Lando Norris will have to defy plenty of history to win the Formula 1 title this year.
There’s his friend-turned-rival Max Verstappen’s bid for a fifth title in a row. Just like the only driver to achieve that feat, Michael Schumacher, Verstappen is a hard racer who isn’t afraid to bend the rules — as Norris knows from bitter experience.
Then there’s Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time champion going for a record eighth title in 2025. It’s his first season with Ferrari, which is itching to end a wait for a drivers’ title going back to 2007.
Norris is the under-pressure favorite
Norris is widely considered the favorite after he and McLaren had a strong second half of 2024 — though not strong enough to beat Verstappen — but it could be the closest season in years.
McLaren seemed competitive in preseason testing last month but Norris has to watch out not only for Verstappen and Hamilton, but also for his own teammate Oscar Piastri, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell. Five drivers from four different teams won the last six races of 2024.
“As much as we want to believe we’re the best, I guess we still want to feel like we’re underdogs. We have a lot to fight for,” Norris said last month. After slipping up from pole position in a few races last season, Norris insists he can thrive as the driver to beat.
“I know, coming into this season that for a lot of people I’m the favorite and as a team we’re the favorites,” Norris said. “I’ve always done much better under pressure. I’m able to think and to focus much more.”
Verstappen shows he’s still hungry
Ever since beating Hamilton to the 2021 title in a race that’s still controversial, Verstappen has been F1’s man to beat.
He’s long been clear he doesn’t want to stay in F1 into his 40s like Hamilton or Fernando Alonso, so could motivation be a factor in the Dutch driver’s bid for a fifth title? Verstappen says last season — when he tested Norris to the limit and sometimes beyond — shows he’s still hungry.
“My motivation is there because I think already last year it was not straightforward,” Verstappen said. “We had of course good wins, but I guess not as many as we would have liked, but we still won the championship.”
After a year when off-track events threatened to overwhelm Verstappen’s Red Bull team and his own father sparred with the management, Verstappen seems more settled at the start of his 11th season in F1. The team feels “like a second family,” he said last month.
Hamilton aims for title No. 8
Another title for Hamilton would break a tie with Schumacher for the most in F1 history.
The British driver proclaimed himself “invigorated” at F1’s glitzy season launch. Expectations from Ferrari’s “Tifosi” fans are so high that he could finally bring success to the Italian team that some cut down a tree to better watch Hamilton test the new SF-25 car.
“I know what a winning team looks and feels like,” he said last month. “The passion here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship. And it’s just about putting all the pieces together.”
Other contenders for the crown
Mercedes solved long-running car issues to win four of the last 14 races in 2024, including Hamilton’s emotional home win at the British Grand Prix. Three-time winner Russell is joined by 18-year-old rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who starts his career with some valuable advice from Hamilton.
If they can’t challenge for the podium right away, other teams like Aston Martin might opt to switch focus early to their 2026 cars. Next year brings a big change in the regulations and getting a head-start could pay off for years to come.
Off-track tensions
Watch out too for a simmering feud between the drivers and the governing body, the FIA, whose president Mohammed Ben Sulayem wants to crack down on drivers swearing.
New rules mean fines starting at 40,000 euros ($42,000) and even potential suspensions and point deductions for repeat offenders. Drivers have previously raised concerns about where the money from fines goes, a string of firings of senior FIA staff and Ben Sulayem’s “own tone and language.”
Verstappen bids for 5th title and Hamilton’s at Ferrari as F1 prepares for a close fight in 2025
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Verstappen bids for 5th title and Hamilton’s at Ferrari as F1 prepares for a close fight in 2025
- Just like the only driver to achieve that feat, Michael Schumacher, Verstappen is a hard racer who isn’t afraid to bend the rules.
With 100 days to go, World Cup faces new challenges with Iran war and Mexico violence
- It’s not unusual for international politics to overshadow a global sports event like the World Cup
- Iran is set to play two group stage games in Inglewood, California, and one in Seattle
GENEVA: With 100 days to go until the World Cup, the Iran war has added a new layer of complexity to the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
How the conflict will affect the world’s most watched sporting event is the latest issue facing organizers already grappling with cartel violence in one of Mexico’s host cities, scaled-back plans for fan festivals in the US and criticism from fans against soaring ticket prices.
