Abu Dhabi GP 2025: Verstappen wins, Norris takes the title

Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position on 7 December, 12.6 seconds clear of Oscar Piastri, and still lost the world championship. Lando Norris finished third at Yas Marina, which was all he needed, and took his first Formula 1 title by two points. He is McLaren's first drivers' champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

How Verstappen won and Norris held third

Verstappen kept the lead at the start. Piastri, the only one of the top three on hard tyres, went around the outside of his team-mate at Turn 9 and took second on the opening lap. That left Norris third, exactly where the arithmetic made him champion, with Charles Leclerc's Ferrari close behind.

Norris and Leclerc pitted on lap 16, and Norris rejoined ninth, in traffic. He cleared Kimi Antonelli, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson, then went past Yuki Tsunoda with all four wheels off the track after the Red Bull moved more than once to defend. The stewards took no action against Norris and gave Tsunoda a five-second penalty.

Verstappen stopped on lap 24 and handed the lead to Piastri, who ran a long first stint on the hards. As Piastri's tyres faded, Verstappen reeled him in and passed him on the back straight. Piastri then took mediums and cut a 24-second deficit roughly in half by the flag. Leclerc made a second stop on lap 40, Norris covered it a lap later and finished 6.7 seconds ahead of the Ferrari.

The teammate duels at Yas Marina

McLaren. Norris out-qualified Piastri by 0.029 seconds, and Piastri beat him on Sunday. Each got what he could: Piastri the race duel, Norris the crown. On F1 Duels, their 2025 head-to-head ends 14–10 to Norris in qualifying and 12–10 in races, a gap that looks a lot like the 13 points between them in the final standings.

Red Bull. Verstappen's eighth win of the year came on the same afternoon Tsunoda finished 14th, after his penalty, in his last race as a Red Bull driver. In our count, Verstappen vs Tsunoda closes the season 22–0 in qualifying and 20–0 in races. Since Tsunoda's promotion at Suzuka, his column has stayed empty.

Ferrari. Hamilton went out in Q1 and started 16th. He began on softs, switched to two stops and finished eighth, just behind Esteban Ocon's Haas. Leclerc, fifth on the grid and fourth at the flag, put more pressure on Norris than anyone. Hamilton vs Leclerc finishes 19–5 to Leclerc on Saturdays and 18–3 on Sundays on F1 Duels, a hard first year in red for a seven-time champion.

Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso qualified sixth and finished sixth. Stroll started 15th and took the last point in tenth. That is a decent Sunday, and it does not touch the bigger picture: Alonso ends the year 23–0 in qualifying in his duel with Stroll, and 14–3 in races.

Further back, Nico Hülkenberg went from 18th to ninth for Sauber on a two-stop race, while Gabriel Bortoleto, seventh on the grid, dropped to 11th. All 20 cars were classified.

What it means for the title

Norris arrived 12 points ahead of Verstappen and 16 ahead of Piastri. He leaves with 423 points, against 421 for Verstappen and 410 for Piastri. One place lower, behind Leclerc, and the title would have gone to Red Bull. Every verdict from the finale is on the Abu Dhabi GP duels page.