Formula 1 concluded the 2025 season with a historic finale at the Abu Dhabi GP, and Lando Norris emerged from Yas Marina as the youngest world champion. The British driver finished the race in third place, exactly the result he needed to secure the title for the first time in his career, crowning a campaign marked by consistency, psychological pressure, and a tight battle against Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.
Norris became the 35th world champion in the history of F1 and the 11th British driver to win the title, extending the dominance of the United Kingdom in the sport. He also ended a long wait for McLaren, which had not won the Drivers’ Championship since Lewis Hamilton in 2008. Furthermore, it took him 152 GPs to become champion, the fourth-longest “waiting time” in history, behind Button, Mansell, and Rosberg.
Despite winning the Abu Dhabi GP, Max Verstappen lost the title by just two points, the narrowest margin since the adoption of the current scoring system in 2010. The Dutchman was dethroned after 1,457 days as champion, but ended the year as the driver who won the most races in 2025, with eight victories, in addition to setting 10 consecutive podiums at the end of the season. The win in Abu Dhabi was also his 71st in his career, further solidifying his legacy.
Oscar Piastri finished second at Yas Marina and closed the championship in third, despite having led the championship for more time than any other driver in 2025, totaling 15 GPs at the top of the table. The Australian reinforced his status as a protagonist for the coming years.
The Abu Dhabi GP maintained an impressive standard. For the 11th consecutive time, the race was won by a driver who started from pole position, a new absolute record for a circuit in Formula 1. Thus, Verstappen used the statistic to his advantage, although it was not enough to turn the championship around.
Among the additional highlights of the stage, Charles Leclerc was fourth and ended his seventh season at Ferrari without winning, being the fourth time this has happened. George Russell repeated the fifth place of the previous year and completed all 24 races of the calendar, something that few drivers have achieved. Fernando Alonso, in sixth, achieved his best result in Yas Marina since 2013.
Esteban Ocon was seventh with Haas, his best performance since Monaco, and the American team recorded its best result in history in Abu Dhabi. Lewis Hamilton, eighth, ended a full season without stepping onto the podium for the first time. Lance Stroll closed the top-10 and scored points again after being scoreless since the Dutch GP in August.
Gabriel Bortoleto finished outside the points zone for the first time after starting in the top-10, closing his first year in F1 with Sauber. Meanwhile, Alpine, despite being last in the Constructors’ Championship, scored 22 points and became the “lantern” team with the highest score in the category’s history.
Another relevant mark, the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP was the 24th Grand Prix without classified dropouts, and the fourth of the year. Now, teams have only 91 days until the opening of the 2026 season in Australia.
The champion changed, but the excitement remained high until the last meter. Norris, Piastri, and Verstappen wrote one of the most balanced and electrifying seasons in recent years, and the numbers of the decision help tell this story.
