Lando Norris has won the F1 2025 World Championship after finishing third in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, claiming the first world title of his career.
The 26-year-old Brit completes an incredible season for himself and McLaren after they landed the Constructors’ Championship earlier in the season. Norris was in tears as she thanked his team and family from inside the cockpit for their love and support over the years.
Norris finishes the season just two points ahead of Max Verstappen, who won the Abu Dhabi race. Oscar Piastri finished second in the race, and third in the Championship.
The Championship battle went all the way down to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, with Norris leading the way, 12 points ahead of Red Bull four-time world champion Verstappen and 16 points clear of his team-mate Piastri.
Norris qualified in P2 and needed to only finish on the podium to seal the title, but he was made to sweat early in the race when he was passed by Piastri on the opening lap as Verstappen disappeared into the distance as the race leader.
The Brit came under pressure from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for third place, but Norris was able to defend comfortably against the Monegasque driver’s attempts to pass him for a provisional podium place. If Leclerc had passed, fourth place would not have been enough for Norris to win the Championship with Verstappen leading the race.
Norris saw off Leclerc by the time of his first pit stop but was released back into traffic, behind a DRS train of cars yet to pit. The 26-year-old had to overtake the cars in front, even pulling off a double overtake on Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson.
The next car up the road for Norris was Verstappen’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who does not have a seat on the grid next year with Isack Hadjar to replace him at Red Bull.
In his attempt to hold Norris up, Tsunoda forced the McLaren driver off the track during his overtake and was slapped with a five-second time penalty for weaving on the straight.
Reacting to the penalty, McLaren CEO Zak Brown said: “It was clearly the right decision. That was a dangerous and unnecessary manoeuvre. [Red Bull] are not driving the car so you’ve got to put that one on Yuki.”
The race started to come back to Norris with Piastri’s hard tyres wearing out quicker than the Aussie had hoped, with Norris in undercut range, leaving Piastri running in net third and staying out hoping for a safety car for any chance to win the race and the Championship.
McLaren’s work in the pits was exceptional on a pressure-filled evening. Norris’ second step crucially brought him out ahead of Leclerc and George Russell. Piastri’s stop was also a successful one too, bringing the Aussie out in P2.
There were moments of doubt for Norris when Leclerc started to lap faster and close the gap to under four seconds between the two cars, but the Ferrari was unable to push Norris the distance to the despair of Verstappen, who raced in cruise control throughout, relying on a favour from further down the grid for him to be a five-time world champion.
Norris eventually crossed the line to the acclaim of his team and the crowd as he wrote his name into history.