Verstappen won the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP and Norris became world champion

Max Verstappen confidently won the season-ending 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, but Lando Norris became the world champion, finishing in third position while controlling the course of the race. The season finale was very calm and predictable at the front, but there was some fighting further down the field.

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The race at the Yas Marina circuit was held in ideal weather conditions, with the track temperature around 30 degrees Celsius. It was an extremely calm race, all drivers reached the finish line, there were no collisions, and it seems to me that there were no yellow flags at all.

2025 Abu Dhabi GP race results

Duel of the top drivers for the race victory and the world championship

I have been following Formula 1 for over 25 years, and during this time I have watched several season finales where the fate of the drivers’ championship titles was decided. It is always the case that the competition for this title in the last race of the season is quite boring and predictable, because everyone drives cautiously. The situation only changes in the event of unexpected events that are then remembered for years. In 2021, the Abu Dhabi finale was boring until the final neutralization. In 2010, there was excitement due to Ferrari’s strategic error, but the race itself was boring. In 2012, there was excitement due to rain at Interlagos and a hit on Vettel’s car at the start. The famous 2008 finale at Interlagos, when Felipe Massa was world champion for 30 seconds, was a classic procession until the final laps when rain fell and mixed things up. In summary, if nothing surprising happens, the fight for the world championship is predictable and the favorite wins.

Max Verstappen defended himself at the start of the Abu Dhabi GP and won the race quite confidently. The Dutchman executed a classic one-stop strategy, was the fastest for most of the distance, and no one threatened him. Only in the middle of the competition, when Piastri, who was on an offset strategy, was a threat to him if a neutralization had appeared then. It is worth emphasizing that Verstappen did not try any dirty tricks in this race, deliberate slowing down over the distance or pushing a rival into the wall at the start. The Dutchman did his job and won the race. To become world champion, he needed an unlucky performance from the McLaren drivers, and that did not happen, so he is second in the final general classification.

Second place in the race was taken by Oscar Piastri, who ran an alternative strategy – starting on hard tires. On the first lap, he overtook Norris, which looked like a planned move. Later, he drove at a good pace, staying two seconds behind Verstappen. Piastri’s lap times were good, and the alternative strategy guaranteed him second place. However, he was unable to catch Verstappen at the end because his time loss was too great. Only a virtual or full neutralization halfway through the distance would have given him the win. Nothing like that happened, so he took second place. The alternative strategy was a bullseye from McLaren, as it prevented risky moves from Red Bull and Verstappen.

Lando Norris was cautious at the start and later let Piastri through without a fight. The Briton concentrated on maintaining third position, which gave him the world championship. His only rival was Charles Leclerc, who drove very close, staying within DRS range for many laps. The problem with Leclerc was that his pace was very good only for the first dozen or so laps on a given set of tires. Later he slowed down and Norris built an advantage, because there was no such drop in pace for him. These two drivers went for two pit stops, which was somewhat forced by their direct duel and the desire to protect themselves from rivals. Norris drove several laps excellently after his first pit stop, when he very efficiently overtook several rivals, as well as Tsunoda, who wanted to block him at all costs.

During the duel with Tsunoda, the Japanese driver broke the rules and pushed Norris off the track with his driving. It is true that Norris went outside the white line, but Tsunoda was the instigator. Any penalty for Norris would have been very unfair in this situation. The stewards judged it well by giving Tsunoda a penalty for too many changes of direction on the straight.

Discussion of other significant driver and team results in the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP

The only driver who could fight with the three favorites for the podium was Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque had a good start and drove close to Norris for many laps using the DRS system. However, he did not risk overtaking even once. Leclerc’s problem was higher tire degradation, so he lost ground over a longer distance. His only chance for success was an earlier first pit stop, but McLaren read it perfectly by changing Norris’s tires at the same moment.

George Russell was fifth, but his race pace was very poor. At times he lost as much as two seconds per lap to the leaders. The Briton went for a one-stop strategy, which he performed quickly, so he simply focused on reaching the finish line on those tires. He had no chance of catching the top four, and no one threatened him from behind. Kimi Antonelli started from the second half of the field, had an offset strategy, but his pace was also disappointing, so he did not score points.

Fernando Alonso drove above expectations, having a very nice start and fighting with theoretically faster drivers. After his only pit stop, he lost many positions, but later maintained a good pace to the finish and secured a strong sixth place. I did not expect such a good result; I thought Aston Martin would have higher tire degradation.

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Seventh place was taken by Esteban Ocon, who deserves a mention. In my opinion, Ocon is now an F1 specialist in unusual strategies and long stints on the same set of tires. In Abu Dhabi, he had a good starting position, which he turned into good points. Along the way, he overtook several rivals and defended himself against Hamilton at the end.

The aforementioned Lewis Hamilton had an aggressive strategy that was ideal for him. He started on soft tires, which he changed quickly, performing a total of two pit stops. For most of the distance, he had fresher tires than his direct rivals and overtook quite a few. Eighth place for such a driver is not a good result, but considering the starting position, he must be satisfied.

Ninth place was taken by Nico Hulkenberg, who moved up due to penalties for Bearman and Stroll, as the German was 11th at the finish line. Hulk had the same strategy as Hamilton but was slower than him over the race distance. His two points are historically the last gain for Sauber in F1, as from 2026 this team changes into Audi. Hulkenberg started the race from 18th on the grid, so the race in his performance was very good.

Lance Stroll performed the only pit stop latest of the entire field, only on lap 42. Along the way, he earned a 5-second penalty for too many defensive moves in a duel with Sainz, but on the last lap, he broke into the points by overtaking Bearman. It was the last successful overtaking maneuver of 2025.

The stewards in the race awarded four identical penalties: 5 seconds and 1 penalty point for Tsunoda, Stroll, Lawson, and Bearman. In my opinion, Tsunoda should have received a more severe penalty, a 10-second addition and 2 penalty points, because in his case it was a deliberate action.

Yuki Tsunoda had one task in this race: to hinder the McLaren drivers. He defended hard against Norris, but broke the rules and did not block him at all. Ultimately, the Japanese driver said