promises a thrilling climax to an already action-packed season. The knowledge that next year will usher in sweeping regulatory changes and reshuffled teams only heightens the pressure—and the exhilaration—of this season’s down-to-the-wire finish.