Abu Dhabi Grand Prix briefing: Lando Norris becomes world champion for the first time

ABU DHABI – Lando Norris is Formula One’s 2025 world champion, claiming his first title with a third-place finish in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to cap a season-long battle that went down to the final race.

The McLaren driver, who needed to finish on the podium to clinch the title, delivered by managing his tires and position through the closing laps under the Yas Marina floodlights. Max Verstappen won the race but fell agonizingly short of a fifth consecutive championship, with Norris securing the title by two points.

Despite his bold gamble on hard tires, Oscar Piastri also fell short, finishing second in Abu Dhabi and third in the championship.

Norris, 26, becomes Britain’s first world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020. Piastri made an audacious opening-lap p*** and there was a late charge from Charles Leclerc, but Norris delivered what was required to cap a remarkable championship season.

Verstappen won his eighth race of 2025, one more than Norris. The four-time champion took control from pole position on Sunday, leading by nearly 14 seconds at the checkered flag, but his dominance proved futile as Norris ran a measured race.

The championship marks McLaren’s first drivers’ title since Hamilton won it with them in 2008 and completes a historic double after securing the constructors’ championship earlier in the season.

Madeline Coleman, Alex Kalinauckas and Luke Smith were at the Yas Marina Circuit to blockyze the action.

Norris p***es final test to clinch first world title

After qualifying on Saturday, Norris said he expected anything but a straightforward race. And although there were no major incidents, he comfortably navigated the final few challenges and tests of the season.

From second on the grid, the first big challenge for Norris would always come at the start and avoiding any incident with Verstappen, who swiped across to defend immediately at Turn 1. Norris kept his calm and held position, only for Piastri to then sweep around the outside at Turn 9 to leave his teammate feeling pressure from Leclerc, who kept within DRS range in his Ferrari, for much of the opening stint.

Norris eked out a gap before being the first of the title protagonists to pit on Lap 15, emerging at the back of a train of four cars. The traffic threatened to throw a curveball at Norris, but he picked off Kimi Antonelli, sailed past Carlos Sainz and, on the next lap, dived past both Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson into the same corner. He was attacking perfectly.

Some weaving from Verstappen’s teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, wasn’t enough to keep Norris back, but it did pique the interest of race control after the McLaren flirted with going off-track to make the move. His race engineer called it “cl***ic Red Bull s–housery.” The stewards pinged Tsunoda for moving more than once and took no action against Norris.

Clear of traffic, Norris was told not to worry about Verstappen ahead of him, with the gap to the Red Bull staying stable while Piastri extended his stint at the front. McLaren brought him in for a second stop to cover off Leclerc, who had already pitted, and got him out in clean air. The extra stop also helped create some breathing room for Verstappen out front in the event of any tactics to slow the field.

Leclerc was the final, fleeting threat to Norris, taking a set of mediums and cutting the gap to the McLaren a little. But each time, Norris responded and held the gap steady, a fact Verstappen was made aware of on the radio by his engineer to update the title picture.

It left Norris to tick through the final few laps, quietly being updated on potential safety car strategy changes, but without any pressure from behind or in front. At the end of a long, challenging season, by two points, he is world champion.

Luke Smith

Verstappen wins race but relinquishes title

Lining up on the grid with his nose pointed deliberately right towards Norris on the other side of the front row, Verstappen needed to complete a trademark chop across the McLaren’s bows as they raced to the first corner after a short hold at the lights.

When Norris bailed to the outside line, Verstappen was clear and he was swiftly out of DRS threat. McLaren insisted to its drivers that his starting mediums were graining, but every time it looked like the chasing Piastri was starting to make headway into the gap Verstappen built in the opening phase, the leader would respond.

Verstappen eventually pitted on Lap 23 but emerged clear of traffic and with an even healthier gap to Norris behind. Verstappen set about using the better performance on the hards to fully erase the 18.8-second gap he faced to Piastri after pitting. He p***ed the McLaren easily with DRS to Turn 5 on Lap 41.

Red Bull warned Verstappen that Piastri would need to be sensationally fast to come back on the mediums, and Verstappen responded with his own fine pace in the high 1:27-second bracket of laptimes.

But with Norris third, Verstappen needed ***istance from Leclerc that never came. Verstappen remains on four world championships as F1 enters its new car design era next season.

