(Photo by Andy Hone/LAT Images)

F1 Review: Lando “Can Do!” Lando Norris Crowned World Champion As Max Verstappen Takes Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Win

by

Lando Norris managed the pressure and expectations to finish third in the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi on Sunday (December 7th), where a podium finish was all he needed to clinch his first Formula 1 world championship. McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bulls’ Max Verstappen battled for the race win, with Verstappen ultimately coming out on top.  

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, no doubt cheered on by Red Bull, was for much of the race the biggest threat to Norris finishing third, finished fourth. Mercedes’ George Russell was fifth, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was sixth, and Haas’ Esteban Ocon took seventh. 

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton ended his disappointing season on a high note, which, sadly, was an eighth-place finish. Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg was ninth, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished 10th.

“Oh God! I’ve not cried in a while,” said Norris. “I didn’t think I’d cry, but I did. It’s a long journey. First of all, I want to say a big thanks to my guys, everyone at McLaren, my parents… I’m not crying! My mum, my dad, they were the ones who supported me since the beginning.

“It feels amazing. Now I know what Max feels like a little bit, and I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors all season. It’s been a pleasure to race against both of them, and I’ve learnt a lot from both of them as well. I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a long year, but we did it, and I’m so proud of everyone.”

In the driver standings, Norris finished with just a two-point edge over Verstappen, 423 to 421. Piastri finished third with 410 points.

In the constructors standings, McLaren’s year-long dominance is evident by their 364-point lead over Mercedes, 833 to 469. Red Bull (or Verstappen) was third with 451 points.

The Race

Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri all started fast, and the top remained in order through the first half of lap 1. Piastri, on hard tires, slipped by his teammate around turn 9 to take second.

Verstappen was off and running, nearing a near two-second cushion over Piastri and not trying to back up the pack as many had presumed. Norris was dealing with the charging Ferrari of Leclerc, who was within DRS range of the McLaren.

Leclerc continued to badger Norris, to the point that McLaren told Norris he was free to use his medium tires more to increase the gap.

Ten laps in, reports of Verstappen’s right-front tire graining began to surface, but it didn’t appear to slow the Red Bull. 

Sky Sports chatted with McLaren’s Zac Brown, and Brown hinted that Piastri’s overtake of Norris on lap 1 was no accident. McLaren with the early and bold strategy move — would it be the right call? It’s not often that McLaren has outsmarted Red Bull.

Up front, Piastri was trimming the gap to Verstappen and forcing the Red Bull ace to stress his tires, which seemed to be the idea behind McLaren’s strategy.

Norris pitted on lap 17, and a 2.1-second stop for hard tires brought the McLaren out in ninth place, behind a DRS train. It wasn’t an ideal situation for Norris, but he quickly dispatched Antonelli and Sainz to move up to seventh. Then, Norris picked off Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson in one fell swoop on lap 20.

That left the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda in front of Norris, by about three seconds, and Tsunoda was sure to do everything to hold up Norris and finally, after a season of uselessness, offer some help to Verstappen.

Norris made the pass on lap 23 with a little resistance from Tsunoda, who moved over as Norris was passing and forced Norris nearly off the track. Stewards investigated Tsunoda for forcing Norris off the track, and were also looking into Norris leaving the track to gain an advantage. Tsunoda was ultimately issued a five-second penalty, while Norris was exonerated.

Verstappen pitted on lap 24 for hard tires and relinquished the lead to Piastri, who had yet to pit. Would Piastri be asked to play sacrificial lamb and protect Norris from a disastrous fourth-place finish? With Norris still being hounded by Leclerc, Norris might certainly need the help. 

When Piastri eventually pitted, he came out in fourth, behind Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc. Was the McLaren plan for Piastri, with newer tires, to play the team game, overtake Leclerc, and watch his teammate’s back?

Leclerc pitted for the second time on lap 40, which forced the hand of McLaren to pit Norris. Norris had a significant cushion over Leclerc, and a quick 2.4 stop for hard tires brought Norris out well ahead of Leclerc. Another perfect strategy call for McLaren.

Verstappen passed Piastri for the lead on lap 41, and Piastri finally made his first stop on lap 42. With 16 laps to go, Verstappen led, with Piastri and Norris trailing and in position for Norris to win the world title.

