Max Verstappen Wins Abu Dhabi Thriller But Loses 2025 F1 Title to Norris

Under the Yas Marina floodlights on Sunday night, Max Verstappen did everything a champion could reasonably do. He stuck his Red Bull on pole, controlled 58 laps from the front and signed off his season with a dominant eighth victory. And yet, when the fireworks faded, the world championship trophy was not his. That belonged instead to Lando Norris. The McLaren driver crossed the line in third, exactly where he needed to be, to clinch his first Formula 1 world title and deny Verstappen a fifth successive crown in one of the tightest finales of the modern era. [Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-abu-dhabi-gp-race-report-10783109/10783109/] ## The equation: win or bust for Verstappen Coming into Abu Dhabi, the arithmetic was brutally simple for Verstappen. Having been 104 points adrift after his home race at Zandvoort in August, a barnstorming late-season surge – including wins in Italy, Las Vegas and Qatar – had dragged him back into contention. But he still arrived in the UAE 12 points behind Norris and needing a win coupled with his rival finishing off the podium. [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/abu-dhabi-lowdown-all-the-key-moments-as-norris-seals-his-debut-title-and.6WLoFRGsfe4fbq1TZeoVIa] He delivered his part of the bargain in immaculate style. Verstappen snatched pole on Saturday, then converted it with what even McLaren insiders described as a “vintage, serene” drive. Starting on the medium tyre before switching to hards, he controlled the pace, never looking seriously threatened by the offset-strategy McLaren of Oscar Piastri behind. By the flag, the gap was a comfortable 12.5 seconds, Piastri settling for second. [Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-abu-dhabi-gp-race-report-10783109/10783109/] But with Norris running third, the 25 points for victory were not enough. In the final reckoning Verstappen’s total climbed to 421 points, two short of Norris’s 423, with Piastri completing an all-McLaren top three in the standings on 410. [Source: https://www.espn.com/f1/standings] ## Norris plays the percentages, Verstappen left to count the cost If Verstappen’s evening was about maximum attack, Norris’s was about controlled risk. The Briton started from third on the grid with a clear brief: finish on the podium and the championship was his, regardless of what Verstappen and Piastri did. That task became more fraught on lap one, when Piastri swept around the outside of Norris at the banked Turn 9 – one of the moves of the season – to snatch second place. It dropped Norris into the clutches of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and forced McLaren to think defensively on strategy. [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/abu-dhabi-lowdown-all-the-key-moments-as-norris-seals-his-debut-title-and.6WLoFRGsfe4fbq1TZeoVIa] Norris’s race quickly turned into a delicate balancing act between managing tyres, fighting Leclerc and staying out of trouble in traffic. His first stop, covering off an undercut threat from the Ferrari, dropped him into a pack of one-stoppers and slower cars – including Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, who was instructed to “do what you can” to delay the title leader. Tsunoda defended aggressively down the back straight, forcing Norris off the track as he completed the pass between Turns 5 and 6. The overtake itself was allowed to stand, though the Japanese driver was handed a five‑second penalty for weaving. Crucially for the championship, Norris avoided damage and any sanction of his own, then pressed on to clear the traffic and rebuild a buffer over Leclerc. [Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-abu-dhabi-gp-race-report-10783109/10783109/] From there, McLaren focused on shadowing Ferrari rather than chasing down Piastri. A second stop on lap 40 mirrored Leclerc’s move the lap before, ensuring Norris held track position for the podium. As Leclerc’s tyre life faded in the closing stages, Norris edged clear again, coming home around four seconds ahead to bank the 15 points that finally made him champion. [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/abu-dhabi-lowdown-all-the-key-moments-as-norris-seals-his-debut-title-and.6WLoFRGsfe4fbq1TZeoVIa] ## A season-long duel decided by fine margins Viewed in isolation, Verstappen’s Abu Dhabi performance looked like the work of a driver firmly at the peak of his powers. He was on pole, disappeared up the road and never put a wheel seriously wrong. Yet the title was always more likely to be decided by what had come before than what happened on the night. Norris had led the standings since Mexico, building his platform with a run of consistency and crucial wins, including a pivotal victory in São Paulo. The McLaren camp were then rocked by a double disqualification in Las Vegas and a strategic misfire in Qatar – races that opened the door to Verstappen’s late surge. [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/abu-dhabi-lowdown-all-the-key-moments-as-norris-seals-his-debut-title-and.6WLoFRGsfe4fbq1TZeoVIa] For Red Bull, the championship slipped away in the attrition of that early and mid-season slump. By Round 15 at Zandvoort, Verstappen was a staggering 104 points down on Norris. From