F1 2025: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen title battle questions answered by Sky Sports F1’s Anthony Davidson | F1 News

The 2025 Formula 1 season is heading towards a thrilling conclusion with a three-way title battle set to be decided over the final four rounds.

Lando Norris regained the championship lead for the first time since April with a dominant victory last time out at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Brit is a point clear of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 36 points off the lead in third as he attempts to claim a fifth successive drivers’ title.

The season resumes on Friday as a Sprint weekend begins at the Sao Paolo Grand Prix, before races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi close out the year.

With so much excitement to come over the next month, with every session live on Sky Sports F1, Anthony Davidson has been answering your questions on the title battle.

What challenges will McLaren and Red Bull face on the upcoming tracks with their current car packages? – Jess

Brazil could be a close one. Based on previous form around that track, you’d have to say Max Verstappen, particularly if it was wet, I think would hold the advantage. Before Red Bull’s recent upturn in performance, I would have said it was definitely McLaren territory in the dry, but Max can also get a lot out of his car around there if it’s dry.

The Vegas circuit has similarities to Monza. We saw at Monza with a low downforce package that Red Bull were impressive, so I can see Max Verstappen winning that race. McLaren’s strength is always looking after their tyres in the race trim and in those cold conditions, with such few corners, I think that actually becomes McLaren’s enemy. It’s more about getting the temperature into your tyres and switching them on rather than keeping them alive.

Qatar is hands down a McLaren circuit – with all those medium and high speed corners, I can see them romping away to victory.

And then Abu Dhabi, I think it would be a bit closer, but it will also favour McLaren, especially in race pace. There’s still a realistic chance Max could secure pole position there though, so that could create an epic showdown.

If it came down to last race with Norris and Piastri having a slight lead but a Verstappen win meaning he would take the championship, who would McLaren back? – Avery

I certainly think McLaren have been so careful, almost too careful in trying to do the right thing this year between their two drivers, that I can’t imagine them in the end, favouring one driver over the other, just to secure a Drivers’ Championship as well as the constructors’ title.

I can’t see them changing their tactics now in terms of the fairness that they’ve been so adamant on protecting all season. I think at this point you have to let them race, similar to the Fernando Alonso-Lewis Hamilton battle when they were team-mates at McLaren, and I think that could actually end up being Verstappen’s strength in the final race.

For arguments sake, if Verstappen was in Piastri’s seat this season, would Lando be one point ahead in the title fight at this stage? Just wondering how highly you rate Max because personally I think he would’ve had it wrapped up by now. – Sam

It’s always hard to say when the driver looks so dominant and so well-equipped in one car. You only have to look at other drivers switching teams, and what a struggle it can initially be. It’s never as straightforward as it seems on paper.

I don’t know, if you put Verstappen in the McLaren, whether that would suit his style. Maybe he would hate the way the car feels on the brakes, like Lewis at Ferrari. Maybe he would really despise the steering ratio compared to the Red Bull. Maybe he wouldn’t get on with the Mercedes power unit compared to the Honda. You just don’t know.

Obviously, he’s a really adaptable driver. We’ve seen him race in different categories and be successful. But you just don’t know until you see them in action against another A-grade driver in their team, in their equipment.

If I base it purely on who’s made the most errors this year, then I would doubt Lando would be ahead in the championship between them, but it might not be by as big a margin as you might think.

Piastri and Norris are extremely fast drivers though. They would, without question, be the closest competition that Max has ever faced and I would relish the opportunity to see it.

If (big if) Lando wins the championship, do you think Oscar will start looking elsewhere for 2027? – Tony

As a driver, you always have to look out for number one. I know first-hand that drivers, even if you feel settled in a team, you’ve always got your eyes on somewhere else. You’re always doing a little bit of window-shopping to see whether there’s a better deal on the table elsewhere, whether you’d be happier elsewhere.

I think you’ve got to be happy where you are right now. You’re in the best car. They’ve won the constructors’ title for the last two years. If you don’t win it this year, you came very close. He raised his game massively this year from last year. A little bit of extra work, you could then come back even stronger. He’s still improving as a driver.

It would be a personal satisfaction to beat the guy that’s beaten you this year in the same team, same environment. McLaren could still be the best car next year despite the rule changes. I think you’d be in a very powerful position still within McLaren.

If I was in his position, even if I lost this year, I think it would be too early to start putting wheels in motion to be somewhere else, but never say never.

How can Oscar return back to his original form, or has he not changed and did Lando just step up? Will Lando run away with it or will Max keep reeling in points? – Emile

I was impressed with how Oscar dusted himself off in Mexico after a disappointing qualifying. He got stuck in, he had good race pace and made some decisive moves when he needed to. I was impressed by how resilient he was.

Things haven’t gone his way recently, but nothing lasts forever, especially in F1. You’re only as good as your last performance. He might completely turn things around in Brazil.

