In the 2025 season, one driver can take advantage of up to 357 points, but the chance to win the defending champion’s fifth straight world championship was seen almost slim from the ranked outsider, as the moment Kimian Toneli’s Mercedes scored a spear in the right rear corner of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in turn 3.
For most of the first half of this season, Verstappen was in the range of two McLaren drivers. The victory at Imola was a clear indication that he could score the biggest points on the right track, but he was earning the wrong points.
Monaco was particularly tough, with Verstappen following in an inexplicable Spanish Grand Prix clash with George Russell, and the point gap grew rapidly. There were slight closures in Canada, but Austria’s elimination on the opening lap left Championship leader Oscar Piastri behind 61 points.
Not only that, the new parts brought by Red Bull didn’t look like they would place the car in stronger windows, and even if the deficit got bigger, instead of getting in touch with the top two before the early part of the year closing the performance gap.
Even team principal Christian Horner had to admit it when he was usually trying to put a positive spin on the situation. He said on SiriusXM that Verstappen was not taken away.
Two McLaren drivers can sit at home if they wish to make the next two rounds. Piastri will appear in the final race before summer vacation with an 11-point advantage over Verstappen if Dutchman wins both. Instead, what we are likely to see is an increasingly exciting and tense battle between Piastri and Randnoris.
“McLaren, you can see how they race each other. They have cushions on the rest of the field,” Horner said. “For us, we don’t even think about the championship, as we only focus on one race at a time.
“The buffer they (McLaren) have this season is important. It looks like two horse racing. For us, we’re focusing on all the Grand Prix and trying to seize every opportunity like we did at Imola.
“What’s really impressive – for me, I can’t see any other teams being able to do that – seeing how Oscar can run behind the land, sucking up car fat for fuel at the start of the race, he’s basically having love for his knees after the knees.
You will not lose the tail through the nose, but you will wrap it after the wrap. In modern Formula 1, it’s great. Guenther Iby/Getty Images
Apart from the car’s incredible breakthrough, it certainly appears to be the end of the Verstappen title run, but the rest of the year is set very differently from his last three championships.
Red Bull struggled to provide two competitive cars for most of this era, and Verstappen was very good and never under real pressure from his teammates due to the title. But at McLaren, Norris’ victory quickly changed the outlook surrounding the two drivers.
It seemed ominous that Piastri won three times in a row before the start of the European season, Norris either made regular mistakes in qualifying or lacked the clinical edge that both Piastri and Burstappen showed primarily. His victory in Monaco was a strong weekend, but Piastri made him better in Spain before a costly Canadian error retired Norris and fell into the ad-lift of a race victory.
Not only did the timing of his victory in Austria matter, it felt that it might have been a clear afternoon. If Piastri found the path of the past and Norris won on a track that was dominant in qualifying and was traditionally very good, the 29-point deficit would have been secondary to psychological consequences. Instead, Norris closed the gap and showed that he could handle the pressure.
When analyzing trends in the last five races, we must admit that we were surprised by Norris’ hopes. The costly DNF and Piastri victory in Spain suggested that the British had lost the ground, but in fact he has outperformed his teammates in two wins and two second place outside of his Montreal retirement since the start of the European season.
Meanwhile, Piastri was one win and one second, third in Imola and Monaco and fourth in Canada. The consistency was very high, but the point return was not the same. That’s what makes this fight so exciting. Norris is able to continue to accumulate strengths through his highs and lows for the point delta for greater results, which creates such a weekend in Austria.
“For Rand herself, the conversation was all about the fact that speed was there,” Team Principal Andrea Stella said Sunday night. “Pole position and victory in Monaco. He was in pole position when he touched the wall in Canada’s qualifying round. He was Canada’s fastest car in the race. Pole position in Austria…
“There’s speed. We’ve refined a few things while we’re doing and the results just come. This is what Rand has demonstrated here in Austria. We’re very proud of Randor. We’re very proud of how everyone handled the situation in Canada and the fact that we’re more united and stronger.
“It’s a long way (in the championship). I think we need to see one race at a time with both drivers. With one race at a time, we need to make sure we stay in the race.
Piastri’s attitude is likely to determine that he is not overly upset by Norris’ victory, but you’d know that his teammates don’t have the best performance of the season, but they’re still an ad-lift of 15 points. It brings importance to their truck fights and shows that McLaren keeps making matters determined among themselves.
It could have just become a race for two horses, but that’s a good one.
