F1 Overtaking Crisis as Title Fight Tightens

With five races remaining, Oscar Piastri leads Lando Norris and Max Verstappen by 40 points, making Abu Dhabi increasingly likely to host the title decider; Piastri may be disadvantaged because McLaren plans to run a rookie in Abu Dhabi FP1, reducing his track time. Verstappen's recent form—three wins and a second in four races, including a dominant weekend in Austin—has slashed Piastri's lead and made Verstappen a favourite if Red Bull's momentum continues. Red Bull’s engineering resurgence under Laurent Mekies has unlocked extra performance in Verstappen’s car, while McLaren’s form and team morale are under pressure. Drivers including George Russell have warned that minimal tyre degradation and a very tight top six (around three tenths of a second) make qualifying and the opening lap decisive, producing processional races. The prevalence of one-stop strategies and the fact 13 of 19 races have been won from pole underscore why strategy variance and late overtakes remain rare this season.