As Formula 1 returns for what promises to be a thrilling finale to the 2025 season, the Sky Sports digital team predict what will happen over the final 10 races.

After three weekends off, the season resumes live on Sky Sports F1 with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, with many plots still to play out.

Top of the bill is the Drivers’ Championship title battle between the dominant McLarens, with Oscar Piastri leading Lando Norris by just nine points.

Beyond that, intrigue remains around whether Lewis Hamilton can turn around his disappointing start to life at Ferrari, while Max Verstappen’s long-term future remains up in the air with Red Bull struggling before the summer break.

Before the action resumes with first practice in Zandvoort on Friday, Sky Sports digital journalists James Galloway, Sam Johnston and Nigel Chiu share their predictions for the remainder of the year.

Who will win the Drivers’ Championship?

NC: Lando Norris

For all the talk of Lando Norris having a challenging season and making too many mistakes, he’s only nine points behind and I think he’s got an edge over Oscar Piastri on outright speed.

Since McLaren introduced a new front suspension design in Canada, Norris has been consistently stronger compared to the first part of the season.

This title race could effectively become a qualifying championship given the importance of track position for two similar drivers in equal cars and I would back Norris to get more poles in the final 10 rounds.

SJ: Lando Norris

There might be some British hopefulness involved with this pick, but Norris appeared to be growing in confidence throughout the summer as he won three of the last four races before the break.

While it’s risky to look back to last year as a yardstick given Piastri’s huge improvement, Norris consistently showed superb pace in 2024 at the circuits that come after the summer break.

I think Norris will largely have the upper hand in qualifying, and the bigger challenge for him will be converting pole positions to leads at the end first laps. He has at least been somewhat battle-hardened by duelling with Max Verstappen last year.

JG: Oscar Piastri

The season’s long-time points leader will still be on top when it truly matters come the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi on December 7.

It won’t be by much, and it’s certainly not out of the question that the Australian will lose the championship advantage to Norris at one or more points over the concluding 10 rounds, but the consistency that has seen him qualify outside of the top three just once all season and contend for almost all race wins will ultimately pay narrow but golden dividends.

Who will be the next non-McLaren driver to win a race?

SJ: George Russell

Mercedes suffered a loss of pace in the weeks before the break but have a habit of showing up to certain circuits and being rapid.

They were dominant in Las Vegas last year and will certainly expect to be in the mix once more under the lights in Sin City.

Even if such a clear opening doesn’t arise, Russell often seems to put himself in the right place at the right time to strike when opportunity knocks, so I wouldn’t bet against the Brit sneaking another win should the McLarens take each other out somewhere.

NC: Charles Leclerc

And I will go one better by saying the race it will happen at – the Italian Grand Prix in September.

Both Piastri and Norris are both one more new power unit away from incurring grid penalties. One, or both, may choose Monza as the destination to take a grid drop which will pave the way for McLaren’s rivals.

Ferrari are always competitive at Monza and their car has great mechanical grip to get around slower corners and changes direction nicely which is handy in the chicanes. Add in their strong power unit and Leclerc’s flying form gives the recipe for a repeat of last year’s Italian Grand Prix win.

JG: Charles Leclerc

The race-day dominance of the McLarens means that he’s been absolutely knocking on the door of a victory come the end of grands prix, but the five top-four finishes which Charles Leclerc secured in the last seven races before the break meant he was most regularly the driver next in line to profit had there been any McLaren slip-up.

There won’t be many true chances for Ferrari – or Mercedes or Red Bull either, for that matter – to topple the papaya pair on a Sunday over the rest of the season but the sequence of Monza-Baku-Singapore in September/October looks a good one for Leclerc to at least strike a victory blow once.

Will Lewis Hamilton get a grand prix podium in 2025?

JG: Yes

I’m going to say Lewis Hamilton’s proud record of finishing on the podium in every year of his Formula 1 career will ultimately extend to a 19th consecutive season, although predicting when and where this happens is admittedly a tough ask.

If Ferrari’s form follows tradition and they fly at Monza, then perhaps that’ll be the emotional place for Hamilton to finally crack it.

NC: No

I hope I’m wrong but this is the most Lewis Hamilton has struggled with a car in his career and the worst feeling for any racing driver is when they have tried numerous set-ups and engineering tricks but they can’t consistently match their team-mate.

The opening few rounds after the summer break will dictate how Hamilton’s season ends and if his downward trend continues, it will be extremely difficult to suddenly get some confidence under his belt having never really got on top of these ground effect cars.

SJ: Yes

Despite some ugly moments, especially recently, Hamilton has shown enough flashes of speed to suggest a good result will come at some point.

A bit of good fortune or Ferrari acing their setup somewhere will surely present a couple of opportunities, and when they come, the seven-time world champion’s determination to claim a first podium in red will ensure it happens.

Will there be any more seat changes during the 2025 season?

SJ: Yes

I can’t see Franco Colapinto keeping his Alpine seat until the end of the season. The Argentine continues to crash too often and does not appear to be a viable long-term option alongside Pierre Gasly.

I think Flavio Briatore will want to take a look at reserve driver Paul Aron before the season is out – that’s assuming we’re not going to bizarrely see Jack Doohan end the season back in the seat he had taken away from him in May.

JG: 50-50

Now that Valtteri Bottas has signed up with Cadillac for 2026, one known short-term rival to Franco Colapinto’s Alpine seat has effectively fallen away, but the Argentine will surely need to show a post-break upturn in form to be absolutely sure of at least seeing out the season.

Much will depend on who Alpine ultimately sign up to partner Pierre Gasly in 2026. If it’s not Colapinto, then he remains vulnerable to a second in-season reshuffle.

NC: No

Alpine will stick with Franco Colapinto and Red Bull will give Yuki Tsunoda the rest of the season to impress.

Unless we see a surprise exit like we had with Esteban Ocon not competing in Abu Dhabi for Alpine last year, I don’t see any changes.

At which track will the 2025 title race be decided?

JG: Abu Dhabi

We’re going all the way to Abu Dhabi. Given Piastri and Norris have never been more than 23 points apart in the standings across the first 14 races of this season, it’s hard to see that gap suddenly ballooning over the final 10 rounds given the team-mates are proving so evenly matched.

Granted, late-season unreliability for one car and not the other could suddenly create a cruel but decisive advantage before we arrive at December’s season finale but, all things being equal, the McLaren duo will remain within 25 points of each other when they line up (probably on the front row) on 2025’s final grid.

SJ: Abu Dhabi

For the first time since that fateful night in 2021, I think the Drivers’ Championship is still going to be alive going into the final race of the season.

It’s hard to envisage either Piastri or Norris surging clear of each other barring some major misfortune for one of them. If I end up being right, we can only hope it’s close enough that there will be real jeopardy throughout the weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit.

NC: Qatar

There will be a couple of huge moments in the title race, whether it’s through misfortune or a driver error that will hand Piastri or Norris a big advantage in the championship.

I also expect further contact between the McLaren pair where one of them could come off worse.

Will there be a driver market surprise as the 2026 grid is set?

NC: Kind of

I’m not sure if this counts as a surprise but a name you will be hearing a lot more about over the next 12 months is Arvid Lindblad.

I think he will take one of the 2026 Racing Bulls seats and become Britain’s youngest ever F1 driver at 18 years old when he lines up on the grid in Melbourne next March.

Red Bull have long been looking for someone at, or near Max Verstappen’s level and Lindblad is a serious talent.

JG: Depends what you call a surprise…

Certainly not one now that’s going to make Earth-shuddering headlines, but it’s going to be fascinating to see what Red Bull do with their troubled second seat for 2026.

On pre-summer break form, and on past precedent, you’d think that Yuki Tsunoda won’t be in it and Isack Hadjar will come pre-season testing next January, but will the events of the last 12 months – including the departure of Christian Horner – have any impact on how they go about deciding on things for the first year of F1’s rules reset?

SJ: No, but…

I think the 2026 grid will largely fill as expected. Cadillac and their two vacant seats were perhaps the biggest unknown, but the sport’s new team have now signed up Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

You can debate whether it will count as a surprise when it happens, but the next big shake-up in the driver market is going to come whenever Max Verstappen signs for Mercedes. I’ll be shocked if the Dutchman isn’t driving for the Silver Arrows in 2027.

Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime