Charles Leclerc vs Max Verstappen vs George Russell: Who finishes 3rd the in championship?

Away from the F1 title, there's going to be an intriguing battle between Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and George Russell that's going to heat up as the season progresses. The 2025 season has been an intriguing one so far. We've had four different race winners. We've had 5 different pole sitters.

To add to this, the title battle this season is going to feature the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and hence, we'll have a first-time champion on the grid.

Away from the title battle is another one with bragging rights at stake. The McLaren is too fast, and hence the title is out of the picture. There is, however, a position for the best of the rest that is still open. The trio behind the top 2 are separated by 36 points amongst themselves.

We're going to have Max Verstappen, George Russell, and Charles Leclerc battle it out for what is going to be the bragging rights of the best of the rest. Who's going to take the cake? Let's take a look as we preview the battle and then finally share our prediction.

Charles Leclerc vs Max Verstappen vs George Russell

Strengths

Max Verstappen

It's safe to say that the one area where Max Verstappen might have an edge over his two rivals is the fact that Red Bull tends to be splendid when it comes to its operations. The team doesn't make too many mistakes, and if a car is capable of securing pole position, it would be on pole. If it is capable of finishing 5th, you would expect the team to achieve that goal.

George Russell

For George Russell, it does appear to come down to the fact that now he's taken over the leadership role at Mercedes. It's not a case of the British driver being in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton anymore. Hence, more often than not, he would hold a bit of sway within the team and could end up continuing on what has been a consistent run.

Charles Leclerc

The thing that has stood out for Charles Leclerc as a driver this season is how he's not been too bothered by the fact that he has Lewis Hamilton in the other cockpit.

In fact, it appears that he's hitting his stride now and is on a purple patch within Ferrari.

Weakness

Max Verstappen

There are probably two major question marks when we're trying to judge what Max Verstappen could achieve in the second half of the season. The first is the morale within the team because the driver's comments pre-summer break were not that good, especially for a team that saw one of its pillars fired.

The second is going to be Max Verstappen's motivation. The Dutch driver has won the championship in the last 4 years. Would he even be bothered for a battle for P3? Only time will tell.

George Russell

George Russell's biggest question mark at this stage is that the team, including him, has no clue how the Mercedes is going to fare. The team has admitted that there's a lack of congruity when it comes to pre-race weekend expectations from the car and the result.

George Russell would be hoping that if that's not too big a limiting factor, he could potentially be a more consistent player in this battle.

Charles Leclerc

When it comes to Charles Leclerc, the questions are with Ferrari. The team should have a strong foundation for the second half of the season, and there should be tracks where he does well.

The concern appears to be that the issue that Charles Leclerc faced in Hungary could potentially return for the team, and hence leave the driver once again vulnerable to the competition.

Recent Form

If we look at the form in the last 5 races, Max Verstappen has scored 50 points. George Russell, on the other hand, has picked up 62 points, while Charles Leclerc scored 57 points.

This period has also seen Ferrari bring the suspension upgrade that helped Leclerc, while Mercedes has reverted to the old suspension as well.

Prediction

At this stage, Max Verstappen has 187 points, followed by George Russell at 172 points and Charles Leclerc at 151 points. The gap between the Red Bull driver and the Ferrari driver is 36 points, which is a lot for sure, but then there are 10 races left.

If we go by recent form, it does appear that Ferrari is the team that is on the ascendant and might have the fastest car for the second half of the season. At the same time, tracks like Monza, Singapore, and Baku tend to be the ones that favor the team and Charles Leclerc as well.

In the end, all three drivers are elite, and if we go by the last few years, it's foolish to pick anyone but Max Verstappen. Having said that, Red Bull is a team that's going through restructuring, and we might not see the best of it.

With Mercedes also having a few question marks on it because of its unpredictable nature, we're going with the most stable combination for now and picking Charles Leclerc to beat Max Verstappen and George Russell by the end of the season.