F1 2025 Title Race: How Max Verstappen can win Championship after US Grand Prix win; Standings, points needed

Trailing Piastri by 40 points, the four-time champion, Max Verstappen's late-season charge has reignited a fierce three-way battle.

L-R: Mclaren's Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and defending World Champion Red Bull's Max Verstappen after Australian Grand Prix qualifying. (Photo: AP)

With McLaren’s constructor’s title already secured after a dominant season, the F1 championship fight is now intensifying nicely with a three-way battle for the World Championship. What initially seemed like a duel between McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris is now being strongly contested by the defending World Champion, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

After a commanding victory at the U.S. Grand Prix, where he started from pole and led every lap, Verstappen has slashed the gap to leader Piastri to just 40 points, having been 104 points behind at the end of August. Norris finished second in Austin, reducing Piastri’s lead to just 14 points, with five rounds and two sprints remaining.

Verstappen also won the Saturday sprint from pole position at the Circuit of the Americas, while the McLarens collided and retired, resulting in a weekend of maximum points for the four-time world champion.

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Verstappen has clearly found his rhythm, winning three of the last five races and finishing second in the other two.

How can Verstappen defend his title?

Verstappen can defend his title if he consistently outperforms the two McLaren drivers over the final five races. He is 40 points behind leader Piastri, but with 141 points still available from the remaining five races (25 points each) and two sprints (8 points each), the gap is easily closable. If Verstappen continues his current winning form while Piastri and Norris take points from each other by battling for podium spots, he should be in a firm position to overtake them both to claim the title. Essentially, he needs to keep winning and hope the McLarens don’t finish 1-2 ahead of him too often.

F1 2025 Driver’s Championship Leaderboard

Pos.	Driver	Nationality	Team	Pts.
1	Oscar Piastri	AUS	McLaren	346
2	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren	332
3	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	306
4	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes	252
5	Charles Leclerc	MON	Ferrari	192
6	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Ferrari	142
7	Kimi Antonelli	ITA	Mercedes	89
8	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams	73
9	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Kick Sauber	41
10	Isack Hadjar	FRA	Racing Bulls	39
11	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Williams	38
12	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Aston Martin	37
13	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin	32
14	Liam Lawson	NZL	Racing Bulls	30
15	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Haas F1 Team	28
16	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Red Bull Racing	28
17	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Alpine	20
18	Oliver Bearman	GBR	Haas F1 Team	20
19	Gabriel Bortoleto	BRA	Kick Sauber	18
20	Franco Colapinto	ARG	Alpine	0
21	Jack Doohan	AUS	Alpine	0

F1 2025 Constructor’s Championship Leaderboard

Pos.	Team	Pts.
1	McLaren	678
2	Mercedes	341
3	Ferrari	334
4	Red Bull Racing	331
5	Williams	111
6	Racing Bulls	72
7	Aston Martin	69
8	Kick Sauber	59
9	Haas F1 Team	48
10	Alpine	20