With only six races left in the season, we still don’t have a clear champion. The two McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are locked in a tight battle for the title.
In the team the pressure is building up in both side of the garage, with mechanics working around the clock to better the pit stop times and prepare the cars for a difficult race.
Other drivers are on high alert since the papayas seem to be hostile towards each other leading to unnecessary mistakes and accidents, which could open the door for reigning champion Max Verstappen. Or even the winner from Singapore, George Russell.
Ferrari is not in the picture for the championship even though they had great hopes for Hamilton. Leclerc is steady, but tough luck has been his middle name for a long time now, so he is currently sitting in fifth place, almost 200 points behind Piastri.
Constructors’ Championship in the bag
The Constructors’ Championship is over and McLaren are the champions of 2025, for the second year in a row. Formula 1 expert picks and predictions are still firm about Piastri being the next champion. Still, Norris has had a great run in the past few races, since Oscar gave away the position in Italy because of Lando’s slow stop.
It’s a controversial topic; the one Zak Brown tends to avoid by claiming that they let their drivers race freely. Not quite. After everyone crossed the finish line in Singapore GP, Brown was on the radio with Piastri saying that McLaren just won the championship at which point the Australian disconnected his radio and went silent.
In the end, we saw that Norris is not so generous when it comes to giving away his position in the race to his teammate. He ended up on the podium alongside Russell and Verstappen, while Piastri got his 12 points for being fourth. The team celebrated nonetheless, but Oscar was nowhere to be found.
The bad blood between the two leading drivers from the same team seems to be reaching its boiling point. It’s affecting the whole team, as well as the whole sport. Fans are divided, McLaren is ignoring the problem for the most part, and the media is adding fuel to the fire in hopes of some juicy details about the feud.
The truth is, Piastri is having an incredible season with very few mistakes, seven podiums and 336 points so far. Norris is close behind with 14 points less, an insignificant difference that could be changed quickly. However, the rumours are that since Norris signed a contract with McLaren in 2019, four years before Oscar, and he is considered a first driver.
Officially, the team doesn’t have a clear cut between the first and second driver, but now when the stakes are high, and the drivers are so close in points, it’s clear that Lando is the team’s favourite.
The highest circuit of the year
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is an exciting one. Sitting at 2,240 meters above sea level it wears heavy on tires and engines. With three DRS zones, one being at the start/finish over a kilometre long, we can expect some magnificent speeds of up to 350km/h. This year, the audience won’t have their home favourite Perez driving, but he will be back next year in the Cadillac seat along with Bottas.
What can we expect this year? Fierce battle for the championship, for sure. Before Mexico, we have Austin with a sprint, which could significantly change the standings. Max Verstappen is still in the game for the title, although all eyes are going to be on McLaren’s drivers. Mexico is a tough track, fast, the air is thin, and the drivers will have difficulties controlling the tyres. Just what fans who bet on Formula 1 are looking for.
The start in Mexico is usually messy. Turn 1 comes after a long stretch with high speeds, forcing many drivers to brake late in the turn, sometimes making contact with other cars, spinning, or crashing. This year is gearing up to be a messy one too.
The drivers and the whole teams are coming into Mexico exhausted from the US, where the race and sprint are going to drain every bit of energy. Cars are also under a lot of stress, so coupled with a tired team, we can expect mistakes.
Piastri is going to press on. The 24-year-old proved to be a great investment on McLaren’s part, and he is the most likely to win this season. Even though he is having some problems with the executive Zak Brown, and with Norris, Oscar will have to wise up, go out and just focus on his race.
Can Oscar persaviour
Thinking about the championship or arguing over the radio is not going to bring him anything good, but stress and frustration. Oscar has won seven races so fat this season, and he is really doing great this year, which makes him an obvious choice for placing some wagers on Stake.com.
Norris is trailing behind Piastri, with the support of the whole team. McLaren appears to favour Lando, but he is still behind Oscar by 14 points. This is not a whole lot, and the result can be changed this weekend in COTA, but it’s still an advantage.
Lando has been on the podium 14 times this year, with two DNFs in the Netherlands and Canada, and five wins. We expect Lando to put all his strength and focus into the upcoming races and become a champion.
Max Verstappen is mathematically still in the race for the championship with 273 points, 37 less than Norris. He had a great year personally, becoming a father, but professionally something seems to be off in the Red Bull racing team.
