Lando Norris wins his first F1 world title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, guiding Max Verstappen to the 2025 title | F1 News

Lando Norris finished third at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and became F1 world champion for the first time.

The 26-year-old becomes Britain’s 11th F1 world champion and the first McLaren driver to win the title since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

Norris completed seven seasons at the top level and after winning the final race of the season on Sunday, he fell just two points short of the Red Bull driver’s unusual late-season title return, ending Verstappen’s four-year reign at the top of the sport.

Verstappen won from pole position, with Oscar Piastri, another race title contender, passing teammate Norris on the first lap to take second place.

But no matter what his two rivals did, third place was always good enough for Norris.

Immediately after crossing the line, Norris sent an emotional message over the team radio, saying, “Thank you so much everyone. You all made my dream come true, thank you so much.”

“I love you all. Thank you for everything. You deserve it. Mom and Dad, I love you. Thank you for everything. I’m not crying!”

The only time Norris got nervous during the race was at the start of the second stint. He pitted earlier than most other drivers on lap 16, when he had to pass a car that was going a long distance on old tires.

The second Red Bull also included Yuki Tsunoda, and the Japanese driver was given a five-second penalty for forcing Norris off the track on the back straight. Norris was also investigated for the incident, but was cleared by the stewards.

Charles Leclerc’s energetic driving saw the Ferrari driver threaten Norris’ title position for much of the race, but he ultimately finished fourth, more than five seconds behind.

George Russell finished fifth for Mercedes, which took second place in the constructors’ championship, while Lewis Hamilton achieved a long-awaited improvement from 16th on the grid to eighth, ending a difficult first season for Ferrari.

“I didn’t expect to cry, but I did!” – Norris is nervous about making his dream come true

While it was Verstappen’s unusual late-season surge into the title battle with the McLaren drivers that attracted most of the headlines in recent months, Norris has made a remarkable recovery of his own and is back at the top of the championship race heading into the decisive final week of the season.

After the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, Norris was trailing Piastri by a season-high 34 points, but while running second behind his teammate in that race, Norris suffered a late mechanical failure with his car (McLaren’s only race-ending technical problem this season).

However, Sunday was the second time in the next nine Grands Prix that he lost the race to Piastri. This sequence of events began with dominant wins in Mexico and Brazil, and ultimately came to fruition by dealing with the pressure of a maiden F1 title showdown to stay on top this weekend.

“It’s been a long time since I cried! I didn’t expect to cry, but I did!” the British athlete said in an interview after the race.

“It’s been a long journey. First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you to my mates, everyone at McLaren, my parents, my mother, my father, who have supported me from the beginning.”

“It’s a great feeling. I understand a little bit more about Max! I would like to congratulate Max and Oscar, who have been my biggest rivals all season. It was a lot of fun racing with them. It was an honor and I learned a lot from them.”

“It was fun. It’s been a long year. We made it through and I’m so proud of everyone.”

After a celebratory “doughnut” at the start and finish just after completing his slow lap, Norris got out of the car with girlfriend Margarida Corceiro and hugged his overjoyed parents, Siska and Adam.

He was also congratulated by Verstappen, Piastri and many of his other rivals, and the emotion and palpable relief of winning the crown was evident afterwards at the podium ceremony amidst enthusiastic celebrations.

How Verstappen dominated the finale and Norris gave a good enough performance

Ahead of the 58-lap race, the talking point was how pole-sitter Verstappen would play up front if Norris were second or third, given that victory alone would not be enough for the Dutchman to clinch a record-equalling fifth straight title.

However, suggestions that Verstappen might employ ‘back-up’ tactics to effectively reverse Norris from his title-winning position proved to be false.

Verstappen tried to extend his lead against his nearest McLaren after covering Norris at the start on the short run to Turn 1, but midway through the opening lap it became Piastri after the Australian swept around the outside of Norris at Turn 9.

While Norris pitted early, Verstappen ran until lap 23 and Piastri, who unlike his two rivals started on the most durable hard tires, ran until lap 41.

After Ferrari pitted Leclerc for a second time with 19 laps remaining, McLaren took no chances with Norris covering it a lap later.

The Briton ended up finishing four seconds behind Piastri, but crucially six seconds behind fourth-placed Leclerc.

Verstappen won by 12 seconds, securing his eighth win of the season. That’s one more win than new champion Norris and Piastri.

And as Verstappen watched his reign as world champion come to an end after 1,457 days, he told Red Bull over the team radio:

“So don’t be too disappointed. I’m definitely not disappointed. I’m really proud of everyone for not giving up.”

Mercedes’ Russell fell back from fourth at the start but was well on his way to fifth, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso sixth and Haas’s Esteban Ocon seventh.

Hamilton was eighth, with Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg ninth after a five-second time penalty was applied to the final race times of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (who took the final points in 10th) and Haas’ Oliver Bearman (12th).

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