The GIST: Fasten your seatbelts because for the first time since 2010, three drivers are in contention for the coveted World Drivers’ Championship (WDC) crown ahead of Sunday’s 8 a.m. ET season finale. Let’s set the stage before the lights go out at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
👀 How we got here: McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri dominated the first half of the season, winning 11 of 14 races. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once trailed then–WDC leader Piastri by a whopping 104 points. But Verstappen put on a masterclass in the second half, finishing on the podium in every race.
- And McLaren didn’t help themselves: In an effort to keep things level between their title-contending drivers, the constructor often made strategy calls that were fair, instead of ones that were right…like last weekend in Qatar, a race Piastri arguably should have won.
🏆 Which driver has the edge?: That would be current WDC leader Norris, who sits 12 points clear of Verstappen and 16 ahead of Piastri. A top-three finish garners 25, 18, and 15 points, respectively, so as long as Norris secures a podium, he’ll win his first WDC. But count four-time defending champ Verstappen, who won in Abu Dhabi four straight times from 2020 to 2023, out at your own peril.
🎧 Looking for a deeper dive on the 2025 F1 season and this weekend’s finale? Tune in to the latest episode of The GIST of It, where co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz detail the title fight and Verstappen’s villain-to-hero character arc.