It was 12 months ago Oscar Piastri put one hand on the championship trophy that so many assumed would be his by the end of the season.
He’d just dominated the Dutch Grand Prix to take a 34-point title lead over teammate Lando Norris, whose engine had popped in the late stages of the Zandvoort race.
With no-one else within 100 points of the leader and with nine rounds to go, the Australian’s trajectory seemed set.
Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
But even the most cautious of prognosticators wouldn’t have foreseen that comfortable victory being Piastri’s last to date.
His season wobbled and then collapsed shortly afterwards, with his dire run of results combined with good Norris form to put the Englishman in the lead.
But Norris’s 2025 title comeback so nearly wasn’t the story of the championship.
The four-time champion was 104 points behind Piastri after the Netherlands and had long ago been counted out of contention. No driver had succeeded in coming back from such a margin over such a sustained period.
He fell two points short of Norris at the final race — but he finished 11 points ahead of Piastri, a 115-point turnaround on the Australian.
The remarkable feat has completely changed the understanding of what’s possible in modern Formula 1, when fluctuating form has become the norm.
So what should be made of Norris’s shrunk title margin?
The defending champion has already had his campaign written off by public consensus, with the points gap too large and the McLaren car too uncompetitive to recover ground.
But his deficit is ‘only’ 83 points — and whereas nine rounds remained after last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, there could be as many as 11 still on the cards this season.
If it could be true last year, why not this year?
“I’m happy,” Norris said after qualifying on pole on Saturday. “I’m optimistic. I still believe that it’s possible, and that’s all I need for now.”