Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi 2025: Norris champion, Verstappen winner
ABU DHABI — Max Verstappen did everything he could to try and claim the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship but it wasn’t enough to beat Lando Norris.
With a third-place finish in Sunday night’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, McLaren’s Norris clinched the 2025 F1 driver’s title and became the 35th different driver in history to do so. He beat Max Verstappen by two points.
“This is amazing, what a season! What a group of drivers we have. It was exciting, a little too exciting,” McLaren team principal Zak Brown said.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s run as world champion came to an end in victory lane with a win in the race for Red Bull. He won the pole and commanded control of the 58-lap race.
Between them, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri came up 13 points shy of global glory in second. His team tried what they could to help him, keeping him out for 42 laps on hard tires but he fell to Verstappen in the end.
Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Bearman and Lance Stroll finished inside the top 10.
The closest challenger to the championship contenders was Leclerc who challenged Norris for third after Piastri jumped to second at the start behind Verstappen.
McLaren’s orders for Piastri to pick up the pace to minimize dirty air to Norris, however, allowed Norris to keep Leclerc behind.
Norris was the first to pit road on lap 17. In two laps, he cleared the DRS train and jumped to fifth.
Five laps later, he found himself in third again behind Verstappen and Piastri after passing Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda — prompting Verstappen to pit for the first time.
Tsunoda picked up a five-second penalty for moving twice while trying to defend Norris.
Piastri also lost time as the race went on but in another way — staying out for 42 laps on hard tires and pitting after Verstappen passed him and Norris pitted again on lap 41 to cover a lap 40 undercut stop by Leclerc.
All of that was just to shuffle back to status quo and shaky hands as everyone watched to see if something would shake up the championship — but nothing did. Verstappen lost the title to Norris but won the race.
2025 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Results
- Max Verstappen
- Oscar Piastri
- Lando Norris
- Charles Leclerc
- George Russell
- Fernando Alonso
- Esteban Ocon
- Lewis Hamilton
- Oliver Bearman
- Lance Stroll
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Carlos Sainz
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Kimi Antonelli
- Alexander Albon
- Isack Hadjar
- Liam Lawson
- Pierre Gasly
- Franco Colapinto
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com