Leclerc was on medium tires and gaining time on Norris, who was on hard tires. A team order might be necessary to let Norris pass Piastri if Norris couldn’t hold off Leclerc. Norris’ cushion over Leclerc was over four seconds with 12 laps remaining.

Verstappen’s lead over Piastri was 22 seconds, which meant, should Red Bull desire, they could pit Verstappen, maintain the lead, and then hold up traffic and hope for some chaos behind. “Choas,” meaning anything that would drop Norris below third place.

That gap was down to 20 seconds, so the “pit and hold up traffic” strategy was out. Now, Verstappen’s only hope was to hold position and pray for Leclerc to somehow get past Norris.

With four laps to go, Leclerc was no longer a threat. Norris was on his way and praying that Abu Dhabi would stay safety-car-free.

Verstappen took the checkered flag with a 12-second lead over Piastri, and Norris clinched the world championship with a third-place finish. Lando Norris is the 2025 Formula 1 world champion!

The Bad

Yuki Tsunoda tried to do his Red Bull teammate Verstappen a favor by holding up Norris, but Tsunoda did not have the car, the talent, the guile, or the desire to inconvenience Norris at all. Actually, Tsunoda has the car; the problem was that he was driving it. 

But Tsunoda did have the audacity to force Norris off the track as the McLaren zoomed by on lap 23. I’m not saying Tsunoda was trying to make contact with Norris; I’m also not saying Tsunoda was not trying to make contact with Norris. I am saying Tsunoda forced Norris off the track intentionally, with the purposes of 1) making Norris take evasive actually and possibly be penalized for leaving the track to gain an advantage, or 2) forcing Norris off the racing surface and possibly causing the McLaren driver to lose control and/or damage his car, thus making it more difficult for Norris to finish third or better.

Tsunoda did succeed in getting Norris investigated for leaving the track to gain an advantage. But stewards chose not to penalize Norris faster than Norris passed Tsunoda. And, in textbook Tsunoda fashion, when informed that he had earned a penalty, Tsunoda reacted as if he had been wrongly accused of something he had no knowledge of doing. 

The Good

It’s always good when the championship battle is decided in the season finale. So we all owe McLaren a big “Thank you.”

But credit goes to McLaren for finally nailing their strategy calls in a race in which the championship hung in the balance. Wisely, McLaren put Norris and Piastri on different tire strategies: Norris started on the medium tire, while Piastri started on the hards. 

While it seemed startling at the time when Piastri passed Norris midway through lap 1, it all made sense a little later. McLaren wanted to pressure Verstappen to use his tires, but they obviously didn’t want Norris stressing his tires to achieve this objective. Sending Piastri, on hard tires, and on a longer stint, made it nearly impossible for Verstappen to employ a strategy many predicted: holding up the field to increase the likelihood that Norris would lose positions. Verstappen couldn’t do that, because that strategy only worked if Verstappen won the race. Piastri was in Verstappen’s mirror for much of the race, and Verstappen had to press; otherwise, Piastri would catch him.

McLaren also did a stellar job of nailing the timing and execution of their pit stops. All of their stops were in the 2.0-2.4 second range.

All three championship contenders did what they needed to do to win the world championship. And since Norris did what he needed to do, which was finish third of better, it left the efforts of Verstappen and Piastri feeling empty.

Congratulations to all three for handling the immense pressure, racing cleanly, and not making a single mistake during the race. Verstappen and Piastri forced Norris to earn the world championship, and he did.


Grid Walk Moments

Martin Brundle’s final Grid Walk of the year began inauspiciously when he was totally ignored by actress Ana de Armas, who ran away like Brundle was a member of the paparazzi. Just a heads up, Ana, if you’re looking to avoid paparazzi on the grid at the championship-deciding, watched-by-millions, final F1 race of the year, then I’m guessing you’d be terrible at a game of hide and seek.

After that, Brundle chatted with a veritable who’s who of legends across the sporting spectrum, including four-time F1 world champion Alain Prost, soccer legends Thierry Henry, Micah Richards, and Ronaldinho (who was worried about his grasp of English; do not fear, Ronaldinho, you speak way better English that past Grid Walk buffoon Machine Gun Kelly), as well as four-time tennis Grand Slam winner Janik Sinner.  

Brundle could likely have had more interactions with other celebrities/athletes, but noted Lego car chauffeur Terry Crews was busy holding court at various places along the grid and C-blocking Brundle’s advances. To be clear, the “C” here stands for “chat.”

