Outside Line: May the best man win, but he might not

It has been 23 races of a topsy-turvy season where McLaren dominated the first half but then derailed themselves in the latter half, largely thanks to the intimidation, the pace, the genius, the brilliance. I run out of praise for Max Verstappen.

In a car that no one can drive but him, two teammates destroyed in one season, he took the fight to McLaren on his own. At times when you wrote him off, he simply delivered on another level. Tonight, he will start from pole for arguably one of the most important races of his career, which he is taking remarkably calmly as the fifth title awaits him.

Should the stars align and he weave his magic in Abu Dhabi, we might have a modern-day miracle that has been built up to this fine fight night under the glittering lights of Yas Marina Circuit. In my book, he has been the best Formula 1 driver this season.

Perhaps he has hit a level that no other driver has in history, and he continues to get better. He is the best man on the grid today. Everyone knows it, his rivals, his critics and his fans. Everyone. Max Verstappen is the 2025 people’s champion.

But in the end, it is the numbers that count and will decide the destiny of the 2025 Formula 1 World Champion title. The maths has it that Lando Norris is ahead by 12 points.

Make no mistake about it, if Norris is crowned champion, I am going to say he deserved it, because it has been an incredible season for him at McLaren, with Oscar Piastri chasing him hard. The youngster looked like a champion early on in the season as he took a lead that at one stage looked insurmountable.

But then the wheels came off the Aussie's season. His weekend in Baku sank to his lowest point in Formula 1 and took a long time to recover. In fact, the Piastri of old only re-emerged of late, and that has been the story of McLaren the whole year.

Since Lando and Norris have been teammates, they keep on raising the bar in a seesaw battle for dominance within McLaren. At one point, it was Norris. Then it was Piastri. Then the other way around and so on, and then we got to the stage where we are now, where Lando got a great head of steam with two fabulous victories in Mexico and Sao Paulo.

Those two weekends reminded me of Verstappen, and at the time I wrote that if Norris wants to win this title, he has got to take a leaf out of Max’s book. Drive like the Red Bull ace if he really wants to win the title

Norris, world champion." It does not offend me, but neither does Piastri world champion. I put my hand on my heart and I say I am a driver guy. As much as I align myself with McLaren as a fan, honestly, I do not have the kind of loyalty that I do to the drivers.

Therefore, as a McLaren fan, if you ask me, they did the business. The 2025 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship was sewn up a long time ago. But really, no one cares about that championship except the accountants, because it means a lot of money for the teams.

I care about drivers, and right now we are watching the three best drivers on the grid duke it out for the title at the final round of 24. You could throw Fernando Alonso in there as a top driver this year. George Russell, Charles Leclerc, maybe Carlos Sainz with his current form, and Kimi Antonelli of the young guns. But Max, Lando and Oscar have definitely been the cream of the crop.

And I will venture the glorious McLaren in Verstappen's hands would've had this title wrapped up a long time ago. Obviously, there is no way to produce receipts for that. It's just a hunch.

Again, Norris's world champion does not offend me, and it is one for the good guys. For the reasons mentioned above, but we cannot say he was the best driver in Formula 1 this year, which is a rare thing to say of a world champion.

One could argue that Nico Rosberg was not the outright best driver when he was world champion in 2016, perhaps the same as Jenson Button. But since then, when Sebastian Vettel won his quartet of titles, he was the best driver.

When Lewis Hamilton romped to his six titles with Mercedes and even his first with McLaren, one could argue he was the best driver. And since Max has been the Formula 1 world champion, it is undeniable he has been the best driver.

Whatever the character of the driver, with a good car and a genius behind the wheel, which Norris and Piastri both are, they can be champions. And deserveably so, should it transpire.

But they are not at the level of Verstappen, but then who will ever be so immense in our sport? Is he not just one of those generational talents? Like Michael Schumacher at his height, no one was going to touch him. Like Ayrton Senna at his height, no one was going to touch him. Before that Alain Prost, Niki Lauda et al.

Let us not forget, there is also the outside chance that Piastri wins it, and there again I would be delighted if he did. The Australian has been enchanting as a race driver. I love the way he keeps his powder dry during practice and in qualifying he delivers, as he did in Qatar. There is something about the way he goes racing that I really admire and enjoy. So if he becomes world champion, great stuff. But ditto, like Norris, he is not better than Max.

So what are the scenarios? Well, the permutations we have reported on in another post on the site, but let us just get all Netflix about it and conjure some scripts in advance of the Yas Marina showdown

Could this happen? Do Verstappen and Norris take each other out? Piastri becomes world champion. Piastri takes out Verstappen, Norris becomes world champion. Piastri and Norris take each other out, and Max becomes world champion. No one takes anyone out, McLaren drops the ball, Verstappen becomes world champion?

But here I need to turn down expectations. If they finish as they start, Norris is the world champion. Max needs a near miracle to retain the crown. I predicted earlier in the season that something big would happen in the final three races of the season, and boy, something big happened in Las Vegas when the McLarens were disqualified. But now we are on the cusp of something even bigger happening.

If the racing gods, karma, luck and all those good things align and agree today, and Verstappen is world champion, that turnaround, that comeback is the greatest thing, the biggest thing Formula 1 will ever experience. It will go down as one of the greatest feats in sport, all of sport, and that is the stage that is set.

Will it be Max, or will it be one for the good guys, the nice guys? Not that Max is not a nice guy, but that is not his brand. Norris is the nice guy in this trio’s quest to be 2025 world champion. And Piastri?

Well, Piastri is that joker in the pack, the kid that few saw coming this season. But who knows, maybe the racing gods feel it is time for an Aussie to be world champion again.

And there we have it. Ahead of tonight’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, all I can say is that with Jad Mallak, we are so privileged to have covered this season, which for me will go down as one of the most intriguing ones of all time.

Tonight is the climax of which no one can predict what will happen. Remember Abu Dhabi 2021! Or in 2010 at the same venue? So sit back and enjoy this incredible conclusion to a saga that has been this season.

As for my prediction, I am going to say what I always say, and go conservative: "When in doubt, bet on Max!"