This weekend was the season finale, where a new driver was crowned champion. Abu Dhabi was the last round on this year’s calendar, round 24. The Yas Marina Circuit is unique as it goes right through the W Hotel. This race is also the only twilight race, starting before sunset and ending at night. Three drivers entered this weekend with a chance to become the champion, but after a suspenseful weekend, only one emerged victorious and won the title.

FP1

Nine rookie drivers took the track in FP1, fulfilling the FIA’s mandate. Next year’s Red Bull Racing Driver, Arvid Lindblad, raced Yuki Tsunoda’s car, but he only finished P15. 

Arthur Leclerc raced Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. Being Charles Leclerc’s brother, there was some confusion for the drivers and the announcers. Unfortunately, he only finished P16. Quickest of the juniors was Haas driver Ryo Hirakawa, who finished P11.

Qualifying

The last 10 races in Abu Dhabi were won from pole, so a good performance in qualifying is absolutely critical. With 3 drivers in the running, this was the most intense and important qualifying of the season.

Q1

Hamilton was knocked out of Q1 for the third race running, a disappointing last qualifying for the seven-time world champion.

Qualifying Results

1st- Max Verstappen (Pole)

2nd- Lando Norris

3rd- Oscar Piastri

The first three drivers lining up were the three with a chance for a championship. Tensions were high in the McLaren garage, so the team decided not to share data in order to keep a fair, individual fight for both drivers despite usually following “Papaya Rules.”

Race

If Lando Norris finished on the podium, he would be the champion. McLaren chose a split tire strategy: Piastri started on hards while Norris started on mediums. Verstappen started on mediums as well.

Piastri passed Norris at the start, leading to Leclerc putting pressure on Norris.

Lando could have been stuck in traffic after his pit stop, but thankfully for him, he was able to quickly overtake.

Lap 22

This was Yuki Tsunoda’s last race as he will not be racing for F1 next season. As Verstappen’s teammate, he had the objective of slowing Norris down as much as possible. Unfortunately, he started weaving, which is against the rules. Norris was able to pass him, but he did so by going off the track. Both incidents were under investigation. It was decided that Tsunoda would be given a 5-second time penalty, while no penalty would come to Norris.

Conclusion

Despite Leclerc being close to Norris throughout the race, he was unable to pass him. Thanks to Norris’s 3rd place finish, he became the 2025 Driver’s World Champion, winning by only 2 points. This makes him the 35th driver to ever win an F1 World Championship, a dream of every driver.

Verstappen had an incredible comeback, bringing the gap from 104 points down to 2. Yet, it was not enough to win the Driver’s Championship for his 5th year running.

Oscar Piastri had a great start to the season and then struggled a bit in the middle. He was finally gaining again towards the end, but not enough time was left to close the gap and become the champion.

This season, Piastri, Norris, and Verstappen all worked incredibly hard; all of them are deserving of a championship. Now that this season is over, the question is what will next season bring? The 2026 season will be one of the biggest transformations in Formula 1 history, with no more DRS, a new power unit split, 2 more cars on the track, and even more. If this season taught us anything, it’s that next year will be even more unpredictable.

2025 Driver’s World Champion- Lando Norris

1st- Max Verstappen

2nd- Oscar Piastri

3rd- Lando Norris

Driver of the Day- Max Verstappen

Fastest Lap- Charles Leclerc