The Driver

Norris was understandably overcome with emotion after the race, and understandably so, because when you combine the elation of completing a lifelong dream with the stress-inducing ups and downs of a season like 2025, it’s bound to be draining.

Norris’ tears of joy would have been nothing compared to his tears had the entire McLaren organization not won the world championship. After both sprint and race wins in Brazil on November 9th, Norris led Piastri by 24 points in the drivers standings, and 49 points over Verstappen. If Norris had used a chess term and said “check” at this point, no one would have faulted him.

But due to his own and McLaren’s various failures and occasional successes, starting after Brazil, Norris wasn’t able to follow up with “checkmate” until the checkered flag on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, almost a full month after Brazil.

That may have made the end result that much more satisfying for Norris, who may have taken the hard way to reach the end goal. But who’s going to remember, or care, about that a year, a month, a week from now, or even tomorrow?

I’m sure Norris would have liked to punctuate his world title with a win, but as it was at the Yas Marina circuit, Norris’ third place was “yas-sified” and felt just as good as a race win.

  
The Results (Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit)

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTime / RetiredPts.
11Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing581:26:07.46925
281Oscar PiastriMcLaren58+12.594s18
34Lando NorrisMcLaren58+16.572s15
416Charles LeclercFerrari58+23.279s12
563George RussellMercedes58+48.563s10
614Fernando AlonsoAston Martin58+67.562s8
731Esteban OconHaas F1 Team58+69.876s6
844Lewis HamiltonFerrari58+72.670s4
927Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber58+79.014s2
1018Lance StrollAston Martin58+79.523s1
115Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber58+81.043s0
1287Oliver BearmanHaas F1 Team58+81.166s0
1355Carlos SainzWilliams58+82.158s0
1422Yuki TsunodaRed Bull Racing58+83.794s0
1512Kimi AntonelliMercedes58+84.399s0
1623Alexander AlbonWilliams58+90.327s0
176Isack HadjarRacing Bulls57+1 lap0
1830Liam LawsonRacing Bulls57+1 lap0
1910Pierre GaslyAlpine57+1 lap0
2043Franco ColapintoAlpine57+1 lap0
Donate to Frontstretch

A name and email address are required to post a comment. The email address is not publicly visible or shared. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated according to our comment policy.

Comments are listed in order from oldest to newest. Leave a comment

4 thoughts on “F1 Review: Lando “Can Do!” Lando Norris Crowned World Champion As Max Verstappen Takes Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Win”

  1. THAT’S how you have a dramatic finale!

    I was mildly surprised Red Bull didn’t pit Verstappen near the end, and have him try and stack up the field to bring Leclerc back into play. I suppose they realized McLaren would just have Piastri allow Norris by if needed, and since Mercedes didn’t pit Russell a second time, he wasn’t in play to challenge Leclerc or Norris. I was also concerned Verstappen might intentionally dirty up the start, to see if he could force Norris into an accident.

    Still, I found myself on the edge of my seat as the laps wound down. Even the final lap, any issue for Norris could have spelled disaster.

    Congrats to Norris and McLaren. They made some mistakes over the season, but they did enough to win both titles, and both drivers were fast all year. Even more impressive that McLaren did it with minimal team orders, and both cars frequently in close proximity to one another. Was a great year.

    Hope Apple doesn’t mess up the broadcast next year. The Sky Sports broadcast borders on perfection.

  2. McLaren did their homework this time and made sure their strategy covered all possibilities, good and bad, that may have happened. I guess McLaren should be commended for their strategy, and also criticized for all the previous blunders that nearly overshadowed their success.

    Not sure if Apple’s bringing anything special to F1 broadcasts, I just know fewer people will be watching.

  3. What kind of Mickey Mouse racing series is this? You telling me the guy who won the last race of the season is somehow NOT the Champion?

    Seriously, good on McLaren for recovering from the setback at Vegas. Also good on Verstappen for maximizing the opportunity that put him back in contention and making them sweat it out until the very end.

    • Gotta say, had I not seen your name before reading the post, I would have been annoyed before getting to the punch line. Well played.

      And YES. This was a championship for the ages. It’s when outcomes like this happen organically that it becomes historically great (from a sports perspective).

      If you make everything a “game seven moment” within a sport, then paradoxically, nothing is a “game seven moment”. It’s all just noise.

Comments are closed.