Officials of the qualified teams are meeting with FIFA staff in Atlanta this week. The tournament kicks off on June 11 when Mexico plays South Africa in Mexico City. It will be the biggest World Cup ever with 48 participating teams, up from 32 at the previous tournament in Qatar.
Here’s a look at some of the issues drawing scrutiny as the countdown began.
A backdrop of geopolitical tension
It’s not unusual for international politics to overshadow a global sports event like the World Cup — at least in the early stages before the soccer action takes over the headlines.
In 2022, Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and others matters drew headlines off the field.
Pride community rights, the annexation of Crimea and the poisoning of a spy in Britain were in focus when Russia hosted the tournament in 2018.
In Brazil in 2014 and South Africa in 2010 there were concerns about crime and security.
The 2026 tournament looks set to kick off amid a backdrop of political tensions involving the US and the participating nations.
Many have been hit by tariffs. Some are facing travel restrictions. Denmark, which can still qualify through playoffs in March, has been shaken by President Donald Trump’s calls for the US to take over Greenland. And with 100 days to go, the US was in a military conflict with Iran, one of the first teams to qualify.
Iran’s status at the World Cup is unclear
Iran is set to play two group stage games in Inglewood, California, and one in Seattle.
However, whether the Iranian team will come to the US is uncertain.
“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Iran’s top soccer official, Mehdi Taj, said last weekend as the US and Israel launched coordinated attacks that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens more senior officials.
Still, Iran has not announced it is withdrawing from the tournament, which no team that qualified has done in the past 75 years. Iran, the second-highest ranked team in Asia, was drawn in a group with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand.
“I really don’t care,” if Iran participates, Trump told Politico on Tuesday. “I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes.”
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request on whether Iran federation officials attended the Atlanta workshop.
Fan festivals are being slimmed down
Fan festivals have been a key part of the World Cup experience in the past two decades. They offer a chance for thousands of fans without match tickets to take part in the World Cup atmosphere by coming together to watch games on a big screen.
Some of those plans are now being scaled back in the US
New York/New Jersey eliminated its Fan Fest in Jersey City, New Jersey, even though it had started selling tickets for an event scheduled to be open every day of the tournament.
Planning to sell tickets was itself unprecedented for World Cup fan zones, which were free to enter since being launched at the 2006 edition in Germany.
Seattle cut down its original plan and rescheduled it for smaller venues and Boston trimmed its event to 16 days.
The chief operating officer of Miami’s FIFA World Cup host committee said during a congressional hearing on Feb. 24 that it might cancel its event if it did not receive federal funding within 30 days. Kansas City, Missouri, Police Deputy Chief Joseph Maybin said the city had an immediate need for federal funds to prepare security.
House Republicans said federal money may be held up by the partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, caused by Democrats insisting restrictions be placed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Foxborough games threatened
The New England Patriots’ stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is due to host seven World Cup games, starting with Haiti-Scotland on June 13 and ending with a quarterfinal on July 9. That is FIFA’s plan.
The Select Board of Foxborough has refused to issue a permit for World Cup matches at the stadium and set a March 17 deadline to be paid $7.8 million — what the town estimates will be the cost of police and other expenses. Foxborough said it was not part of FIFA’s hosting agreement with Boston.
Pushback against FIFA’s ticket prices
FIFA has about 7 million seats to fill for the World Cup matches and said last month it received 500 million ticket requests. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has proclaimed all 104 games are sold out and yet some fans received emails last week offering an extra 48-hour window for tickets sales.
FIFA’s prices in December ranged up to $8,680 per ticket. After criticism, FIFA said it will offer a few hundred $60 tickets for every game to the 48 national federations in the tournament. Those federations will decide how to distribute them to their most loyal fans who attended previous games.
Most seats on FIFA’s ticket resale platform — seeking to cut out the secondary market and earn FIFA extra 15 percent fees from buyers and sellers — are well past the $1,000 mark.
Cartel violence in Mexico
Mexico’s ability to co-host the World Cup has been under scrutiny after a surge in violence last week in the state of Jalisco following the military’s killing of a powerful cartel boss.
The state’s capital, Guadalajara, is set to host four matches during the group stage.
Mexico’s government insists the World Cup won’t be affected and President Claudia Sheinbaum said there’s no risk for fans coming to the tournament.
Infantino told Sheinbaum that he has full confidence in Mexico as a World Cup host.
The FIFA leader has repeatedly promised the 2026 World Cup will be the greatest and most inclusive.
