Lando Norris won the 2025 Formula 1 world championship after finishing third at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale, as Max Verstappen took victory over Oscar Piastri.
Norris only needed to secure a top-three result to secure the championship, having started the race 12 points clear of Verstappen. And, although Norris lost a place to Piastri on the opening lap and thus came under heavy pressure from Charles Leclerc later on, he was able to stay in third to clinch his first world title.
Verstappen enjoyed a vintage, serene drive to victory; with Piastri behind him instead of Norris, any anticipated hold-up play was not realised. McLaren’s decision to start Piastri on the hard tyre had ensured that the offset strategy spaced out the front three between the stops, and the Australian went long into the race and pitted on the 41st lap once passed by Verstappen.
On fresh mediums, Piastri went after Verstappen in an effort to win the race. Verstappen’s hard tyre pace was still strong enough to maintain a healthy lead as Piastri brought the gap down to 12.6s.
After batting away the early challenge from Leclerc, who put him under heavy scrutiny with DRS, Norris had stopped to cover off the Monegasque. This left the Briton in a sea of traffic, but he was decisive; he cut through Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Alex Albon in short order, then scythed through Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll in a two-for-one move at Turn 6 to mitigate the effect of the yet-to-stop runners ahead.
However, Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull proved to be the next obstacle. Told by his race engineer to “do what you can” to hold up Norris, Tsunoda weaved across the circuit on the straight between Turn 5 and 6, forcing Norris off-track as he was completing his overtake. The overtake itself was deemed fine by the stewards, although Tsunoda was given a five-second penalty for making more than one change in direction.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images
Once Norris was free of the traffic, he could start to eke out a comfort zone as Leclerc’s early-stint pace began to subside versus the McLaren. Since covering off Leclerc was simply Norris’ priority, he was told to stop for a second time on lap 40 as Leclerc switched to a two-stopper on the previous tour. Leclerc dropped behind a one-stopping George Russell, ensuring that Norris could get out of the pits with third intact, but the Ferrari’s early-stint pace on the mediums had given Norris a late fright.
Thus, Norris responded to maintain the gap at around four seconds, which grew when Leclerc’s tyre life began to drop off in the final five laps – and it was simply a case of Norris holding on to ensure the title was his. Such was his pace, however, that he got within three seconds of Piastri before being told to take a little more easily in the final tours.
Despite pitting and coming out behind, Leclerc was 25s clear of Russell as the Mercedes struggled with degradation after 44 laps on the hard tyre. Fernando Alonso was a further 18 seconds back, his sixth place ensuring that Aston Martin clinched seventh in the constructors’ championship ahead of Haas. Esteban Ocon ran to seventh, after making a decisive Turn 9 re-pass on Lewis Hamilton on the 52nd lap as the Ferrari broke past at Turn 6.
Hamilton had recovered to eighth after being eliminated in Q1, his two-stopper yielding a points finish to sign off on a difficult first year with Ferrari.
Stroll and Oliver Bearman finished ninth and 10th on the road, but both were given five-second penalties for making more than one change in direction in their on-track battle. This promoted Nico Hulkenberg to ninth, while Stroll was classified 10th ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.
F1 Abu Dhabi GP – race results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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