He’s got Qatar to look forward to, a circuit where he’s traditionally been super strong. That’s the track where he won his first (Sprint) race. He’s just got to keep doing what he’s done all year and just wait for a better day, because it will come.

Lando is on a roll. Oscar has had that earlier on in the season. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to stay that way until the end of the year.

Do you think the McLarens will come together again or will Zak and Andrea have laid down the law to avoid that with Verstappen waiting to pounce? – Chloe

Both McLaren drivers have been so equally matched all season and they’re in the best car most of the time. Therefore, they’re pretty close to each other. We all know how hard it is to overtake in Formula 1 at the end of this rule set, and that puts emphasis on turn one, puts emphasis on every possibility, every overtaking move where one driver is on track wheel to wheel with the other driver. It’s inevitable that you’ll get clashes like we saw in Singapore.

Nothing’s ever intentional. It’s not malicious. I think they’re two characters that would never intentionally behave like that. I just don’t think it’ll ever boil over like we saw with the Nico Rosberg-Hamilton situation, for example. I just think they’re two very different characters to that.

If it comes down to it in Abu Dhabi and there’s a gap, I’m sure one of them will go for it. They might clash again. We’ve had moments this year already where there were serious near misses like in Austria. There might be more near misses in the future, but also those near misses can so easily go against you and become a clash. So you can’t rule it out, but I don’t ever think it will be intentional. I think we would’ve seen that behaviour by now.

Did Norris show with his Abu Dhabi win to seal the 2024 constructors’ title for McLaren that pressure won’t be an issue for him down the stretch? And with that logic, is Piastri therefore more an unknown quantity? – Greg

I think Lando is a tough cookie. He really is. I’ve been impressed with both of them. This level of pressure that both put themselves under this year and against each other is so intense. They’ve both got the skill sets. It now becomes a head game, two athletes going head-to-head, and it’s who can keep it together most often, most weekends in every single session.

Lando has shown lots of resilience time and time again. I’d say we’ve seen moments where he pushes too hard. He’s very self-critical, but I don’t ever think that holds him back as a driver. I think he’s incredibly tenacious, resilient, and he’s very raw in how he drives. As a driver, you sometimes push too much. Other times, you’re just in a world of your own, you’re in a class of your own, like we saw with Lando in Mexico qualifying. That lap he put in, one of the best I’ve ever seen. Under such pressure this time of the year, he absolutely rags the car, but it was controlled aggression.

It’s worth remembering that Lando has been fighting back, perhaps with a feeling of not having anything to lose. That puts you in a good headspace, it frees you up.

I think possibly Oscar’s tightness that we’ve seen, the mistake in Baku, the wobble in Mexico qualifying, might be a result of him feeling the pressure of having the championship lead. When you want something so badly and you feel like you’ve got a lot to lose because you’re the leader, sometimes you tighten up and you can’t drive as free anymore. That’s when the mistakes creep in. It’ll be interesting to see if anything changes for him now that he’s not the one with the target on his back.

Will other drivers, let’s say George Russell or one of the Ferraris, drive more aggressively if they are in wheel-to-wheel combat with the three title contenders given they know they have less to lose? – Ivan

I’ve been in both positions myself as a driver in my career. When you’re leading the championship or up there in the battle, you’re always looking over your shoulder at these drivers that have nothing to lose. You feel a little bit like you’re the hunted.

You are more aware of a desperate lunge coming in from here or there. Think George Russell in Austin with Max, for example. All that George wants is a race victory. Max, although he’s coming from behind still in the championship, he daren’t have anything go wrong, any kind of contact with somebody that’s not in the championship or fighting for the win of the championship.

When you are in the shoes of someone like George in Austin, it’s great fun because you know that these drivers that are fighting for the world championship are driving around and they’re almost in protection mode in some ways. You know that if you stick your nose in there, there is a chance that they’re going to yield and make room for you.

You also never want to be the driver that ruins someone’s championship by making contact with them. It’s a bit of a tightrope for those drivers. However, for some of them, that latter thought wouldn’t even cross their minds. You know certain drivers and how they’re going to behave around you if you’re in that premium position of leading.

If I were the one that caused another driver to lose a championship because of my desperate lunge and hitting them as a result, personally, I wouldn’t be able to handle that level of guilt very well. But it is great fun when you’re the one with nothing to lose and when you watch the people in a championship fight make a bit of extra room for you. It’s a very interesting time of the year for that.

If you have to pick one factor that will decide who wins the title, what would it be? – Sarah

I hope it’s not reliability. That’s one thing I really hope it’s not for any of these three.

Qualifying has been important. I’m not sure you can put it all down to qualifying because you’ve got races like Brazil coming up where you can overtake. We know you can overtake there, we know that tyre degradation can be quite high there.

If it’s not reliability, I think it will boil down to who can keep delivering as close to perfection every weekend. And that’s what a Driver’s Championship should be about.

Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime