"The favorites are Max Verstappen, McLaren, and George Russell": Sebastian Vettel shares his honest opinion on the current F1 title battle

Former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel doesn't think there's a clear favourite that has emerged in the 2025 F1 season, as Max Verstappen, the McLaren duo, as well as George Russell are all very close to each other. It's been 10 races this season, and things have continued to fluctuate.

While McLaren has arguably had the fastest car on the grid this season in the first 10 races, there have been races where Max Verstappen has been able to put together a challenge. Even in the most recent race in Canada, we had George Russell in his Mercedes secure pole position and win the race, making it three different teams having won races this year.

In terms of the championship standings, it is currently being led by the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. They are followed by Max Verstappen in P3 and George Russell in P4. The gap between each of them is around 20 points right now, signifying how close things are in the championship right now.

Sebastian Vettel gave his take on who is the favourite in the championship right now, and the F1 legend felt that it was too close to call at the moment. He told ORF’s podcast, Sport am Sonntag,

“I think the favourites are Max, McLaren, and George [Russell] at the moment. But they’re all very close together."

He added,

“I think the level is very high. And right now, even if McLaren is perhaps dominant, I don’t have a clear favourite yet. The season is still far too long and so much can still happen. And when everything is so close, fifth place can sometimes be very good, even if it might currently be considered a disaster, it can ultimately be very valuable.”

Max Verstappen and Red Bull's proximity shows McLaren isn't too far.

The start of the season has seen McLaren pull away from the rest of the grid in terms of performance. It's already safe to say that the team would secure the constructors' championship once again this season. With that being said, Sebastian Vettel doesn't think the team's supremacy comes close to the kind of dominance that the Red Bull-Max Verstappen combination had.

Talking about the Austrian team and its current state, he said,

“There’s nothing to argue about why they can’t build the best car. Red Bull is now very well positioned in terms of infrastructure and personnel. But you can see it now, sometimes it’s not just the infrastructure or personnel, but also the team structure, and that sometimes fluctuates. McLaren has had a very good run recently. How long that will last is unknown."

He added,

"It’s not real dominance in that sense yet. Red Bull is still, I think, the dominant force of the last few years, if you look at the current rules. Even if things are a bit more difficult right now, Max and the team somehow still manage not to be so far away from the top.”

It would be interesting to see the direction Red Bull takes in the future as the team tries to help Max Verstappen secure his 5th championship.

Edited by pranavsethii