Race Report: Verstappen wins race, Norris wins title

Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but it was Lando Norris who claimed the 2025 World Championship over teammate Oscar Piastri and Max. After holding the title for over 1,400 days, Verstappen hands the title to Norris who is the 35th different driver to be a Formula 1 world champion.

The race wasn’t the most exciting race, Abu Dhabi can be a bit dull for a season-ending race, but it was an intense race via the unfolding strategy and everything to play for.

Win

A huge win for McLaren and Lando Norris for winning the driver’s title. It got tense as Lando had to make some very aggressive passes on Antonelli, Sainz, Stroll and Lawson after his first stop and had he not done that, he may not be champion. McLaren have so much to be proud of from where they have come from just three years ago. Lando is the 11th British champion in F1 history and deserving champ given what he’s overcome. He could have left McLaren but stayed to see it through and he deserves the title.

A win for Max Verstappen and Red Bull for the complete turnaround they managed to do in 2025. Max drove a great race for his 8th win in 2025 but if I’m honest, I was a bit surprised they didn’t box late to try and bunch the McLaren’s up to see what might happen. They had nothing to lose in trying but McLAren could have swapped Lando and Oscar and George wasn’t a real threat so maybe that’s why they didn’t.

A win for Charles Leclerc who looked terrific given Ferrari’s recent struggles. He drove a great race to finish P4 an kept McLaren on their toes the entire race. Lewis Hamilton clawed his way up to P8 with both Ferrari’s showing good race pace.

A win for Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon for getting into the points as Aston Martin and Haas battled for P7 in the constructor’s championship. At one point, it looked like Haas had two drivers in the points but Ollie dropped back and Fernando made sure he gave Aston Martin P7.

A win for Nico Hulkenberg who gave Sauber points on its last season in F1.

Fail

A fail for Mercedes who didn’t factor int he race for a podium even though they initially seemed to have race pace. George languished down in P5 and Kimi struggled down in P15.

A fail for Racing Bulls who looked like they may be in for points but drifted backwards. Also for Williams who also seemed to have left points on the table.

WTH

Wow, this track hates the Alpine chassis. Good grief!

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“Congratulations to Lando Norris on winning his first drivers’ title. The battle went all the way to the final round of the season – which was one of the most closely-fought of the last few years thanks to the similarly competitive pace of the different teams. Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri certainly didn’t hold back today, giving us a thrilling final.

In terms of strategy, the majority of the teams opted for a one-stopper using the most consistent two compounds as we expected: in some cases, stretching the hard tyre stint for more than 40 laps.  Even though there was no graining on the hardest compound, there were still inevitably some signs of wear in the final laps.

Among the drivers choosing the alternative strategy, the newly crowned champion Lando Norris stands out. He went for a two-stopper, probably prompted by the extra pit stop for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, using the two fresh sets of hard tyres that McLaren had saved in their build-up to the race.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also used a fresh set of tyres for his final stint, which in this case was the medium. This excellent choice allowed him to make up several places, underlining how close the two strategic options were, as shown by our simulations.

Pirelli’s job does not stop here: we will be back on track on Tuesday together with all the teams for a full test day, A total of 10 mule cars piloted by the race drivers will try out the new 2026 tyre range, while 10 young drivers will take to the track with this year’s cars and tyres.”

Abu Dhabi GP Results: