Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the four-time reigning Formula 1 world champion, entered the 2025 season having led the world championship standings after 63 consecutive Grands Prix going back to May 2022, an all-time record.
But McLaren's Lando Norris opened up the 2025 campaign with a victory in Melbourne, and he maintained the lead after each of the season's first four races. He had never previously been higher than P2 in the standings.
Now, however, there is already another new leader, another driver who entered the year having never sat atop the points table.
Oscar Piastri becomes F1 points leader
McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri has shot to the top of the world championship standings on the strength of back-to-back victories and three wins in the four most recent races.
He has outscored Norris by 27 points during that stretch, and his 10-point lead would be closer to a 20-point or a 25-point lead had he not spun out in the rain in Melbourne.
Behind the McLaren duo is Verstappen, who sits just two points behind Norris. Norris and Verstappen are the only Grand Prix winners not named Piastri through five races in 2025, though Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton did win the sprint race in China.
Full Formula 1 world championship standings can be found here.
Prior to 2025, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc had been the most recent driver to see his name atop the world championship standings for the first time in his career. He became the sport's 65th points leader back when he won the 2022 season opener in Bahrain. Once Verstappen took over five races later in Spain, he held the lead through the end of the 2024 season.
Including Norris and Piastri, 33 of the 67 all-time Formula 1 points leaders have never won a world championship. Will one of them scratch their name off the list? Verstappen is the most recent first-time points leader to later become champion, and he hasn't not won a title since moving to the top of the table for the first time back in May 2021.