F1
Max magnificent at the Marina
Max Verstappen did everything required of him this weekend, with an imperious drive to his eighth victory of the season in the Championship-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
It was a fight to the finish, but in the end, McLaren’s Lando Norris held his nerve to cross the line World Drivers’ Champion beating Max by just 2 points in the standings. Further back, Yuki’s time as an Oracle Red Bull Racing race driver came to a close with 14th place finish in the race.
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Watch the reactions from The Team after the final race of the season!
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Our Team's Race Reaction from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
“Max, you have given everything,” said GP over the radio at the end of the tense 58-lap battle.
“Congrats guys. What a comeback in the second half of this season, we can be really, really proud of that. So don't be too disappointed - I’m definitely not disappointed. I’m really proud of everyone. You never give up.” said Max on the radio after the race.
Holding onto the lead through Turn 1
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At the start, Max got away well from Pole, and he dived left to block any challenge from Lando. The Briton tucked into P2 ahead of Oscar as the three Championship contenders made it safely through Turn 1.
Behind them, fourth-placed George Russell made a poor start, and he was passed by both Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso. That left the Mercedes driver in sixth place ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, VCARB’s Isack Hadjar, Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Hard-tyre starter Yuki, who all kept their starting positions.
However, in Turn 9, Oscar spotted an opportunity and, despite being on the slower Hard tyre, he powered past Lando to steal second place.
The Australian quickly broke DRS to his teammate and that left Lando vulnerable to Charles. The Ferrari driver closed in and began to put the Championship leader under pressure. Behind them George managed to squeeze back to fifth past Fernando, while further back Yuki sat half a second behind Esteban in a DRS train led by sixth-placed Fernando.
At the front, after 10 laps, Max had built out a two-second gap ahead of Oscar, with Lando now 4.3 off the defending Champion. The Briton managed to just stretch out of DRS range of Charles, but the Ferrari driver was still hanging onto the back of the top three. George was now four seconds off the Monegasque racer with Fernando a further 1.6s back in sixth place. The Spaniard had broken DRS to Gabriel and behind him the gaps were beginning to spread.
George was the first of the top five to pit at the end of lap 14 and he moved to Hard tyres to try to undercut Charles. Lando was next in at the end of lap 16 followed by Charles. Lando emerged on Hard tyres in P9 with Charles in P10. Lando was soon past Kimi and Carlos and on lap 19 he passed both Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson in a single move into the hairpin.
Rapid stop from the Team
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That put the McLaren three seconds behind Yuki, whose Hard tyre strategy had pushed him up to P3 behind Oscar and Max.
As they tussled, Lando put all four wheels off the track and onto the grass to overtake the Japanese driver. The incident was put under investigation with Yuki being looked at for forcing Norris off track and the Briton being investigated for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Within a few laps the Stewards ruling came back, with Yuki receiving a five-second penalty for “weaving in more than one direction”, and no further investigation for Lando leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Moments later, on lap 24, Max made his sole stop and after fitting Hard tyres he emerged in P2 18 seconds behind Oscar, who now led the race.
With 29 laps completed on his Hard tyres, Oscar’s times began to dip. Max began to close in and on lap 31 he was just under 13s behind the Australian, with Lando a further 4.7s back in third and Charles close behind in P4. That meant Oscar had been undercut by all four and would have to use the better pace of the Medium tyres coming his way to fight through in the closing stages.
Meanwhile, at the end of lap 32, Yuki pitted to serve his penalty and to take on Medium tyres. The Japanese driver’s stop put him back out in P18 and he began to haul his way back through the field.
Oscar’s tyres were now fading badly, with Max lapping over a second quicker than the Australian. Charles then pitted on lap 40 for a set of Medium tyres and McLaren reacted, bringing in Lando a lap later for another set of Hard tyres.
Norris emerged in third ahead of George with Charles behind the Mercedes. Ahead, Max closed right up to Oscar and the defending Champion breezed past the Australian in Turn 6. With his Hard tyres done, Oscar finally pitted and after taking on a set of Mediums he rejoined in P2, 24 seconds behind Max.
However, with Lando in third place, the defending Champion’s hopes of a fifth consecutive were beginning to slip and despite being on course for victory his only chance of taking the crown was for Charles, on quicker Medium tyres, to reel in Lando and pass the Briton.
And for a handful of laps that looked to be a possibility. The Ferrari driver closed the gap to just under three seconds. But, with his Hard tyres holding up well, Lando was able to match the Monegasque for pace and in the final laps he began to pull away to open a seven-second gap with five laps to go.
And a few laps later, Max took his 71st career victory, his fifth in Abu Dhabi, and his eighth of the season to top the win list for 2025. That put him on 421 points – just two behind Lando Norris who followed Oscar Piastri to the line to take his first World Driver’s Championship title. Max’s final win of the season sealed third place in the Constructors’ Championship for the Team. We finish the campaign with 451 points, 28 behind Mercedes and 53 ahead of Ferrari.
Congratulations to the new Champion
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Behind the top three, Charles took P4 for Ferrari, with George in P5. Fernando took sixth for Aston Martin ahead of Esteban for Haas, with Lewis Hamilton rising to P8 at the flag ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Yuki, after his rearguard action midway through the race, battled his way back but in the end, he crossed the line in P14.