F1’s Greatest Multi-Driver World Title Fights As 2025’s Battle Goes Down to the Wire
The 2025 Formula One World Championship title fight has been a gripping affair all year long, but with just four races remaining, the action has reached a boiling point. Oscar Piastri’s consistency has been unrivalled for the vast majority of the campaign, with the young Aussie building up a 35-point lead at one point. However, his form has recently fallen off a cliff, allowing McLaren teammate Lando Norris to fight back and assume the championship lead, courtesy of a dominant victory in Mexico.
But then there’s the resilient, four-time reigning champion Max Verstappen. Online odds providers priced the Red Bull superstar as long as 100/1 in the summer, but the Flying Dutchman has roared back to life throughout the second half of the season, winning three of the last five races to come within 36 points of the championship lead, the closest he has been all season. The latest F1 championship odds now make Super Max a 7/2 contender, with Piastri at 9/4, and finally Norris positioned as the 7/10 favorite.
Regardless of who emerges with the crown, the 2025 season has been a welcome return to competitive action, as Formula One has only truly had one genuine title fight over the course of the last nine years. You have to go even further back than that for the last time that there were more than two drivers with a genuine hope of claiming the title. So, with that being said, let’s take a look back at some of F1’s greatest multi-man championship battles.
Vettel Claims Maiden World Title From Under Alonso’s Nose
The 2010 world title battle was perhaps the most wide-open in history. As the campaign entered its latter stages, no fewer than five drivers remained in contention. The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button led the way for the first half of the campaign, before the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel assumed control throughout the back end of the season. Out of nowhere, however, Fernando Alonso, in his far slower Ferrari, managed to keep plucking away.
The resilient Spaniard reeled off four victories in seven races to take a shock championship lead with just two races remaining. Vettel’s triumph in Brazil then brought him into contention. Heading into the decisive Abu Dhabi, four of the five drivers could mathematically win the title, with Button falling by the wayside. But even though the battle was wide open on paper, Webber and Alonso were the two favorites, with the latter leading the former by just eight points, and Vettel a further ten behind.
On race day, disaster struck immediately for the two main protagonists. Webber opted to stop early, with Alonso following him into the pits to preserve his track position advantage. Neither of them took into account Vitaliy Petrov, who overtook both men, and the incredible straight-line speed of his Renault proved impossible to overtake. Suddenly, the door was open for Vettel.
The young German needed to win the race and hope Petrov kept both Alonso and Webber behind in order to claim the title. Ultimately, that is exactly what happened, with both men unable to find a way past the Renault, allowing Vettel to steal his first world title by just four points.
Räikkönen Takes Advantage of McLaren Chaos
The 2007 season was dominated by the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and rookie Lewis Hamilton. Many expected the reigning double world champion to be the unrivalled number one within the British team, but the outright speed of his first-year teammate stunned the rest of the paddock.
Hamilton and Alonso traded victories all year long, leading to a very real rift within the McLaren team. Amid the civil war, Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen quietly went about his business, finishing on the podium in eight of nine races, leading into the final two to remain in contention. Ahead of the penultimate race of the campaign, the Iceman was 17 points adrift, and his hopes were faint but alive.
With Hamilton in second place in China, the title was seemingly his. Then, the rookie, on worn tires in changing conditions, inexplicably beached his McLaren in the gravel trap on pit entry, handing Räikkönen victory. Heading into the decider in Brazil, the Finn was still seven points behind, and the title race still appeared to be a two-way battle between the McLaren men, who were separated by just four points.
Hamilton qualified second, and a podium finish would guarantee him the title regardless of where his rivals finished. Then, disaster struck. Hamilton, already down to eighth after a poor start, suddenly had an engine issue, plummeting to the back of the field. While he recovered to seventh, his hopes of becoming the first-ever rookie world champion had evaporated.
Up front, Räikkönen led with Alonso in third. The Spaniard needed to catch the Iceman’s teammate Felipe Massa in order to claim a third straight title. Unfortunately, he wasn’t up to the task, with Räikkönen winning from Massa to claim the title and complete the most improbable comeback in F1 history.
