Max Verstappen held off a charging Oscar Piastri to claim Abu Dhabi GP victory, while Lando Norris’ podium finish was enough to crown him the 2025 F1 world champion in a thrilling Formula 1 season finale.
The British driver took the checkered flag in third to seal his maiden F1 title by a mere two points in one of the most dramatic championship deciders in Formula 1 history.
The race which unfolded under the floodlights of the glittering Abu Dhabi night sky saw Verstappen start from pole position after dominating qualifying, leading from lights out and maintaining control throughout the 58-lap contest despite strategic pit stops and tire management challenges.
Norris, entering the weekend with a 12-point lead over Verstappen, needed only a podium to seal his maiden world title and he delivered precisely that, navigating traffic and defensive battles to hold off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in a tense showdown.
As the lights went out, Verstappen rocketed off the line in his Red Bull RB21, securing a clean getaway and immediately pulling a gap on the chasing pack.
Right behind, McLaren’s duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris got their strategy underway perfectly with Piastri starting on the harder compound tires for an offset approach, lunging past Norris into second place on the very first lap through the tight Turn 9 complex.
Leclerc, gridding fifth after a strong qualifying, made a jump on Fernando Alonso and George Russell to take fourth.
The early laps unfolded with high drama in the midfield, where Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls VCARB 02 earned a five-second penalty for erratic driving after a tangle with Bearman at the Turn 6/7 chicane, dropping him down the order and highlighting the tight racing in the desert heat.
Pierre Gasly in the Alpine A525 pushed hard but picked up his own five-second sanction for exceeding track limits at Turn 9, as teammate Franco Colapinto struggled with understeer, languishing at the rear from his lowly starting position.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso sliced through the pack to reach seventh by Lap 10, his experience shining as he defended against Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
By Lap 16, the first wave of pit stops hit, with Norris diving in early to switch to fresh mediums, a move that dropped him down to ninth behind Kimi Antonelli at the end of a DRS train.
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Norris dived to the inside of Antonelli’s Mercedes at Turn 6 to take eighth, before overcoming Williams’ Carlos Sainz at the end of the second back straight to take P7.
He picked both Lance Stroll and Lawson a lap later at Turn 6, falling behind Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull, under the order to hold up the charging McLaren.
Tsunoda who was nursing hards weaved hard on the back straight between Turn 5 and 6 in a controversial defense tactic which forced Norris wide, prompting the stewards to hand the Japanese driver a five-second penalty for more than one change of direction.
Norris was cleared by stewards after review as he made the move past Tsunoda stick, taking the fourth spot in the running.
Meanwhile, Verstappen stayed out longer before pitting on Lap 24 for hards and rejoined the race behind Piastri who had gone long on his opening stint, a strategic masterstroke by McLaren that spaced out their stops and minimized time loss.
As the race approached the halfway mark, Lewis Hamilton methodically passed Williams’ Alex Albon who copped a pit-lane speeding penalty, before edging out Ocon a couple of turns later to take eighth.
On Lap 40, Verstappen went on to pass Piastri at Turn 6 to re-gain the lead, while Leclerc pitted for the second time to rejoin the race in third behind Norris who made a stop for hards a lap later.
The Ferrari immediately set out to pressure the McLaren using DRS to close gaps in sectors two and three where the SF-25 excelled in cornering speed.
Thus, Norris responded to maintain the gap at around four seconds, which grew when Leclerc’s tyre life began to drop off in the final five laps – and it was simply a case of Norris holding on to ensure the 2025 F1 world championship title was his.
Verstappen ultimately crossed the line 12.6 seconds ahead of Piastri to claim Abu Dhabi GP victory, marking Red Bull’s final Honda-powered win before the Japanese manufacturer’s shift to Aston Martin starting 2026.
George Russell was fifth, as Alonso, Ocon, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Stroll rounded out the points.
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