The final race in the 2025 Formula 1 World Champion fight commenced in Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday December 7th. This highly anticipated race determined the results for the season after a hard-fought battle between three talented drivers. 

This championship title fight was the 32nd time in the sport’s 75 year history that a championship battle has gone down to the final race. It was also the first time in 15 years that the World Championship was fought for in the final race of the season by more than 2 drivers. The last time this occurred, 2010, the championship was won by Sebastion Vettel, after a close 4-way fight between Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and Mark Webber. In the 2025 Formula 1 season, the championship battle was between 3 drivers: Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri.  

Before the final race weekend, Lando Norris was in the lead with 408 points. Max Verstappen followed just 12 points behind with 396, and Oscar Piastri just 4 points behind that with 392. While these were the only three drivers with enough points to be in contention for the championship title, the rest of the grid followed in this order: 

4. George Russell-309 points
5. Charles Leclerc-230 points
6. Lewis Hamilton-152 points
7. Kimi Antonelli-150 points
8. Alex Albon-73 points
9. Carlos Sainz-64 points
10. Issak Hadjar-51 points
11. Nico Hulkenberg-49 points
12. Fernando Alonso-48 points
13. Ollie Bearman-41 points
14. Liam Lawson-38 points
15. Yuki Tsunoda-33 points
16. Esteban Ocon-32 points
17. Lance Stroll-32 points
18. Pierre Gasly-22 points
19. Gabriella Bortoleto-19 points
20. Franco Colopinto-0 points

The battle for the Constructors Championship was won by the McLaren team at the Singapore grand prix on October 5th at the Marina Bay Street Circuit after the team’s drivers, Norris and Piastri, placed P3* and P4, respectively. The difference between The World Constructors Championship and the World Drivers Championship is that the Constructors Championship is won by having the most collective points between both drivers on the team. The Drivers Championship title is rewarded to a single driver who scores the highest number of points throughout the season. 

Norris won the title over Verstappen by a total of 2 points, ending in a score of 423 points, followed by Verstappen’s 421, and Piastri’s 410. This was after Verstappen earned 25 points by winning the Abu Dhabi grand prix, with Piastri getting P2 and earning 18 points, and Norris ending the race in P3, earning 15 points. This race result was vital to Norris’ championship fight, as he had to finish on the podium in order to secure the title if Verstappen finished the race P1.

In FP1* many teams had their junior or reserve drivers in the cars. This is because each team has an allotted number of times throughout their season for these younger drivers to drive in order to get them more experience. Due to this rule, 9 of the drivers on the grid for FP1 were not current F1 drivers. This resulted in an end result of Norris P1, Verstappen P2, and Charles Leclerc P3. Piastri’s car was driven by McLaren junior driver Pato O’ward. His car ended in P14. 

FP2 saw the return of the 9 missing drivers from the grid, and after starting in their ending positions from FP1, Norris and Verstappen remained P1 and P2, and Piastri worked his way up to P11. During FP3, George Russell had the fastest time after 14 laps, with Norris and Verstappen following him in P2 and P3. Piastri ended FP3 in P5 after 17 laps. 

In the qualifying laps, Verstappen was the fastest with a time of 1:22.207 in Q3*. Norris followed closely behind him with a time of 1:22.408, and Piastri with a time of 1:22.437. The rest of the grid’s qualifying times resulted in Colapinto, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Albon, and Hamilton getting out in Q1. Stroll, Antonelli, Lawson, Sainz, and Bearman got out in Q2. Tsunoda, Hadjar, Ocon, Bortoleto, Alonso, Leclerc, and Russell all made it through to Q3, but qualified below the 3 championship contenders. These positions determined the starting grid for the race. 

The race started with Verstappen in pole position*, Norris P2, and Piastri behind him in P3. However, on the very first lap, Norris’s teammate, Piastri, overtook him, taking the outside line on turn 9. This fueled the Red Bull fans’ excitement as this meant that Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc would have a good chance of passing Norris, which would hand the title to Verstappen. Norris, however, stayed strong fending off Leclerc for 10 laps to secure P3, and eventually, the championship title.

Despite the expected result of the race, there was one major controversy involving Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris. Norris was the first of the three title competitors to enter the pit, and upon his return to the track he was stuck behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Carlos Sainz. With some impressive driving from Norris, aided by a set of new tires, he was able to overtake both of these drivers. Norris’s masterful driving didn’t stop here, he then made a double overtake on Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson, placing him behind Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda was purposefully left behind in the race to try and slow down Norris out of the pit.

The controversy occurred on the straight between turn 5 and 6. Yuki Tsunoda made an alleged 3 defensive moves to try and stop Norris from passing, more than the allowed two defensive moves. His first defensive move was breaking the slipstream* behind him which Norris was using to gain speed, also called a tow. Tsunoda then moved a little to the left of the track, still showing the inside line to Norris, then as Norris closed in and was about to overtake, Tsunoda made his third defensive move, shutting off the inside lane and forcing Norris off the track. Norris still made the overtake while having all 4 wheels off of the track, which would normally mean he would have to give his position back, however, the FIA* declared that because of Tsunoda’s defensive moves Norris could keep his position, as well as giving Tsunoda a 5 second penalty.

From that point forward, the race ran fairly smoothly. The three championship contenders finished on the podium, and Norris was able to secure the championship title. Immediately following the race, Norris emotionally thanked his team and family for their help in achieving his dream, before excitedly giving interviews to various media outlets and participating in the podium celebration.

Throughout his season, Norris achieved some very impressive statistics that led him to the championship. After a total of 24 races during the season, Norris had 7 wins, 7 pole positions, 2 sprint* wins, 4 sprint podiums, and 18 regular podiums. Norris started on pole while racing in Australia (Round 1), Monaco (Round 8), Austria (Round 11), Great Britain (Round 12), Hungary (Round 14), Mexico (Round 20) and São Paulo (Round 21). Norris managed to hold his position throughout all of these races to secure the win. His hard work led to him becoming the 35th world champion in the history of the sport, and allows him to take #1 for his car next season. 

Looking forward to next season, F1 won’t appear the same as this year. With new teams, and a replacement for the decade old DRS system. There will be two new teams added to the 2026 F1 grid, with Cadillac and Audi joining in. Cadillac is going to be an outright brand new team, with old drivers making a comeback to form a 22 drivers grid, instead of the current 20 drivers grid. Audi will be replacing Kick Sauber and taking their drivers, keeping the chassis of the car the same, but engineering their own engine. Both teams are gathering a lot of attention, with Cadillac bringing back two driving legends of F1 in Valtteri Bottas, who had a very successful career at Mercedes alongside Hamilton, and Sergio ‘Checo’ Pèrez, who had success with Red Bull. 

Teams will have a brief winter break, before starting back up early next year. The 2026 season will officially start with pre-season testing on February 11. 

 *P#-The place a driver finished in- Position 3

 *Free Practice-drivers test cars on the track before qualifying

* Qualifying Round 3

* First Place-leading the grid

*A low-pressure zone created behind a car that reduces drag on cars behind and allows them to speed up

*FIA stands for the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, they represent the drivers and decide the rules of F1

*A shorter race that determines the race order for a Grand Prix and awards drivers points