Month: December 2025

Lando Norris is the 2025 Formula 1 world champion after finishing third at the Yas Marina track as Max Verstappen signed off a competitive season of racing with race victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Norris only needed to secure a top-three result to secure the drivers’ championship, having started the race 12 points clear of Verstappen. And, although Norris lost a position 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 nice, 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 McLaren driver went long into the race to pit on lap 41 once he was passed by Verstappen.

On fresh mediums, Piastri went after Verstappen in an effort to win the race. But Verstappen’s hard tyre pace was strong enough to maintain a healthy lead as Piastri brought the gap down to 12.6 seconds.

After batting away the early challenge from Leclerc, who put him under heavy scrutiny with DRS, Norris had stopped to cover off the Ferrari driver. This left Lando in a sea of traffic, but he was decisive. He cut through Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Alexander Albon in short order, then moved through Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll in a two-for-one move at Turn 6 to reduce 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 race stewards, although Tsunoda was handed a five-second penalty for making more than one change in direction.

Once Norris was free of the traffic, he could start to reduce out a comfort zone as Leclerc’s early-stint pace began to subside versus the McLaren. Since covering off Charles was simply Lando’s priority, he was told to stop for a second time on lap 40 as Leclerc switched to a two-stopper on the previous lap.

Leclerc dropped behind the 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 pressure.

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 laps.

Despite pitting and coming out behind, Leclerc was 25 seconds 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 lap 52 as the Ferrari went 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.

Lance Stroll and Ollie Bearman finished ninth and tenth on the track, 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 P10 ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.

So congratulations to Lando Norris in become the eleventh British world champion after the success of Lewis Hamilton. Kudos to McLaren in winning both the drivers’ and constructors’ title.

As for Max Verstappen, winning the season finale was a nice sign off for Red Bull. The fifth title did not happen but he will feel satisfied that his good friend Lando Norris is the new champion of the sport.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26:07.469
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +12.594s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +16.572s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +23.279s
5 George Russell Mercedes +48.563s
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +67.562s
7 Esteban Ocon Haas +69.876s
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +72.670s
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +74.523s
10 Oliver Bearman Haas +76.166s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +79.014s
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +81.043s
13 Carlos Sainz Williams +82.158s
14 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +83.794s
15 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +84.399s
16 Alexander Albon Williams +90.327s
17 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1 lap
18 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1 lap
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap

Max Verstappen achieved pole position in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri next up in a tense qualifying session.

The top three championship contenders are 1-2-3 on the grid for the season finale. It will be interesting come race day as one of these drivers will be the 2025 Formula 1 world champion.

With the pressure of on title battle, Verstappen showed his experience as Lando’s nerves was starting to affective throughout the progression of the session. On his opening Q3 lap, Verstappen posted a time of one minute, 22.295 seconds, a lap that would have been good enough for pole on its own.

The Papayas, who opened the final stage of qualifying with marginally used soft tyres – carried over from their final aborted Q2 laps – were some way off, as Piastri was just over a tenth clear of Norris ahead of the final runs.

Norris found some improvement on new softs, posting a time of one minute, 22.408 seconds on his second run. Piastri’s effort was a touch slower, giving the championship leader the upper hand on the grid. Meanwhile, Verstappen found 0.09 seconds of improvement and achieved pole position, with the championship contenders all in close situation for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

George Russell clinched fourth on the grid, despite moments of oversteer on both laps. In his opening run, Russell had a slide at Turn 14 and lost time, and then a tank-slapper at Turn 16 on his final effort.

Charles Leclerc was fifth, although admitted over the team radio that it was a “surprise” that he had made it through Q2 – noting that he was on the edge of aborting his lap “like five times” due to the Ferrari’s handling.

Fernando Alonso outqualified Gabriel Bortoleto, who jumped his way into a fifth Q3 appearance of the year, while Esteban Ocon finally found a good braking balance in qualifying and worked his way to eighth on the grid. Isack Hadjar was ninth, while Yuki Tsunoda will line up P10 having been use to give Verstappen a slipstream on his laps.

Despite impressive pace throughout the weekend, Oliver Bearman was unable to repeat it in Q2 and drop just 0.007 seconds outside of the cut-off to make it into the final stage of qualifying. Despite this, Bearman’s late lap carried him up to P11, placing him above Carlos Sainz in the order.

Sainz showed flashes of speed throughout the opening sector, but was unable to keep the lap together and was just 0.001 seconds behind Bearman’s effort.

Liam Lawson dropped out of the top ten by teammate Hadjar, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was a surprise contender from Q3 as the Mercedes driver struggled to tame his rear end through the final sector. Lance Stroll also fell out in Q2 and will start P15.

Lewis Hamilton dropped out of Q1 for the third successive race, as he sat on the edge of elimination before Bortoleto found enough improvement to leap into Q2. The Sauber driver’s lap, good enough for P14 in that session, put Hamilton among the bottom five.

Alexander Albon was up to seventh after his final lap of the session, but quick improvement across the field forced the Williams driver into a descent down the timing order. The slide stopped when he was down in P17, and already in the pits at the close of the session.

Bortoleto outqualified Nico Hulkenberg to ensure their qualifying head-to-head ends level at 12-12, as the Sauber driver was unable to deliver the team’s promising pace in practice to finish the session P18, ahead of the two Alpines. Pierre Gasly was 0.4 seconds clear of Franco Colapinto, who had two laps deleted in the session for track limits.

So congratulations to Max Verstauen by taking his eighth pole position of the season. It will be fascinating if the defending champion can win the race and use luck to affected the McLaren to win his fifth title. As for Lando Norris, starting a front row is a bonus. Just need to finish in P3 or higher to take the championship.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:22.207
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:22.408
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:22.437
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:22.645
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:22.730
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:22.902
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:22.904
8 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:22.913
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:23.072
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:23.083
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:23.041
12 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:23.042
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:23.077
14 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:23.080
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:23.097
16 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:23.394
17 Alexander Albon Williams 1:23.416
18 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:23.450
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:23.468
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:23.890