Lando Norris wept with joy after crossing the finishing line to clinch the world championship in the final race of the season.
Formula 1’s new world champion, who has spent his entire career at McLaren, said afterwards: “I’ve not cried in a while – I didn’t think I would cry, but I did.”
Third place in the race was enough for Norris to secure the title by two points from Max Verstappen, who won the finale. Oscar Piastri finished second in the race and third in the standings.
“It feels amazing,” said Norris, who has won the world title in his seventh year as an F1 driver. “I now know what Max feels like a little bit.
“I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors the whole season. It’s been a pleasure to race against both of them. It’s been an honour.
“I’ve learned a lot from both of them as well. So I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a a long year. But we did it and I’m so proud of everyone.”
He admitted he found it hard not to be distracted by thoughts of the world championship during the race.
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“You can’t not think of it,” he said. “It’s a long race to the very end, we’ve seen many times anything in Formula 1 can happen. I just kept pushing until the last two or three laps, then I could ease it off a bit.
“But I was still wanting to fight ’til the end and that’s what we did. That’s what we had to do this season, for Max chasing us the whole way, for Oscar catching up again at the end. They certainly didn’t make my life easy this year. But I’m happy.”
Norris’s radio messages after taking the chequered flag
| Joseph | That’s it mate. You are world champion. World champion. Some boring bits. Leave recharge off, ACS button press, white H11 position 13. White H11 position 13. Well done, mate, I’m so proud. And Lando we need a pick-up, please. |
| Zak Brown | Lando, this is Zak from McLaren. Is this the world champion hotline? |
| Norris | Yeah. |
| Zak Brown | We did it! We did it! |
| Norris | [Sobbing] |
| Zak Brown | Woo! |
| Norris | Oh, shit. Thank you guys. Oh my god. You made a kid’s dream true, thanks so much. I love you guys, thanks for everything. You deserve it. I love you, mom, I love you, dad. Thanks for everything. I’m not crying. |
| Joseph | Me neither. Mate, you made all our dreams come true. Well done. So, so happy. I hate to be a little bit boring |
| Norris | Sure. |
| Joseph | Or doughnuts. |
| Norris | Yeah, sure. Yeah, thanks Will, thanks Jarv, thanks other Will. Oh, we did it, guys. You said you’d cry if we didn’t win, but I hope you’re crying because we did. |
| Joseph | I said I’d cry both ways. |
| Norris | Thank you everyone, McLaren. I love you all, everyone back in the factory. Everyone here at the track. Seven years to achieve this. I love you so much. Thank you, guys. |
| Joseph | And we go to the grid, Lando. We go to the grid. |
| Joseph | There’ll be a world champions board waiting for you on the grid, mate. Which you thoroughly deserve. |
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2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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