The Formula 1 world is still buzzing after a dramatic Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, where Oscar Piastri seized his seventh victory of the 2025 season and McLaren extended its dominance. Yet, the real story is the seismic shift in the championship battle, as Lando Norris’s heartbreaking retirement handed Piastri a commanding 34-point lead just as the circus heads to the legendary Monza circuit for the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.
Few moments in recent F1 memory have felt as gut-wrenching as Norris’s exit from second place with just eight laps to go last Sunday. An oil leak, suspected to be triggered by a chassis issue, forced the Brit out of the race and back into the pit lane, just as his teammate was being ushered onto the top step of the podium. The timing couldn’t have been more cruel—or more pivotal. Before Zandvoort, Norris was just nine points adrift of Piastri. Now, the gap has ballooned to 34, flipping the championship narrative on its head.
"Of course it’s frustrating. It hurts for sure, in a championship point of view. It’s a lot of points to lose so quickly and so easily. But there’s nothing I can control now, so I’ll just take it on the chin and move on," Norris reflected in the media pen after the race, his disappointment barely masked by his measured tone. The image of him sitting, head bowed, on the Zandvoort sand dunes may well become the defining snapshot of the 2025 F1 season.
For Piastri, the Zandvoort win wasn’t just another tick in the victory column—it was a statement. The Australian’s cool head and consistent performance have put him in pole position for his first world title, and with nine races and three sprint events left, he’s holding all the cards. As his manager Mark Webber put it, "Like we say in cricket, we’d rather have the runs on the board than not. But there’s a long way to go – we’ve got races like Brazil, where it rains. We’ve got Singapore, Azerbaijan, which are street circuits where anything can happen."
Indeed, history is littered with late-season twists. The 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix springs to mind, when Lewis Hamilton’s engine failure handed Nico Rosberg a title-changing lead. Hamilton won four of the last five races that year and still couldn’t claw back the deficit. Norris faces a similar mountain, but with 249 points still on the table, hope isn’t lost. If he wins the next five races and Piastri finishes second, Norris would retake the lead with four rounds to go. It’s a tall order, but stranger things have happened in Formula 1.
The current championship standings as of September 1, 2025, paint a clear picture: Oscar Piastri (McLaren) leads with 309 points, followed by Lando Norris (McLaren) on 275, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) with 205, George Russell (Mercedes) at 184, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) on 151, and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) at 109. The rest of the top ten includes Kimi Antonelli and Alex Albon (both on 64), Nico Hulkenberg and Isack Hadjar (each with 37).
Speaking of Hadjar, the French rookie was one of the standouts at Zandvoort, notching a maiden podium and the Driver of the Day award, along with a hefty 33 F1 Fantasy points. His breakout season has made him the most-owned asset in the F1 Fantasy game, and at just $5.7 million, he’s a budget-friendly pick for Monza. Isack Hadjar’s rapid rise has injected fresh excitement into the midfield battle, and all eyes will be on whether he can maintain this form at the Temple of Speed.
Monza, with its legendary straights and fervent Tifosi, presents a very different challenge from the twisty Dutch dunes. The Italian Grand Prix is all about raw power and straight-line speed—qualities that both McLaren and Williams have showcased in spades this year. McLaren, in particular, is on a roll, having claimed its fifth consecutive Grand Prix win at Zandvoort. Fantasy managers have taken note: McLaren is the cornerstone of success in the F1 Fantasy game, owned by every top-500 team globally. The team scored 52 points at Zandvoort—a "below-average" haul by their lofty standards.
Oscar Piastri, valued at $26.7 million in F1 Fantasy, is the game’s top asset, while Norris remains a premium pick at $31.3 million. The dynamic between the two McLaren drivers is now more intriguing than ever. With a 34-point buffer, Piastri can afford to play it safe, dial down the risk, and focus on reliability. But will the pressure of leading the championship show any cracks in his armor? So far, he’s shown no signs of faltering.
For Norris, the situation is almost liberating. "It’s almost a big enough gap now that I can just chill out and just go for it," he said, looking ahead to Monza. He added, "The only thing I can do now is try to win every race. That’s going to be difficult but I’ll make sure I give it everything I can." With nothing left to lose, Norris may well adopt a more aggressive approach in the remaining rounds—something critics have long urged him to do.
The F1 Fantasy market is also abuzz with other value picks. George Russell, at $22.5 million, offers consistent returns and is a great differential for Monza, having scored 15 or more points in 22 of the last 24 race weekends. Alex Albon, fresh off his best fantasy result of the season (27 points at Zandvoort), is another driver to watch. Williams, buoyed by strong recent performances, has scored 20+ points at Monza in each of the last two seasons and is tipped for another solid showing this weekend. Franco Colapinto, the cheapest driver at $4.5 million, is a budget enabler for those looking to stack their lineups with heavy hitters.
As teams and fans look ahead to Monza, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The team lock deadline for F1 Fantasy selections is 16:00 local time (14:00 UTC) on September 6, 2025, so managers will be scrambling to finalize their lineups based on free practice insights. The Italian Grand Prix promises high-speed drama, strategic intrigue, and perhaps another twist in an already unpredictable championship race.
With nine races and three sprints left, the 2025 Formula 1 season is far from decided. Will Piastri maintain his cool and cruise to his first world title, or will Norris’s newfound freedom spark a comeback for the ages? The answer may well begin to unfold at Monza, where legends are made and hearts are broken in equal measure.
