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Verstappen wins in Abu Dhabi as Norris takes title

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Lando Norris is a Formula 1 world champion for the first time in his career after finishing third in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix behind vanquished title contenders Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.

The race featured none of the forecast gamesmanship from pole-getter Verstappen but had plenty of jeopardy in store for Norris, who lost a place to teammate Piastri on the first lap and dropped to ninth after a high-pressure first pit stop. It forced the Englishman, who had looked satisfied to finish a comfortable third early in the race, to face the prospect of making several critical passes to restore himself to a championship-winning position.

But Norris seized the opportunity to end his successful championship tilt with an aggressive flourish, overtaking five cars in three laps to return to third position. With a podium finish being all he needed to guarantee himself the championship, and lacking the pace to challenge teammate Piastri ahead of him or Verstappen in the lead, he was content to hold on in a third place that was enough for Norris to secure his maiden championship.

“I could still fight until the end,” said the emotional Briton. “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.

“I was just trying to enjoy the moment. Not many people in the world, not many people in Formula 1, ever get to experience what I’ve experienced this season and this year.

“I’m happy for everyone. I’m happy for everyone more than me. I’m just crazy happy.”

Norris’s crowning night began with a chop from pole-getter Verstappen, who made up for his ordinary launch by swinging across to the inside line to block the title leader’s path to the first turn. It cost Norris some momentum, which helped the fast-starting Piastri to harry his teammate through the first two sectors of the circuit, including with a much better exit from the chicane linking the two back straights. That gave the Australian a tremendous slingshot into the parabolic Turn 9, where he executed an audacious pass around his teammate’s outside, defying his cold hard-compound tires.

The move dumped Norris to third and into range for Charles Leclerc, who capitalized on a slow George Russell start to run fourth in the opening phase of the race.

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McLaren’s early-stint tire management gave Leclerc plenty of opportunities to pile on the pressure, hooking onto Norris’s gearbox from lap 4 until lap 10, when the imperative to manage rubber began to open the gap in the field. But the question of the first pit stop was taken out of Norris’s hands by Russell, who pitted from fifth pl ace on lap 14 in an effort to undercut his way forward.

Norris and Leclerc both responded on lap 16, dropping to the lower reaches of the top 10 and behind a potentially damaging train of yet-to-stop traffic.

It was the crunch moment of the Briton’s race, but he was ruthless in scything his way through. On lap 18, he decisively passed Kimi Antonelli into the hairpin with a big move on t he brakes and then slid past Carlos Sainz before Turn 9. A bold double overtake of Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson down the second back straight on the following lap then got Norris up into fourth.

Yuki Tsunoda, starting on the hard tire, was next up the road, and he was told by his team to give “all you can” when his teammate’s title rival appeared in his mirrors. Tsunoda responded that he would, but relentless Norris left him with no defensive options.

The McLaren zeroed in on the Red Bull Racing car’s gearbox out of the hairpin. Tsunoda attempted to weave to break the slipstream and shut down a pass, but Norris responded by taking the racing off the road, passing the sacked Japanese star on the run down to the chicane.

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In a heart-in-mouth moment for the McLaren pit wall, the stewards put the move under investigation, but after deliberation they sided with Norris and penalized Tsunoda 5s for weaving.

Norris was returned to a championship-winning podium position with no strings attached. Only a late conversion to two stops to cover Leclerc kept him busy on an otherwise straightforward cruise to his new status as the 35th Formula 1 world champion.

The battle for the lead, however, was still to be decided.

Piastri was one of only two drivers inside the top 10 to start on hard tires, his strategy to go deep into the race and hope that circumstances earned him the lead and hurt his championship rivals.

Leader Verstappen pitted on lap 23, with Piastri inheriting the lead. He ran deep, until lap 41, but late in his mammoth opening stint it was clear that he was shipping time to the Dutchman and even Norris by holding out for a catastrophe.

Piastri retained second place with his pit stop but with a 24s deficit to the lead. Despite McLaren’s optimism that he could catch the leader, just like in Qatar, the task was too great in 17 laps. It freed Verstappen to take a season-high eighth victory, the four-time champion’s defense extinguished by just two points.

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Leclerc finished a surprisingly impressive fourth, even after pulling the trigger on a second pit stop on lap 39, beating Russell to the place.

Fernando Alonso was sixth for Aston Martin ahead of Haas Esteban Ocon, ensuring their teams retained seventh and eighth on the title table respectively.

Lewis Hamilton recovered from 16th to eighth with a soft-starting two-stop strategy, beating Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg to the final points of the season.

Lance Stroll finished 11th ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon, Racing Bulls teammates Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, and Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.

RESULTS