In one week, an exciting title battle will take place in a motorsports finale.

After a bad strategy call from the McLaren team allowed Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen to claim the victory in the Qatar Grand Prix, the 4-time defending champion moved up to 2nd in the Formula 1 standings, just 12 points behind points leader Lando Norris. Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri is also still alive in the points, 16 points back.

With 25 points up for grabs to the winner at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there are scenarios where Norris, Verstappen, Piastri each emerge as the 2025 champ.

Will Verstappen, who was more than 100 points out of the title fight as recently as August, complete a miraculous comeback and claim his fifth straight championship?

Will Norris hold off his two competitors and claim his first championship?

Can Piastri overcome the longest odds of the top 3 to become one of the youngest F1 champs ever?

Natural is better

What’s the lesson of all this? It shows that natural championship battles are much more engaging than anything that is manufactured, as we’re seeing in other racing series.