That’s it, folks, the curtains have drawn on the 2025 F1 season, and Lando Norris has finally been crowned as the champion of the world. For the last 1457 days, it was Max Verstappen who had the bragging rights in the F1 realm, but until the result of the 2026 season is out, it is Norris who will boast about being the best in the world.
When the race began, Norris had a fairly easy task at hand, given all he needed to do was finish on the podium, and that’s exactly what the British driver did.
Lando Norris Crowned F1 Champion in Abu Dhabi
The scene was clear against a setting sun as Verstappen led the drivers off as soon as the lights went green. His first order of business on the day was to make sure Norris did not have a clear path in front of him heading into Turn 1, and the Dutch driver did just that.
He swerved to his left to close off Norris’ path, leaving a clear line on the right for Oscar Piastri. Taking full use of the momentum he gained early on, the No. 81 driver went past his teammate on Turn 9 of the first lap, leaving Norris in a world of worry.
For the next 10 laps, Norris was under constant pressure from Charles Leclerc, who kept within the DRS range throughout. However, Norris was not going to crumble under pressure in Abu Dhabi, as he kept his calm and defended cleanly.
Ultimately, as Lap 12 approached, the Ferrari driver started fading away, allowing Norris to focus on running his race alone.
Having started the race on the Medium compound, Norris did not put a single foot wrong throughout the 58 laps of racing, apart from losing P2 on the opening lap to his teammate.
In the end, though, the position loss mattered little as the No. 4 driver with 152 career race starts and 11 career race wins was crowned the champion of the world in the finale of his seventh F1 campaign.
Meanwhile, Verstappen, who was at his resurgent best in the second half of the 2025 season, still won the race after opting for a one-stop strategy with the Medium and Hard compounds.
Ultimately, Norris was two points clear of Verstappen in the overall standings, leaving one of the slimmest margins to the championship in recent history.
That said, the race that was Norris’ to lose has now handed him the opportunity to decide whether or not he will be opting for the No. 1 on his car for next year. Meanwhile, four-time world champion Verstappen might be switching back to No. 33 for 2026, as long as he doesn’t decide to get ‘crafty’ with his choice.
