Verstappen wins in Abu Dhabi but Norris earns first F1 Championship by two points after coming home P3; Piastri finishes second in epic season for McLaren
The 2025 Forula 1 season came to a nail-bitingly tense close in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came just two points shy of securing his fifth consecutive title despite winning at Yas Marina Circuit and McLaren’s Lando Norris completed a dream season for him and the team by earning his first Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship with a steady but by no means drama-free third place finish. With Verstappen starting from the pole and Norris lined up alongside him to begin the 58-lap season finale, Norris was immediately put on the back foot by his teammate Oscar Piastri, who started third and on the Hard Pirrelli tires, the only driver in the top ten to do so, but easily passed Norris on the opening lap to nab P2 and drop Norris into the clutches of the very rapid Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. But, as Verstappen and Piastri sailed away, Norris was able to fend off Leclerc’s best efforts and maintain his crucial third-place spot until his first pit stop for fresh tires on Lap 17. Norris then doffed his opening set of Medium tires and bolted on his own Hard Pirellis to try to run a long second stint, perhaps even to the end. Leclerc came in on the same lap and made the same tire switch and then both came out P9 and P10 respectively behind a lot of midfield runners. Norris quickly and decisively set about making a series of overtakes to get him back up into the crucial podium position he would need need to guarantee his World Championship even should Verstappen go on to win the race, as now seemed the probable outcome.
Here’s a replay of Norris overtaking Tsunoda 👀#F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/qi6NGBEECg
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 7, 2025
After whipping his way back up to P4 by lap 23, Norris was confronted by the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who was told in no uncertain terms by his race engineer to make like difficult for the McLaren man in an effort to boost Verstappen’s chances at snatching the title. But Tsunoda took things a bit too far on Lap 23 by weaving across the track heading into the high speed Turn 6/7 complex and then forcing Norris into the tight runoff area on the straight and off of the track itself before the championship aspirant could finalize his committed pass for P3. Ominously for both drivers, the Stewards announced an investigation of both Tsunoda for forcing Norris off and Norris for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. The authorities quickly decided that only Tsunoda would be penalized, with Norris only judged to have been taking evasive action despite having all four wheels off track. That was really the crucial moment, as not only did Norris escape a penalty that may or may not have been significant to his overall result but, more importantly, he didn’t damage his car despite Tsunoda’s shenanigans.
Meanwhile, Verstappen decided to pit from the lead on Lap 24, making the move from Mediums to Hards, while Piastri kept running his Hards after inheriting the lead. For a fleeting few laps, Piastri had a pit stop’s advantage on Verstappen of over the 21-second delta here at Yas Marina, but the team chose not to take the risk in order to insure Piastri was in play to aid Norris in the closing stanza, if needed. Verstappen steadily chipped away at Piastri’s advantage and then overtook the young Aussie to regain the race lead on Lap 41. Piastri dove into the pits for his first stop a lap later, making the contrarian Hard-to-Medium switch to finish out the race. He still had enough of a lead over his teammate to come out in P2, well ahead of Norris, and well over 22-seconds adrift of Verstappen. Red Bull also declined to roll the dice and pit Verstappen a second time for fresh rubber, instead hoping against hope that Leclerc, who had forced Norris to make a second stop on Lap 41 for fresh Hard after the Monegasque had tried a two-stop undercut on Lap 40, might pull off a late overtake on Norris due to that Scuderia strategy call. But the Ferrari faded down the stretch and, while Verstappen claimed victory when the checkers flew and Piastri maintained his second place, it was Norris who claimed his first F1 crown and snapped Verstappen’s Championship streak at four by a scant two points.
This party might go on for some time! 🧡#F1 #AbuDhabiGP @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/jY8AC5iivW
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 7, 2025
Top 10 finishers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
| CLA | DRIVER | # | LAPS | TIME | INTERVAL | KM/H | PITS | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing | 1 |  |
58 |
– |
1 | 25 | ||
| 2 | O. Piastri McLaren | 81 |  |
58 |
+12.594 12.594 |
12.594 | 1 | 18 | |
| 3 | L. Norris McLaren | 4 |  |
58 |
+16.572 16.572 |
3.978 | 2 | 15 | |
| 4 | C. Leclerc Ferrari | 16 |  |
58 |
+23.279 23.279 |
6.707 | 2 | 12 | |
| 5 | G. Russell Mercedes | 63 |  |
58 |
+48.563 48.563 |
25.284 | 1 | 10 | |
| 6 | F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing | 14 |  |
58 |
+1’07.562 1’07.562 |
18.999 | 1 | 8 | |
| 7 | E. Ocon Haas F1 Team | 31 |  |
58 |
+1’09.876 1’09.876 |
2.314 | 1 | 6 | |
| 8 | L. Hamilton Ferrari | 44 |  |
58 |
+1’12.670 1’12.670 |
2.794 | 2 | 4 | |
| 9 | L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing | 18 |  |
58 |
+1’14.523 1’14.523 |
1.853 | 1 | 2 | |
| 10 | O. Bearman Haas F1 Team | 87 |  |
58 |
+1’16.166 1’16.166 |
1.643 |
Complete race results available via Formula1.com.
| PTS | |
|---|---|
|
1
 |
423 |
|
2
 |
421 |
|
3
 |
410 |
|
4
|
319 |
|
5
 |
242 |
|
6
|
156 |
|
7
 |
150 |
|
8
 |
73 |
|
9
 |
64 |
|
10
|
56 |
|
11
 |
51 |
|
12
 |
51 |
|
13
|
41 |
|
14
 |
38 |
|
15
|
38 |
|
16
 |
33 |
|
17
 |
33 |
|
18
|
22 |
|
19
 |
19 |
|
20
 |
0 |
|
21
|
0 |
| PTS | |
|---|---|
|
1
|
833 |
|
2
|
469 |
|
3
|
451 |
|
4
|
398 |
|
5
|
137 |
|
6
|
92 |
|
7
|
89 |
|
8
|
79 |
|
9
|
70 |
|
10
|
22 |