Lando Norris is the World Champion. It still feels weird to type that, doesn't it? After years of Max Verstappen turning the podium into his personal living room, the 2025 season finally broke the script. We just witnessed a title fight that went down to the literal last laps in Abu Dhabi, leaving the f1 driver championship standings looking like a mathematical fever dream. Honestly, if you’d told a fan in 2023 that Max would win the season finale but lose the title by two measly points, they’d have called for a wellness check.
But here we are.
The dust has settled on the 75th anniversary of Formula 1, and the final tally is set. It wasn't just about Lando, though. We saw Oscar Piastri lead the championship for a staggering 15 rounds, only to slip to third. We saw Lewis Hamilton donning Ferrari red for the first time, a sight that still makes most of us do a double-take. This wasn't just a season; it was a total overhaul of the power structure we've known for half a decade.
How Lando Norris Scraped the 2025 Title
Let's look at the numbers because they are brutal. Lando finished with 423 points. Max Verstappen trailed with 421. That is the definition of "fine margins." Basically, if Max had found two more points anywhere—a faster lap in Singapore, one more overtake in Brazil—the trophy stays in Milton Keynes.
Norris won because of a blistering mid-season run. He took the top step in Australia, Monaco, Austria, Britain, Hungary, Mexico, and Brazil. Seven wins. That’s a lot, but Max actually matched him for impact late in the year. The difference was the "floor." When Lando didn't win, he was almost always on the podium or in the top four. Verstappen had a rough patch where the RB21 looked like it was fighting him, particularly around the time the paddock hit Singapore.
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Oscar Piastri, the "quiet" assassin, ended up with 410 points. He was the most consistent driver for the first two-thirds of the year. He took wins in China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Miami, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. For a long time, it actually looked like Oscar’s title to lose. But a slight slump in the final flyaway races allowed Lando and a surging Max to leapfrog him.
The Best of the Rest: From Mercedes to Williams
George Russell emerged as the clear "Best of the Rest." He finished fourth in the f1 driver championship standings with 319 points. Mercedes didn't have the raw pace of the McLaren "Papaya" rocket ship, but George drove the wheels off that W16. He even snatched wins in Canada and Singapore, proving that when the big three falter, he’s the first one through the door.
Further down the list, things got chaotic. Charles Leclerc led the Ferrari charge with 242 points, while his new teammate, a certain seven-time champion named Lewis Hamilton, struggled to adapt to the SF-25, finishing with 156 points. It's the first time in a while we've seen Lewis look truly human on track.
Midfield Heroes and Rookie Surprises
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes): 150 points. The kid is for real. Finishing just 6 points behind Hamilton in your rookie year? Insane.
- Alexander Albon (Williams): 73 points. Albon continues to be the most underrated guy on the grid.
- Carlos Sainz (Williams): 64 points. Moving from Ferrari to Williams was always going to be a gut-punch, but Sainz kept them relevant.
- Nico Hulkenberg (Audi): 51 points. Audi’s debut season wasn't a total disaster, thanks mostly to Nico’s ability to maximize points.
Why the Standings Look the Way They Do
People keep asking why Max lost when he won the most recent races. It comes down to the "McLaren Era." McLaren didn't just build a fast car; they built a car that worked everywhere. Whether it was the high-downforce demands of Monaco or the straight-line speed of Monza, the MCL39 (and its evolutions) was the benchmark.
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Max was playing catch-up from a 104-point deficit. Think about that. At one point, he was more than four race wins behind. The fact that he closed it to two points by Abu Dhabi is a testament to why he's one of the greatest to ever do it. He won the final four races of the season—Italy, Azerbaijan, USA, and Abu Dhabi. It just wasn't enough to overcome the McLaren consistency.
The Impact of Driver Changes for 2026
We are currently in that weird January limbo where everyone is looking toward the 2026 season. The f1 driver championship standings we just saw are going to be the blueprint for the massive regulation changes coming up.
Red Bull has already shaken things up. Sergio Perez is gone, replaced by Yuki Tsunoda, who finished the 2025 season with a modest 33 points but showed enough flashes of brilliance to earn the seat. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson has solidified his spot at Racing Bulls after a solid mid-season replacement stint.
The grid for 2026 is looking younger. Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman are no longer "prospects"—they are scoring points. Bearman grabbed 41 points for Haas, outperforming veteran Esteban Ocon in several key races. We’re seeing a changing of the guard in real-time.
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What You Should Watch For Next
If you're tracking the f1 driver championship standings for the upcoming season, keep an eye on the development tokens. With the new 2026 engine and aero regs, the "standings" from 2025 determine how much wind tunnel time each team gets.
- McLaren's Handicap: As the Constructors' Champions (833 points!), they get the least amount of testing time. Can they stay ahead?
- Ferrari’s Redemption: Leclerc and Hamilton now have a full year of data together. Expect them to be much closer to the top three.
- The Audi Project: Now that they've survived year one, expect more investment. Gabriel Bortoleto (19 points) needs a big sophomore leap.
- The Red Bull Recovery: Max is angry. An angry Max Verstappen is usually a dominant one.
Actions You Can Take Now
Don't just wait for the first race in Bahrain. If you want to stay ahead of the curve on the f1 driver championship standings, start tracking the pre-season testing times coming out of Sakhir this February.
Download the official F1 app to see the lap-by-lap telemetry—it tells a much deeper story than the final points table. Look at the "Long Run" averages during testing; that’s where you’ll see if McLaren’s dominance was a one-year wonder or the start of a new dynasty. Also, keep an eye on the "Silly Season" rumors already starting for 2027, because in F1, the race off the track is just as fast as the one on it.
Check the technical debriefs from experts like Scarbs or Giorgio Piola. They usually spot the aero tweaks that will shift the standings before the cars even hit the grid for Round 1.
The 2025 season gave us a two-point thriller. 2026 is shaping up to be even more unpredictable.