F1 MATHS: What does the drivers’ championship look like after the Hungarian GP?

With the F1 field slowly returning to race action after the well-deserved summer break, F1Technical’s senior writer Balazs Szabo takes a look at the standings in the Drivers’ Championship.

The Hungarian Grand Prix saw McLaren further strengthen their lead in the Constructors’ Championship. The papaya team has won eleven of the first fourteen races, and secured seven double victories so far in 2025.

This hugely impressive result has enabled McLaren to build up an insurmountable lead in the teams’ standings, with Ferrari sitting second, but the Scuderia has a 299-point deficit to the Woking-based squad’s tally of 559 points.

It is therefore no surprise that McLaren’s drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris find themselves in an absolutely dominant position when it comes to the drivers’ standings.

After the Canadian round, the Australian had an advantage close to 30 points, but Norris’ three victories in the last four races meant that the deficit shrank to just eight points with ten more races to complete in the remainder of the season.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen is third in the standings, but he is 97 points adrift of Piastri which means that his chances of securing a fifth title are very slim despite some brilliant performances from the Dutchman.

Mercedes driver George Russell is fourth in the standings, but, curiously, he is only fifteen points away from the Hasselt-born driver which is a result of his dominant display at Montreal and his third-place finish at the Hungaroring.

Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are fifth and sixth in the standings, followed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who ended a tough seven-race period in which he only scored on a single occasion.

Williams driver Alex Albon is eighth, followed by Nico Hulkenberg, who made a big jump in the standings thanks to his podium finish in the challenging race at Silverstone.

Esteban Ocon is tenths on the standings, sitting on 27 points, but the fight behind him is intense, with his team-mate Oliver Bearman, who occupies P19 on the standings, only 19 points away. Although this deficit might look significant, a chaotic race like the one at Silverstone, Melbourne or Spa can quickly turn things on their head.

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