McLaren tightened their grip on the 2025 championship as the summer break approached. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished first and second in each of the last four grands prix.
The constructors’ trophy is surely heading to the massive cabinet at the McLaren Technology Centre. But at least their drivers’ title fight still has plenty of life left in it.
With just nine points separating the McLaren pair, this contest could go all the way to the final race. It’s a far cry from the situation two years ago when Red Bull were so dominant Max Verstappen could have not returned after the summer break, missed the final 10 rounds and still beaten his team mate Sergio Perez to the world championship.
However there are many more riveting fights in the two championships which don’t involve the orange cars.
Non-McLaren ‘class winner’
It seems increasingly likely that the only way to win the world championship this year is to have an MCL39 at your disposal. Barring some drastic reversal of fortune for McLaren over the closing races, the prospects are not good that Max Verstappen, George Russell, Charles Leclerc or any of their other pursuers are going to take the title.
So the fight for third place is about nothing more than bragging rights, plus an invitation to the FIA’s end-of-season prizegiving gala. But who will emerge on top?
Verstappen held third place at the summer break, a development of some significance as he was understood to have the opportunity to exit his Red Bull contract early had he been any lower at that point. But will the reigning world champion still hold the place at the end of the year? His bitter rival Russell is now just 15 points behind and Leclerc also closed on him at the last round.
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Rookie rankings
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was always going to be a shoo-in to end the season with the most points of any rookie as he had the good fortune to start his career with Mercedes. Sure enough, he is well on the way towards end the year as top newcomer, with 64 points to his name already.
But what about the other newcomers? Isack Hadjar began the year strongly at Racing Bulls, quickly racking up 22 points. But Liam Lawson – also in his first full season of F1 – has hit his stride in recent months following his demotion from Red Bull and is now only two points off his team mate.
Gabriel Bortoleto is another newcomer who seems to have tapped a vein of form at mid-season. He followed up his breakthrough points finish in Austria with two more scores in the last two rounds including a superb sixth place in Hungary.
Meanwhile Oliver Bearman hasn’t been able to sustain the form he showed at the start of the season, though he did reel off four consecutive 11th-place finishes prior to the last round. There’s plenty of potential for the rookie rankings to be shaken up over the final rounds, though it would be a big surprise if the name at the top changes.
All square at Aston Martin
Lance Stroll, now in his ninth year as a Formula 1 driver, has only out-scored a team mate over a season once. But he looked to have a chance of finally doing it again as he picked up 14 points over the opening seven rounds while Fernando Alonso failed to score.
The two-times world champion has hit back since then, however, and the Aston Martin pair went into the summer break level on 26 apiece. The momentum is clearly on Alonso’s side, but if Stroll can find a way to end the season ahead it will be a welcome riposte to those who claim he wouldn’t have an F1 seat if his dad didn’t own Aston Martin.
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Tsunoda vs Racing Bulls
Red Bull promoted Yuki Tsunoda to their top team just two rounds into the season. But to him it might have felt like a demotion, so difficult has he found it to pick up points.
He’s taken just seven for the team so far, all in the first five races since he joined them. He’s now gone seven races without scoring, despite seeming close to a breakthrough at Spa, when he finally got his hands on a floor upgrade for his RB21.
As a result he’s languishing behind both his former team mates Hadjar and Lawson. New Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has worked with all three and it remains to be seen how he will choose Verstappen’s team mate for 2026. But he surely expects Tsunoda to return to points-scoring ways and beat the Racing Bulls duo.
Second team
McLaren are so far ahead in the constructors’ championship that if they fail to win it would have to be regarded as the greatest upset ever seen in F1. But who is going to finish second behind them?
Ferrari, last year’s runners-up, currently lead the way but both Mercedes and Red Bull have justifiable claims to be in contention. Mercedes held second until three rounds ago, but have fallen back as Antonelli went through his rough patch of six no-scores in seven rounds.
For Red Bull, however, we might as well read ‘Verstappen’. He’s scored 187 of their 192 points and it would take a huge change in Tsunoda’s performance for them to avoid their worst championship result for 10 years.
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Midfield champion
Earlier in the season it looked like Williams would romp away with fifth place in the constructors’ championship. Seven rounds in, Alexander Albon had just picked up his third fifth-place finish and the team had more than twice as many points as their closest rival.
However the fight has started to close up as Williams have prioritised their 2026 campaign and rivals such as Aston Martin and Sauber introduced successful upgrades. The latter were boosted by Nico Hulkenberg’s windfall result with third place at Silverstone.
Heading into the final 10 races, Williams are on 70 points but Aston Martin have closed to within 18 of them, aided by their best result of the season so far in Hungary. Sauber are just a further point behind and the ever-consistent Racing Bulls remain in touch on 45, thanks in part to Lawson’s recent improvements.
Participation trophy
No one wants to finish last. But whichever team does can console themselves with the knowledge that they scored more points than any last-placed team before them.
It seems unlikely Alpine will be able to avoid that fate this year. But the team knows better than any other that a late result can change everything. They finished sixth in the championship last year having taken almost half their points with their shock double points finish in the rain at Interlagos. Haas and the other teams ahead of them cannot afford to be complacent.
It would help Alpine’s cause immensely if they could score points with both cars. Every other team has done this, but Franco Colapinto is yet to get off the mark after his promotion in place of the similarly point-less Jack Doohan.
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Over to you
Who will be the top non-McLaren driver this year? Will Tsunoda beat the Racing Bulls? And how will these other championship fights be resolved? Have your say in the comments.
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