Verstappen And Norris Installed As Joint Favorites For The 2025 Championship

The contrasting fortunes of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris during the second half of the 2024 season have not gone unnoticed by pundits and analysts.

So much so, the McLaren man has been installed as the joint favorite to land the drivers’ title in 2024, marking the first time in four years that Verstappen hasn’t been the most popular pick.

But is the Norris hype justified?

Tight at the Top

Those that bet on sports may have already noticed that both Verstappen and Norris are priced at +210 to win the drivers’ championship, with Charles Leclerc (+400) and Lewis Hamilton (+750) their closest competitors as per the sportsbooks.

Those that love their motorsports may also turn to an acca calculator to see how much their double bets might pay: either Verstappen or Norris parlayed with NASCAR Cup favorite Kyle Larson will pay in the region of +2000.

Whichever way you look at it, the proximity between Verstappen and Norris with the sportsbooks hints at one of the closest F1 seasons in years. In six of the last seven campaigns, the margin between championship winner and runner-up has been a minimum of 60 points.

The anomaly was the incredible 2021 season, which saw Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton go toe-to-toe across the entirety of the campaign. As the business end of the term came into the horizon, the pair shared 1-2 on the podium in each of the last six races, with the Dutchman coming out on top by just eight points.

Can we expect something similar from Verstappen and Norris in 2025?

On the Up and Up

It was interesting to see how the duo fared over the final ten races of the 2024 campaign.

Verstappen, with wins in Brazil and Qatar, earned an average of 14.5 points per race. Norris, meanwhile, leveraged victories in the Netherlands, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi to record a points-per-race average of 14.9.

No wonder they can’t be separated by pundits, analysts, and odds-makers!

For what it’s worth, there are plenty of figures in and around F1 who believe that Norris will end Verstappen’s monopoly on the drivers’ championship. Nico Rosberg has made the 25-year-old his favorite for the title… if he can overcome the ‘inner demons’ that can occasionally fog his race tactics.

And Guenther Steiner, the former Haas team principal, is another member of the Norris fan club, revealing on his Instagram page that he believes the Brit will go on to prevail in the championship.

There’s less bullishness towards Verstappen’s chances, with Red Bull’s struggles in the second half of 2024 evidently still fresh in the mind.

But the offseason could be a great time for them to rediscover their technical advantages – even if the loss of key members of personnel will hit them hard behind the scenes.

McLaren seemingly has the edge… for now. But it would be foolhardy to write off the chances of Verstappen given his extraordinary talent behind the wheel.

Instead, let’s just sit back and look forward to what should be an epic F1 championship battle in 2025.