Abu Dhabi may have seen the F1 World Drivers’ Championship finally decided in Lando Norris’ favor, but there have been some dramatic moments leading up to this point in previous rounds. While many of the 24 rounds could be cited as key points of the season, I took it upon myself to pick five rounds that I believe will set or change the course of the championship.
Australia
Although pre-season had shown McLaren to have the advantage on the field, there were still high expectations heading into the opening race as to whether other teams could challenge or which drivers would come out on top. Given his delayed challenge for the championship in 2024, Lando Norris was expected to lead the way and deservedly took pole position, but Oscar Piastri put a lot of pressure on him to make his title credentials clear.
A downpour in the closing stages hampered work and both McLarens lost their skating, with Norris holding the lead but Piastri stuck on the grass, opening the door for Max Verstappen to put pressure on in the final laps.
Norris withstood the challenge, looking for a big win to confirm his early status as a title contender, but Verstappen showed he remains a threat if given even half a chance, with Piastri’s brilliant pass over Lewis Hamilton on the final lap taking him back two points.
Barcelona
McLaren was beginning to show the extent of its advantage as Red Bull struggled with car performance, but an aggressive and creative three-stop strategy kept Verstappen in the frame and unable to rest the top two cars. Verstappen appeared to be moving into third place before the late safety car came out, but with no soft or medium tires left, he was forced to run on hard tires, making him a sucker for the riders behind him. It was a courageous attempt, but ultimately ended in failure.
Charles Leclerc and George Russell came on as Verstappen’s frustration grew, but this was due not only to bad strategy but also to a turn one move. The Dutchman lost control and made contact with Russell at Turn 5, resulting in a 10-second penalty. The accident cost Verstappen five places and nine points, giving Piastri his fifth win in the first nine races.
While it’s great in terms of results, and I accept that future races could have played out differently, the only significant result Verstappen had control over was missing out on the championship by just two points.
The win was another very strong win for Piastri, his first in three races, but already his fifth of the season as he began to be marked as the man to beat at that stage.
Verstappen’s strong movements kept the Red Bull driver playing, but he would be a bit too much in Barcelona. Steven Tee/LAT Images
Canada
Just one race after Verstappen put the title lead out of reach in a crazy moment in Barcelona, Norris damaged his own championship spot by crashing into the rear of Piastri.
In Montreal, Mercedes and Verstappen had a slight pace advantage over McLaren, with Russell taking pole position to victory and Kimi Antonelli taking his first podium in third place. Verstappen had to make do with second place as the top five cars were all within the frame in the closing stages, but Norris was closing in on fourth-placed Piastri as he tried to advance into a gap that didn’t exist on the run into turn one.
The contact took Norris out of the race, the Grand Prix ended under the safety car, and Piastri increased his lead over his teammate by 12 points, but what could have been a controversial or difficult moment for McLaren was made much easier by Norris’ immediate admission of the mistake over team radio and shortly after speaking publicly.
monza
A week earlier, Piastri had won comfortably at Zandvoort and appeared to have built a commanding lead over Norris, but Norris retired with a faulty engine oil line. There was a 34-point difference and Piastri’s form up to that point had been so impressive that Norris said he needed to aim for that for the rest of the season.
He started with a strong performance at Monza, outscoring Piastri in qualifying and outpacing Piastri for most of the race, but a late pit stop cost him the position. McLaren asked Piastri to give him back his position, as it was a team problem rather than a driver error that hurt Norris, and the Australian complied with the request despite protests.
Monza turned the tide in the battle for McLaren drivers. Even in the midst of controversy. Joe Portlock/Getty Images
Seven consecutive races and two sprints began, with Norris finishing ahead of Piastri, flipping the title picture between the two McLaren drivers, but the fact that the two were so far ahead of Verstappen was both a huge surprise and a foreshadowing of things to come as the Dutchman returned to contention.
vegas
Norris’ dominance in both Mexico and Brazil has provided the basis for the Briton to control the composition of the championship, and he appeared to do just that with his performance in Las Vegas. Although Norris impressively took pole position, it was far from a perfect weekend as he defended too aggressively against Verstappen in Turn 1, running wide and losing two positions. Verstappen had to win and was given the chance so of course he did. However, Norris will remain on the brink of the title heading into Qatar as he looks to take a comfortable second place, all but eliminating Verstappen.
The final lap was then slow, suggesting a potential problem for McLaren. Both drivers were disqualified after the race after failing a technical check for board wear. Although the violation was minor and unintentional, Norris lost 18 points to Verstappen and 6 points to Piastri. The possibility of a three-way battle over the wire has become much more realistic.
In the end, Norris was a bit conservative in the next two rounds, but did not let the points loss discourage him as he got the results he needed to win the title.
