Look beyond McLaren’s domination of this season’s championship, minor margins have very often decided many weekend-defining battles.
Never has this been exemplified more consistently than on a Saturday afternoon, when the venturis of the car’s floors are inching ever closer to the track and speed is an obligation as much as an obsession.
Below is a list of the five closest margins that have decided pole position (and not sprint pole), during the 2025 season.
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5. Miami: 1. Verstappen 2. Norris +0.065
By the season’s sixth round of the 2025 season, a pattern was becoming apparent. McLaren had more than the edge on pace, though the occasional sprinkle of Max Verstappen stardust could stand in their way.
And for what was the third time of the season, the Dutchman bettered the field. Excelling around the Miami circuit’s high-speed corners and not losing through the RB21’s bogey corners, slow speed.
But the effortlessness of Verstappen’s execution, over the McLarens, who were pushing too hard here and taking too much kerb there, and the slower Red Bull headed to the front.
4. Imola: 1. Piastri 2. Verstappen +0.034
Though Verstappen would not convert pole into victory, in Miami, with the win going to Piastri; the very opposite was had at Imola.
Piastri just about edged out Verstappen’s Red Bull to pole, which was encouragingly competitive around Imola, where it thrived through the high-speed turns.
However, as the lap wore on, the McLaren’s fought back and kept its tyres in better condition once the finish line was reached.
But this battle became merely an afterthought, as the Dutchman revelled around the outside of Piastri, through Tamburello, on the first lap. And that was pivotal in him winning the race.
3. Hungary: 1. Leclerc 2. Piastri +0.026
McLaren, as is becoming a theme both in this list and throughout the season, were expected to comfortably lock-out the front row. But at Budapest, a sudden change in wind direction hurt the Papaya cars, more than Charles Leclerc, who weathered the conditions well enough to qualify at the front.
Although the Monegasque understeered through various long-radius corners, the peak speed of these cars could not be realised as all confidence was sapped, and grip became a lottery.
The Ferrari driver, incredulous in his realisation, scored his first pole position of 2025 and left both McLaren drivers starting behind him.
2. Japan: 1. Verstappen 2. Norris +0.012
If Leclerc’s lap (which he could not convert into race victory, or even a podium) was not the pole lap of the season, then this may just be.
From absolutely nowhere during Friday’s practice sessions, Max Verstappen became the mark of difference and took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Alike his Miami pole, Verstappen made less mistakes than the faster McLarens to utilise every ounce of potential from his quick, but not pole-worthy, Red Bull. His commitment through the fast, sequential Suzuka turns have been where he’d made his mark beforehand, but he had probably never scored as much of a shock pole lap as he did on that Saturday in April.
His ultimate reward was that, with overtaking so difficult and degradation non-existent, the track position that he earned ensured a realistic chance of victory, which he seized.
1. Saudi: 1. Verstappen 2. Piastri +0.010
If a track is mightily quick, where commitment through the fast turns can usurp the McLarens, then Verstappen will make his mark. Alike other fast tracks (like Suzuka, and later Silverstone) the door was wide open for the world champion, and he walked straight through it.
However, this was not a regular strategy en route to pole. Lando Norris brought Q3 to a sudden halt when he crashed out, having hobbled over an unsettling kerb. That eliminated the weekend’s faster McLaren.
But with the time remaining, Verstappen was fuelled for two laps, the second of which was good enough to steal pole by a hundredth of a second, from Oscar Piastri.
Although he did not have the peak tyre grip of a new set, the confidence that he had built, offset that.
A less-than-ideal start was the flashpoint in him finishing runner-up to Piastri, the following day, but it was another reminder of how good the Dutchman is, even when the odds are against him.