Lando Norris has won the Formula 1 world championship by finishing third in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen won the season finale at Yas Marina but Norris secured the title by taking the final place on the podium behind his team mate.
Verstappen kept his lead at the start of the race while Piastri passed Norris in what looked like a pre-arranged move by McLaren.
With the pace slow over the opening laps, McLaren brought Norris in for an early first pit stop as cars behind him pitted early. That dropped him into traffic, though he rapidly made his way past a succession of rivals including Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Liam Lawson.
He faced a more difficult time when he caught Yuki Tsunoda. Red Bull repeatedly warned him Norris was closing, and when the McLaren driver got a run on him at the exit of turn five he repeatedly changed his line in front of him.
Norris appeared to cross the white line on the straight approaching turn six as he passed the Red Bull. The stewards placed both under investigation and soon announced a five-second time penalty for Tsunoda, but no action over Norris.
Red Bull pitted Verstappen soon afterwards while McLaren had to react to a second pit stop for Charles Leclerc and bring Norris in another time. Piastri held the lead for a long time after Verstappen’s pit stop, and rejoined behind him after finally coming in to change his tyres.
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Verstappen took the chequered flag 12 seconds ahead of Piastri, with Norris almost four seconds further back. He withstood pressure from Leclerc at points, but otherwise the third place he need seldom came under threat over his final stint.
Leclerc took fourth place for Ferrari while Russell faded towards the end of the race and finished 25 seconds behind him in fifth. Fernando Alonso took sixth for Aston Martin ahead of Esteban Ocon, while Lewis Hamilton recovered from 16th on the grid to finish eighth.
Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll completed the points finishers, the latter having run a long opening stint. Tsunoda failed to score in his final race after serving his five-second time penalty for weaving in front of Norris.
2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Norris proud he has ‘won the title my way, trying to be a good person’
- Verstappen explains why he didn’t try to back up Norris into other cars
- Tsunoda complains stewards gave him a ‘strange penalty – as usual for them’
- Verstappen hits out at suggestion his collision with Russell cost him the title
- Verstappen says losing title by two points “looks painful” but he’s “not too sad”