For all the pre-race focus on what wild tactics Verstappen might need to take the title with Norris’ points lead so strong behind, the race for the win played out calmly and without drama.

Alex Kalinauckas

Piastri signs off in quick, cl***y fashion

It was a performance that befitted Piastri’s season. The pressure of his first F1 title fight, even as the rank outsider against Norris and Verstappen, didn’t get to the 24-year-old Australian. He was comfortable sweeping around his teammate on the opening lap, despite the split strategies that meant he would go far longer into the race before pitting, and kept enough pressure on Verstappen in the early stages to ensure Red Bull couldn’t go too deep into the race before pitting.

Piastri ***umed the lead on Lap 23 when Verstappen came in, and was kept out long, with his times eventually dipping to over a second per lap slower than the Dutchman’s. Verstappen overtook to regain the lead with 18 laps to go, prompting McLaren to bring in Piastri and keep him P2 after Norris’ second stop.

Tom Stallard, Piastri’s race engineer, gave him the call to hunt down Verstappen with his fresh set of medium compound tires. Making up 1.5 seconds per lap was a mighty ask, but there was at least the chance to put some pressure on the Red Bull driver, especially as Piastri started to light the timing screens purple.

Piastri’s presence put Verstappen in a tough spot: even if he did try to slow the field down to induce any chaos that may hurt Norris’ title hopes, Piastri would likely be able to sweep straight past him. For one final time in 2025, Piastri served as a team player.

While short of ending in a world championship, this season has cemented Piastri’s place among the very best drivers on the F1 grid.

Luke Smith

Hamilton ends season without a podium

What a difference a day made for Ferrari. Although he qualified fifth, Leclerc said his car was handling so badly he felt like he was rally driving, so often he was snapping sideways. In the other Ferrari, Hamilton exited at Q1 for the fourth time in a row.

But on race day, Leclerc was simply on fire, jumping by George Russell at the start and then tracking Norris closely once he was down to third. It looked eerily similar to how Sainz chased Norris all the way here last year, when the Spaniard was still a Ferrari driver and they were racing for the win.

Leclerc used DRS to stick on Norris’ gearbox in the early stages, then dropped slightly back as their starting mediums grained. He also carved up the traffic post-pitstop on the hards, mirroring Norris’ double move on Stroll and Lawson to Turn 5.

Leclerc was unleashing such strong pace that if Norris had been penalised for the Tsunoda incident, he might’ve spoiled the Briton’s championship party. However, the stewards cleared Norris, and Leclerc then dropped back before making his second stop.

He had to spend some time behind Russell but Leclerc blasted back to retake fourth and showed strong pace in Norris’ wake, but couldn’t get closer.

Fourth place isn’t what Ferrari goes racing for, but neither is the eighth eventually claimed by Hamilton. He deserves credit after starting in 16th, with early stops on his attacking two-stop strategy, which included starting on the hard tires and then making a series of p***es on the one-stopping midfielders in his path.

But he could not climb higher than eighth, so Hamilton’s first Ferrari season ended without a podium finish.

Alex Kalinauckas

Williams the best of the rest as Sainz proves his worth

With that final checkered flag, the current regulation set has come to an end (besides the post-season testing sessions, of course). It has been an era for the history books, but the best season was the last.

This year featured some of the closest racing we’ve seen in modern times, with results that generated excitement beyond the eventual three-way title fight.

Mercedes, second in the constructors’ championship, was more consistent, with Russell fifth in the drivers’ standings and stepping into a leadership role, while 19-year-old rookie Antonelli found his stride after a midseason slump to finish seventh.

Williams finished the title fifth. Sainz, who finished ninth in the drivers’ standings, eventually found his rhythm, with teammate Alex Albon nine points ahead in eighth.

The rest of the midfield was much tighter. Surprise podium finishes during the season by Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg gave their respective teams a leg up, but Sauber ended the season ninth, nine points behind Haas.

Now, the slate is wiped clean. The long-awaited 2026 regulations are on the horizon, and the new cars, fitted with new engines and sustainable fuels, will hit the track in Barcelona in 50 days. While it’ll still be the sport we all love, F1 will look different, particularly in overtaking.

There’s still a big gap between the top four teams and the midfield, but unlike in previous years of this era, those teams had a shot at points and podiums as the field converged, with seven teams appearing on the podium across the 2025 season, including three midfield teams.

Now, it’s onto the next chapter.

Madeline Coleman