Lando Norris holds slender edge as F1 fans vote on title outcome

We asked for your votes on how the F1 2025 title race will pan out, and by a small margin, Lando Norris holds the advantage in your opinions.

We narrowed the title outcome down to four potential options, and by combining the cases where Norris will win, 51% of you believe the McLaren driver will hold on for his first world championship, while 45% think Max Verstappen will take it, and just 4% backed Oscar Piastri, despite holding the same points tally as the Red Bull driver.

PF1 Postbox: Lando Norris slight favourite despite ‘worst possible outcome’ in Las Vegas

It should be highlighted that, while both McLarens were disqualified in Las Vegas, Norris is still very much in the pound seat for the title at this stage.

He needs to outscore both his title rivals by two points over the course of the weekend in Qatar to secure title glory, but if not, we’re set to go down to a title decider in Abu Dhabi.

As the late, great Murray Walker would say, though: “Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does.”

You can still vote in our poll (at the foot of this article), and for considerations for future PlanetF1 Postbox entries, either continue to react in our comments section or email planetf1editor@planetsport.com, with ‘PF1 Postbox’ as the subject.

Let’s take a look at what some of our readers had to say on the matter.

Chaz: I dont think it’s detrimental to Lando’s championship hopes particularly. One would imagine that Piastri will be given the task of helping his team mate beat the ever closing Max although Piastri’s recent performances suggest he will have to fight Mercedes and Leclerc to be able to do that.

Ponty: Max is no fool, he and most others know, 24 points adrift is a huge mountain to climb. One thing in Max’s favour is another sprint race, though it should be Lando’s championship to lose…

Remove DRS Button: If they have to raise the ride height and have been using the the thing that the FIA made the new TD for this weekend then it’s over for them

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Marco Andrea: Well it was the worst possible outcome for McLaren with Max capitalising on their drastic downfall.

Lando’s leading Oscar therefore team orders should now come into play to win the WDC from the threat of Max.

It will go down to the wire unless there’s a dnf with either Lando or Max victorious at the end.

Gerard Baarslag: It’s impossible to say at the moment. Too many variables. Looking at the cold hard numbers Max still has a mountain to climb however, we don’t know what McLaren need to do to avoid getting anywhere close to a repeat of Las Vegas. We also don’t know if their PU components are still reliable or if they also need to incur a penalty to bring in new components, and we don’t know the driver’s state of mind after such a setback.

What we do know is that Max has nothing to lose, a fairly new PU and momentum.

Lando in particular cannot afford any slip-ups at all. That means a lot of pressure. We’ll see if he copes with that.

Harry Winters: Verstappen’s chances of winning the 2025 world championship have drastically improved after the double DSQ.

Bobby Laverack: It’s a bad weekend by anybody’s standards but I think Norris has enough points in hand to get the job done

Jackson Chan: Max sniffing blood is the worst place to be for McLaren. What to most is a big hill to climb is just a target for Max to accomplish. Let the racing begin

Jojo: At this stage Norris still has a 24 point lead and can just finish P3s and still win the championship. In fact it could be over in Qatar if he happens to extend his lead there.

The only difference is that he can’t relax or afford to make mistakes now as there’s not as much of a buffer.

We’ll only really know for sure how costly it was once the championship has been decided.

Alan: I think if the double disqualification has anything to do with the new TD banning heating devices on the titanium skids causing them to expand then it may very well be quite costly as this could mean they have to raise the ride height of the car in order to remain legal. If this is the case they would lose performance and with the Mercs and Leclerc not too far away they could struggle to make the podium in the remaining two races.

If were being a bit more realistic I would say not too costly at all since Qatar will highlight the strengths of the McLaren and Lando just needs to finish in front of Max and Oscar in order to seal the championship in Qatar.

DriveRaceWin: It will put more pressure on him to keep it tight in the sprint and races. No mistakes allowed. Turn 1 to name a few.

Also pressure for the team and pit crew, especially pit stops. And new ride height most likely.

Corstiaan: Norris is taking a risk with his current engine. They should have done the same as Max at one of the more recent tracks. I can understand that McLaren has zero faith in Norris abilities to carve through the field like Max. But his engine is on it’s last legs.

Steve Obeda: Norris knows that if he puts a wheel wrong, or if he fails to give anyone space to pass and earns another DNF, he’ll probably wind up needing to finish ahead of Verstappen in the final race in order to win the championship. How that might affect his driving is a significant price to pay.

Disregarding all the midfield cars, there is still Leclerc, and Russell. And Kimi seems to have found his form. And Oscar is also capable of winning. These drivers are also going to factor into how the standings develop.

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