there, he and the team embarked on a remarkable salvage job: five wins in eight races between Italy and Qatar, plus the finale in Abu Dhabi, made him statistically the form driver of the second half of the year. [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-very-proud-despite-remarkable-championship-comeback-falling-two.6aLc8om0STvgLnhgF8wBwP] The Abu Dhabi result simply crystallised those underlying trends. Norris’s season-long consistency – and an ability to limit the damage on McLaren’s bad days – gave him just enough of a cushion to absorb Verstappen’s late charge. The final table told the story: Norris on 423, Verstappen 421, Piastri 410, with George Russell a distant fourth on 319. [Source: https://www.espn.com/f1/standings] ## Verstappen: “We didn’t win the championship, that’s life” In the immediate aftermath, Verstappen cut a relaxed, almost philosophical figure. If there was any sense of anguish at losing a fifth straight crown by two points, he hid it well. “I feel good,” he told reporters. “I was already prepared for these kind of outcomes, because we needed a bit of luck to win. “From our side, at least we optimised the weekend perfectly – we put it on pole, we won the race in, I think, dominant fashion, so there is nothing really that you can say about that.” [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-very-proud-despite-remarkable-championship-comeback-falling-two.6aLc8om0STvgLnhgF8wBwP] He acknowledged that “to lose the championship by two points looks painful”, but immediately framed it against the scale of the comeback. “If you look from where we were in Zandvoort, more than 100 behind, then I think it’s not too bad,” he said. “We could have also very easily given up at that point, when you’re that far behind. I don’t think that’s how this team works. We always try to look for improvements and understand our issues, and that’s definitely what we did. “We didn’t win the championship, okay, that happens, that’s life, and it’s not something that I’ll be too sad about. I mean, life goes on. I’m just very proud of the people I work with, they are my second family, and we will enjoy this moment. We will enjoy the second half of the season, be proud of that, and next year is going to be a big question mark for everyone anyway.” [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-very-proud-despite-remarkable-championship-comeback-falling-two.6aLc8om0STvgLnhgF8wBwP] That tone was echoed in further comments reported by specialist media, with Verstappen suggesting 2025 might have been his best driving season yet, regardless of the final standings. [Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/i-have-no-regretsmax-verstappen-calls-2025-his-best-f1-year-despite-lando-norris-win/10783231/] ## The making of Norris – and what comes next While Verstappen reflected on the one that got away, Norris was processing what he called a “pretty surreal” moment. The 26‑year‑old Briton has long been tipped as a future champion, but had also faced questions over whether he could convert speed into titles, especially after near-misses earlier in his career. [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/abu-dhabi-lowdown-all-the-key-moments-as-norris-seals-his-debut-title-and.6WLoFRGsfe4fbq1TZeoVIa] “I’ve dreamed of this for a long time, everyone does,” he said, paying tribute to McLaren, his family and his title rivals. “A lot goes into a season like this, a lot of ups, a lot of downs, but none of that matters as long as you try and come out on top, and that’s what we managed to do with an incredible team.” [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/ive-dreamed-of-this-for-a-long-time-norris-shares-emotional-reaction-to.67xqJKYyMr6vHBZLpDPtco] Hall of Fame F1 journalist David Tremayne summed up the paddock mood by calling Norris “a very worthy World Champion… determined, candid, and super fast” in a column for Formula1.com, highlighting how he carried the weight of expectation through one of the most intense campaigns in recent memory. [Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/tremayne-determined-candid-and-super-fast-lando-norris-is-a-very-worthy.6Aqf5TqNNLQqZqjTNqU8RR] The bigger question now is what this defeat does for Verstappen and Red Bull. On the evidence of Abu Dhabi – and the last third of 2025 – the Dutchman remains as ferocious a benchmark as ever. Losing a title by two points, after such a deficit mid-season, is unlikely to diminish his aura. If anything, it sharpens the narrative: Norris is not just a first‑time champion, but the man who finally halted one of the most dominant streaks in F1 history. With sweeping regulation changes looming for 2026 and McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes all talking up major concepts, Abu Dhabi felt less like the end of a chapter than the opening of a new one. Verstappen leaves Yas Marina on a high as race winner yet empty‑handed in championship terms – a rare combination for a driver used to turning Sundays into silverware. He also leaves with unfinished business. For the first time since 2020, he will spend the winter as the hunter rather than the hunted. On this evidence, the sport may be about to witness the next stage of a classic rivalry – one in which Max Verstappen can win the last battle of the year and still lose the war.