"In the week after Lando Norris' Formula 1 championship victory in Abu Dhabi, social media was awash with examples of how events during the 2025 campaign impacted the final count of the championship standings. It's usually considered unwise to buy into such counterfactuals as they are often fraught with oversimplifications that lead to alternate realities that can never be proved. But as the comment sections show, that doesn't mean they aren't fun to entertain."
"The reality of the 2025 drivers' championship is that Norris beat Max Verstappen to the title by two points, while Oscar Piastri was third after missing out by 13 points to his McLaren teammate. The following list of races is not designed to contest the validity of that outcome, but it does show how close the title battle was and underlines that all three contenders would have been worthy champions."
Norris beat Verstappen by two points while Piastri finished third, 13 points adrift. Multiple pivotal on-track moments across the season influenced the final standings. Several races contained incidents that, if altered, could have shifted the points totals and championship order. In Australia, Piastri's late spin in wet conditions cost a likely podium and 16 points while Norris, running just ahead, ran wide but retained the lead. Small incidents across 23 races determined margins of victory and demonstrated that all three contenders produced championship-caliber performances.
Read at ESPN.com
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