First, Adrian Newey left the team last year which was a major blow for Red Bull, since he was the mastermind behind building the best car on the track. Then, Christian Horner, the principal was fired “effective immediately” which some fans saw coming for a long time.
Where is Red Bull heading..?
It’s no secret that Marko and Horner were not on the same page when it comes to the team’s future, so Horner’s leaving was kind of expected. Lately, there’s been talk that Horner will join Ferrari next season but everyone is staying tight lipped for now.
Max has been left without two major figures in the team to fight basically on his own. Red Bull took Lawson as a second driver only to fire him after two races. Then Yuki Tsunoda came, mostly due to Red Bull’s contract with Honda, to take his place but didn’t have much luck on the track. Most of the time, he was lagging significantly behind Max, rarely placing in the top ten.
Other teams and drivers are mostly doing as expected, except maybe Hulkenberg, who had his first podium this year as part of the Stake F1 team promo and is currently sitting in tenth place with 37 points.
Ferrari is struggling, but that’s nothing new. The legendary team has not won a title of any kind since a constructors’ championship in 2008, while their last drivers’ title was with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, almost two decades ago.
Last year Ferrari signed Lewis Hamilton, a seven time champion, with high hopes. However, this hasn’t panned out so well for Hamilton or Ferrari. Besides being an amazing publicity stunt that rakes millions in merch, the results on the track have been weak. Lewis, without Bonno, seems to be lost in how Ferrari operates.
The team is struggling with pit stops, and the general strategy that can often be strange to say the least. Lewis is trying to keep his spirit up, but there are some visible cracks in the team. Earlier this year Hamilton said that he wants to fire himself from the team due to not fulfilling the expectations.
Ferrari are out of it
For now, he is still trying to get onto the podium, but the chances are fading away with every race. Austin loves Lewis, so maybe he could achieve better results. As far as the race in Mexico City, many think that Ferrari is not ready for such a strenuous track, and that the cars will underperform.
Charles Leclerc is still in Ferrari, although rumours have been going around that he might leave the team next year. Nothing has been on his side, even though Charles is a highly skilled and talented driver.
The Monegasque has only managed to be on the podium five times this year, with zero wins which is a pretty lousy result for such a great team and driver. It’s been clear that the whole team has been struggling to build a car that can beat McLaren and Red Bull for decades now. The drivers are not the problem, but the strategy, pit stops, and constant failures of the cars.
The Mercedes team has been keeping a lot of things under wraps. George Russell is driving a great season, but the support from the garage and especially from Toto Wolff seems to be lacking, to put it lightly. George just won in Singapore, and Toto was nowhere to be found, not even to congratulate or snap a few photos.
Antonelli is a young kid who is still trying to find his pace in a high-pressure team like Mercedes and till trying to find his pace. Bottas has been a great mentor for young Kimi, since he is the reserve driver for the team, and is his number one supporter in Mercedes.
For some reason, all hopes are put in Antonelli who has 88 points so far, and not in Russell with 237, giving us, the fans, a feeling that Mercedes kind of gave up on George and is looking for young blood to take the lead. Russell was a second driver for years, with Hamilton being the first, and was waiting for his time to shine.
Still, his light is dimmed by his own team which doesn’t seem to be thrilled about his wins. In Mexico, Mercedes might do great since George is bursting with self-esteem and, at 27, can be considered an experienced driver. Antonelli, on the other hand, might get overwhelmed with the track’s difficulty.
Can Williams and Sainz find some magic
We can’t talk about this season’s race in Mexico without mentioning Williams. With Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, the team is flourishing this year. Albon finished eleven races in the points, which was unimaginable last year. Carlos has been a great addition to the team after getting fired from Ferrari last year and declining the offer to join Audi next year. His dad, a famous rally driver Carlos Senior, strongly disagreed, but Junior had already made up his mind.
All things considered, we can expect Mexico to be spicy and fiery this year. The tensions are high, drivers are on the verge of clashing on and off the track, and the teams are fighting for every point.
This season, Sainz will probably miss the podium, but Norris and Verstappen will likely be up there to celebrate. Piastri will be in the mix too. As far as others, we could see some surprising moves from Russell, Antonelli, or Albon.
Leclerc and Hamilton are not out of the game, regardless of all the struggles within the team. Isack Hadjar is someone everyone’s keeping an eye on. The Mexico circuit might very well decide the champion, so everyone buckle up for an amazing race.
