For many of you, this could be a day off for the Thanksgiving holiday, and if we are honest, you haven't done a thing for a week and still have another weekend between you and productivity. When you return to work, it will be December, and the year will be entering its final chapter. Oh my, has 2025 flown!
It will not be long until we hit a hiatus for nearly every series, but a few championships will keep us busy for a month or so. Truth be told, December is really the only month off for motorsports. It is not like it once was when November was pretty quiet outside of NASCAR, everything was silent come December, and most of January was quiet. You can stay occupied with motorsports for a good 11 months.
As we are near the end, there are two championships I want to focus on, both of which could be determined this weekend, one of which definitely will be decided.
World Rally Championship
The final round of the 2025 World Rally Championship season, the inaugural Rally Saudi Arabia, is underway and three drivers are alive for the championship.
Toyota's Elfyn Evans leads with 272 points, three points more than Toyota's Sébastien Ogier with Toyota's Kalle Rovanperä 24 pants behind Evans with 35 points left on the table.
This has been an interesting championship because Ogier was not a full-time competitor at the tart of the season. He won Rallye Monte-Carlo and then took off the next two rounds from Sweden and Kenya. Then Ogier returned and went second, first, first, second. Through seven of 14 rounds, Ogier was nine points off the championship lead, and then he skipped the next round.
Ogier returned and went third, first, first over Finland, Paraguay and Chile, and entering the final three rounds, the Frenchman held a two-point championship lead. His hand was kind of forced to go for the world title.
An accident in the Central European Rally broke serve for Ogier and put Evans back on top, but an Ogier victory in Japan has a ninth WRC title within his grasp. This has been stellar to watch as one of the best to ever race has become a championship contender out of nowhere. He has spent the last three seasons competing part-time, and he has finished in the top five of the championship the last two years.
However, this championship feels like a crossroads for WRC.
Ogier doesn't want to be a full-time driver anymore. Rovanperä took off most of last year, and he will be done with rallying as he will run in Super Formula next year, and Rovanperä is only 25 years old. Two of the top three in the championship might not be back on a regular basis in 2026, and we haven't even mentioned that fourth in the championship, Ott Tänak, will retire at the end of this season.
WRC lacks notable talent at the moment. Twenty years ago the likes of Marcus Grönholm, Colin McRae, Tommi Mäkinen, Carols Sainz, Sébastien Loeb and Petter Solberg were all celebrated and respected names in the motorsports world, and WRC doesn't hold that same reverence as it once did. This is not a new problem. It has been developing for over a decade, and there does not appear to be that next wave of drivers on their way to grab your attention.
This feels like a pivotal point in the series because it is an outstanding championship battle involving a few of the best to ever compete, and we could not see another such title fight for a while.
Formula One
It is rather satisfying to be entering the penultimate round of the Formula One season and have three drivers within one race victory of the championship lead. Thanks to McLaren's double disqualification, Lando Norris leads each Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen by 24 points with 58 points left on the table with two grand prix and sprint race remaining.
There is a good chance Norris locks up the title this weekend in Qatar and the title is settled a race early, but it has not been without the dramatics.
Since summer break, we had Lando Norris lose an engine while in a podium position at Zandvoort. McLaren had a slow pit stop for Norris lead to the team switch positions with its drivers as Norris stopped after Piastri and lost the position due to the slow stop. Norris took second while Piastri was third. Piastri has not been back on the podium since that day.
Then at Azerbaijan, Piastri jumped the start and had an accident on the opening lap while Norris could not do better than seventh.
While all this was taking place, Verstappen has finished on the podium in eight races since the summer break. He has won three of them. It is an outside shot Verstappen will win the championship, but he has done enough to remain alive this deep into the season, and nothing can be entirely ruled out.
Not to forget mentioning Verstappen is achieving this after Christian Horner was fired from Red Bull in July.
This will likely play out as we expect. Norris has enough of a cushion that he can take it easy and not be caught, but the world can be a funny place. Just because it appears inevitable, does not mean it cannot be spun on its head. If it is, this season will become all the more memorable besides McLaren's dominance and constructors' championship.
December Preview
Formula E begins next weekend with the São Paulo ePrix on Saturday December 6. It is the first of a 17-race championship.
This season will see two new venues on the schedule, as the Miami ePrix (January 31) moves to the Miami International Autodrome, home of the Miami Grand Prix, and Circuito del Jarama will host the Madrid ePrix (March 21). Sanya will return with a round on June 20 after not being on the calendar for the last seven years.
Mexico City (January 10), Jeddah (February 13-14), Berlin (May 2-3), Monaco (May 16-17), Shanghai (July 4-5), Tokyo (July 25-26) and London (August 15-16) return from last season.
McLaren has left after three seasons while Citroën replaces Maserati on the grid. Defending champion Oliver Rowland remains with Nissan and has Norman Nato as his teammate. Jean-Éric Vergne and Nick Cassidy will occupy both Citroën seats with António Félix da Costa replacing Cassidy at Jaguar blog side Mitch Evans. Porsche has replaced da Costa with Nico Müller.
Sébastien Buemi remains with Envision Racing, while Lucas di Grassi is at Lola Yamaha ABT. Andretti Formula E has Felipe Drugovich toking up its other seat next to Jake Dennis. Pepe Martí will be the lone debutant on the 2025-26 grid. Martí will drive for Cupra Kiro with Dan Ticktum as his teammate. With McLaren's departure, Sam Bird is left without a race seat, and Bird will be reserve driver at Nissan. Since his Formula E debut in 2014, Bird has only not started six races.
This season will mark the final season of the Gen3 regulations after four seasons of operation.
December Preview
There is not much remaining on the calendar for December 2025.
Beside the Formula One finale from Abu Dhabi, the Asian Le Mans Series begins with a doubleheader from Sepang over December 13-14.
Algarve Pro Racing won last year's champion in LMP2, and there are three APR-related entries, one of which is the CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca for Louis Delétraz, Malthe Jakobsen and George Kurtz. Enzo Trulli will be in APR's #25 Oreca. United Autosport's will have two cars entered int he top class. Tristian Vautier is driving for RD Limited. Gustavo Menezes is back in competition, and Menezes will drive the #49 Oreca for High Class Racing with Theodor Jensen and Jens Reno Møller.
Narain Karthikeyan will be in LMP3 driving the #1 Team Virage Ligier alongside fellow Indian Ajith Kumar. A third driver will be announced later.
Twenty-two cars are entered in the GT class, including Memo Gidley racing for Kessel Racing in the #15 Ferrari alongside Alessandro Balzan and Dylan Medler.
There are a few things to look for if you need the Asian Le Mans Series to hold you over.
However, we have December and the Christmas season coming. We will wrap up a few more series, celebrate the best of 2025, and turn an eye to 2026. Stay tuned!
