Piastri vs Norris: Who will take the 2025 F1 title?

Both McLaren drivers are chasing a maiden World Drivers' Championship | Credit: Formula One

While the Formula One summer break drags on and we count down the days to 2025's title fight between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris resuming at the Dutch Grand Prix, we asked our F1 writers on which driver they think will clinch this year's World Drivers’ Championship. 

With defending champion Max Verstappen now trailing the standings leader Piastri by 97 points, it’s up to the McLaren pair to take it down to the wire in the high-stakes chase for a maiden drivers’ title. Catch our predictions for the second-half of the rivalry below!

Despite the setbacks, Norris will secure a maiden title – Rohan Brown

So far it’s been a battle of close-margins and costly mistakes for Norris, paired with races like Austria this year that prove his capabilities to win, and in dominant fashion too. Norris has the skills of a champion, but his Achilles heel has been his occasional lack of consistency or lapse in mentality. 

However, it’s the McLaren driver’s dominant victories, strong results and (now) many years of experience that prove why he will beat his teammate Piastri at the end of this season.

Excluding his win at the season opener in Melbourne, each of Norris’ victories have been secured by a gap of over two seconds every time – showing how he has been able to capitalise on the car’s performance and his teammate’s misfortune to land himself on the top step of the podium.

Building on this, Norris has secured other strong results this season excluding wins, the only Grands Prix where he hasn’t finished on the podium being Saudi Arabia and Canada. This demonstrates how the British driver has (for the most part) been able to frequently add to his championship charge, despite suffering some setbacks such as his crash when trying to overtake Piastri in Canada.

Furthermore, Norris has the advantage over his teammate – with his six years of experience on the chaos-filled Formula One grid, over his teammate and title rival Piastri who’s only in his third year of F1. Norris has won 67.1% of his qualifying battles with his teammates over the course of his career – showing his long-term success – which has transferred onto the track many times this season so far.

I think this title fight will ultimately boil down to which competitor can best the other week-in week-out consistently, and that will be Norris.

Piastri has every chance of ending European dominance - but his return from the summer break is key – Peter Johnson

The 2025 season has already witnessed several pendulum swings in the championship fight.

It was first blood to Norris, who walked away from the first race in Australia with a significant headstart. Piastri fought back to win five of the next five races up to and including the Miami Grand Prix, before Norris outscored him across the Imola, Monaco and Spain triple-header.

In a potentially decisive moment in Canada, the momentum appeared to switch firmly back towards Piastri as Norris ran into his teammate, promptly retired from the race and lost a further 12 points to the Australian.

Lando Norris crashed out in Canada after coming to blows with Oscar Piastri | Credit: Formula One

Since then, however, the form guide has defied expectation, with Norris bouncing back from that embarrassing crash to win three out of four races.

The incident in Montréal could well turn out to be the pivotal moment of the season, but not in the way that anybody at the time expected it to be. Norris’ form has been impeccable since then, and while Piastri has not necessarily dipped, he has simply not been able to keep up.

I think it is largely down to Norris who wins this title. When he is on form, he tends to beat Piastri, although when he is off-colour, you can bet that the Australian will punish him. You can almost guarantee that Piastri will finish in the top three in every race, but whether that will be enough for the championship in ten races’ time depends on how consistent Norris is able to be.

Piastri has every chance of being the first non-European World Champion since Jacques Villeneuve in 1997, and deservedly leads the Drivers’ Championship at this stage. With the momentum firmly with Norris heading into the summer break though, he needs to out-score him in the first couple of races following the season’s resumption to re-establish his authority.

My prediction based on the races leading up to the summer break is that Norris will snatch the title, but I would love to see Piastri win it.

Momentum is on Norris’ side on the road to the championship – Chloe Buckley

It’s been a dominant season for McLaren this year as both Piastri and Norris lead the charge in the World Drivers’ Championship. The battle between the teammates has been tight, with Norris trailing behind by just nine points. While Piastri is in impressive form, I believe the British driver has what it takes to edge ahead by the end of the season.

Out of the last four races, Norris has claimed three victories. He has the confidence behind the wheel, the pace in the McLaren and holds an invaluable advantage over Piastri in terms of experience.

While at times Norris’ mentality has been questioned, his recent performances demonstrate that he is fully committed to the title fight. He is determined to win and won’t let his teammate stand in the way of that.

Looking forward to the second half of the season, Norris just needs to maintain this fantastic performance. It’ll be a tough fight, especially when Piastri is showing the same grit, but Norris has the momentum on his side.

Norris has momentum on his side with his latest win at Hungary | Credit: Formula One

There are now 10 rounds remaining to decide the outcome of the battle, with each race carrying huge significance. There’s no room for even the smallest of mistakes. In a fight this close, Norris’ ability to stay consistent and composed could be key in deciding the outcome of the championship.

If he can continue his streak of wins, keep up the stellar form and outscore Piastri, the 2025 trophy could well and truly belong to Norris.

Consistency will reward Piastri in the long game – Meghana Sree

Piastri entered his third F1 year as the underdog in popular pre-season predictions that touted a title fight predominantly between Norris and Verstappen.

Yet early into 2025, Piastri showed no signs of backing down despite lacking F1 experience. Currently the championship leader, the Australian driver has delivered consistent results with clinical race-craft to make a solid case for collecting the most coveted trophy.

Meanwhile, Norris has succumbed to pressure more often than his teammate, before recently hitting a purple patch. Several botched race starts and missed opportunities early in the season have certainly painted him as the more error-prone driver of the pair, showing that experience might not be the deciding factor of 2025's title after all.

Most egregiously, Norris’ Canadian blunder saw him take McLaren's lowest result thus far – which may well be the deciding factor in the championship when we arrive at Abu Dhabi.

Piastri on the other hand has had fewer damaging weekends after 14 rounds.

Piastri has scored a podium in 12 of 14 rounds so far | Credit: Formula One

Looking back, the Australian season opener has been the only obvious blemish in his consistent run of points in every round.

In the final moments of the event, Piastri careened off the wet track and almost ended his race in the grass. Unable to keep going, the Australian was then officially marked as a retirement.

But with his home race at stake, Piastri summoned the power to heave his car off the grass – embarking on a defiant charge from virtually dead last to ninth in 10 laps. Pulling off ruthless overtakes to salvage the race, the two points he managed to bag might be worth more than any of us can foresee.

While the intra-team rivalry has been rather tame so far, heading into the second-half of 2025, I bet my odds on Piastri unleashing the same cut-throat energy we’ve seen from him in Australia, and more recently in Hungary, to outpace Norris in the chase for a maiden title. 

The flashpoint in the Piastri-Norris saga is surely only yet to come, with everything on the line for the two young drivers.