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Formula OneLando Norris is the new Formula One world champion after a measured drive in Abu Dhabi that delivered the podium finish he needed. Max Verstappen won the race, but his victory was not enough to unseat Norris' lead in the championship. With much speculation about the permutations of the season finale and the options Red Bull would have to help Verstappen win a fifth championship, it proved a thrilling, yet uneventful 58 laps to end the year.
Verstappen stormed to an incredible pole position with Norris alongside on the front row. The pair remained in P1 and P2 through the opening corners, but Norris' McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri shook up the playbook. Starting on Pirelli's Hard compound tyre while most rivals used the Medium, the Australian closed in on Norris on the run out of Turn 7. With Piastri having a long shot at winning the title, albeit with a lot needing to go his way, he appeared fired up to try and become champion.
Easing up to the back of Norris in the slipstream, Piastri swung around the outside of the long sweeping Turn 9 left-hander. Using the grip on the cambered corner, the Australian kept his nerve to make his way past Norris, who kept well clear of making contact that would destroy his title hopes. Post-race interviews suggested McLaren anticipated this and wanted Piastri's Pirelli tyre choice to prove a strategic headache for Red Bull. Irrespective, the pass was still quite the spectacle for a championship-deciding race.
Verstappen, however, was not catchable even with Piastri's speed. The Dutchman stormed ahead and broke the DRS gap to the chasing pack, leaving Piastri in P2 and unable to close in. Norris, sitting in a title-winning podium position, was adrift of Piastri, but his race wasn't looking simple in the early portions. An attack from behind by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc could alter history after the Monegasque's feisty start.
Leclerc and Fernando Alonso got the better of Mercedes' George Russell off the line, and duelled for P4 on the opening lap. The Ferrari driver won that Lap 1 scrap and began to inch closer to Norris as the race continued. Although the 2025 Ferrari had proved a challenging car to master, Leclerc had managed seven podium trips through the season and smelled another opportunity. That speed culminated in the two coming close at the same Turn 9 corner where Piastri passed, but Norris' defensive move held back the charge.
Elsewhere, Russell made up for his sluggish start by using DRS to pass Alonso for P5 into the Turn 6 braking zone. Russell has the honour of being the only driver outside of the title contenders to win a race in 2025 after victories in Canada and Singapore. His P4 start would've had him hoping to grab another trophy to round out his season. He and Leclerc were the only real dangers to Norris' championship hopes, but his lost time in the early laps meant Russell would need a Safety Car intervention if he wanted to impact the upper positions.
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A long-shot undercut from Mercedes did affect the race, though, with Russell being the first of the frontrunners to pit. Norris reached the end of Lap 16 on his Medium tyres before stopping for fresh Pirelli Hards. It was an inevitable hurdle on his way to the title, and McLaren's pit stops had been a little unpredictable over the season. With Leclerc stopping behind him, too, the pressure was on all pit crew members. A faultless 2.1s stop prevented any leapfrogging in the pit lane, though, and Norris returned to the track in P9 and crucially ahead of Russell.
With midfield traffic now in the way, Norris drove like a champion in clearing the slower cars to maintain his podium spot. Andrea Kimi Antonelli fell first, before a move on Carlos Sainz, and a double pass on Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson to underline his fresh Pirelli advantage. The next driver, however, was Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. With Red Bull announcing they would not keep him for 2026, Tsunoda didn't have anything to lose by trying to back Norris up into Leclerc, who was still hunting the Briton down.
In what proved to be the most contentious part of the race, Tsunoda weaved down the first DRS straight to try and prevent Norris from passing. Knowing the Japanese racer would be his toughest test, Norris kept close with DRS and swung to the left of the Red Bull to pass. The move ended with the McLaren almost touching the grass at the side of the circuit and going out of the track limits to complete the move. Two separate investigations flared up; Norris was alleged to have left the track and gained an advantage, while Tsunoda's repeat moves caused ire for McLaren.
The stewards deemed Tsunoda at fault and hit the Red Bull racer with a five-second penalty. Norris received no punishment, and this allowed him to race to the flag without worrying whether Leclerc was within a certain range or not. It was now simply about finishing the race and hoping that Verstappen would play no games in trying to back the chasing pack up to let Leclerc have a chance at passing.
Red Bull pitted Verstappen much later than the other Medium tyre drivers to allow the four-time champion to benefit from more Pirelli Hard compound grip. With Piastri running a long stint on his first tyre set, Verstappen even closed in and passed the Australian as the race reached its final stages, with McLaren waiting to pit their driver. With Leclerc stopping for a second time to allow Norris a 'free' pit stop, a range of strategies played out at the front. Even this slight intrigue couldn't affect the final order as Verstappen crossed the line unopposed, with Piastri and Norris concluding the podium.
That P3 finish was all Norris needed to do to join Britain's F1 elites. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, James Hunt, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, and Mike Hawthorn are now joined by the 26-year-old Bristol-born racer. An emotional in-lap concluded with doughnuts and tyre burnouts in spectacular style to close out what ended up being an incredibly tight season. Two points was the final margin in one of the closest years in F1 history of car performance from all ten teams. New regulations come into force next year, with a huge leap into the unknown next up in Australia when F1 resumes on March 8th.
