Lando Norris: Britain’s new F1 World Champion

Piastri led the charge

It was Verstappen, Norris, Piastri on the grid in that order: the perfect set-up for the big three-way finale. But with 12 points over Verstappen in hand, Norris was always in a position of strength — so long as he avoided any calamity at the start.

Last year, Verstappen tagged Piastri at Turn 1 and spun them both round. But it was all clean and tidy this time around, as Verstappen converted his pole position into the lead on the short run to the first corner, with Norris and Piastri correctly taking zero risk behind the Red Bull. The first hurdle had been cleared.

But at the long Turn 9 left-hander on the opening lap, Piastri — starting on the hard tyre as opposed to the mediums Verstappen and Norris were on — swept around his team-mate, in a move that appeared to be part of the plan. Running long on the white-walled Pirellis, it was the Australian who would take the fight to Verstappen, with Norris seemingly content to run behind his rivals and look after that precious third place.

Leclerc proved a headache

Perhaps what McLaren hadn’t banked on was how much pace Charles Leclerc would show in his Ferrari. The Monegasque turned up to be a major thorn for Norris, and in the early stages eyed up a move that would have pushed the points leader out of that crucial third place. Then again, with Piastri running safely in second but with his own title hopes clearly slipping away, he was always Norris’ insurance. Even if Leclerc had found a way past, McLaren would have ordered Piastri to drop behind Norris and gift back what was needed for the Championship.

It didn’t come to that, of course. But Leclerc’s pace did force McLaren’s hand and left Norris on a strategy that created more risk than anyone in the papaya camp would have felt comfortable with. As the Ferrari continued to loom in his mirrors, Norris chose to pit on lap 17, with Leclerc and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin following him in. Now Norris was down in ninth, with a DRS train of fast midfielders ahead of him — including one that was especially dangerous: Verstappen’s hard-tyre, long-running Red Bull team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda.

Tsunoda crosses the line

In the circumstances, how Norris used his fresh hard tyres to slash past Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz Jr. on one lap, then Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson in one move on the next, was impressive. In these moments he fully earned his World Title. But Tsunoda was next, and this was always likely to be his biggest moment of jeopardy.

Radio communications to the Japanese made it clear that Tsunoda had a job to do, and knew what it was in his final race drive. Here was a chance to back Norris into the still-threatening Leclerc, to give Verstappen a glint of hope that a fifth consecutive crown might come to him.

On lap 23 Norris had the momentum to pass the second Red Bull, but Tsunoda seemed prepared to play the villain — and he stepped way over the line of what is acceptable in his defence.

The Red Bull weaved from side to side four times when every F1 driver knows only too well that one move is all that is allowed. As he did so, he squeezed the McLaren on to the circuit’s blue stripe that signifies you’re off the track. Surely with his heart in his mouth, Norris kept his foot in and cleared the erratic Red Bull.

But would he be penalised for passing off the circuit? That would have been a travesty given that he’d been left with little choice. It was a relief when news broke the stewards had rightly penalised Tsunoda for what McLaren team chief Zak Brown described as a “dangerous and unnecessary manoeuvre”. Norris was quickly cleared of wrongdoing, which was the right call.

Tsunoda was incredulous when he was informed he’d take five seconds at his pitstop, but he must have known he was out of order, flirting with playing an underhand role to directly decide the destiny of the World Title.

How Norris closed out the title

Now back up to third, Norris had negotiated the trickiest part of the Grand Prix, but this wasn’t over. That pesky Ferrari was still in range and when Leclerc took the plunge for a second stop on lap 40, Norris was left with little choice but to react and come in, too. Except Leclerc had a new set of yellow-walled mediums, whereas Norris only had fresh hards to take on.

Meanwhile up ahead, Piastri’s long opening stint on his hard tyres had played against him. Verstappen had pitted for his own hards on lap 23 and now on lap 41, as Norris took his second stop, the Dutchman closed in and swept around Piastri to take back his lead. The Aussie made his one and only stop the following lap. Now Verstappen was 24 seconds up the road from Piastri, with Norris four seconds further back.

At this stage, Red Bull could have pitted Verstappen and, if all had gone well, he would have rejoined with a narrow lead over the two McLarens but with tyre life parity. Instead, his pitwall decided to leave him out there, judging correctly that 24 seconds over the remaining 16 laps would be enough to see him home on a one-stopper.

It was. Piastri closed the gap, but was still more than 12 seconds in arrears as the chequered flag fell on the 2025 F1 season, with Norris safely shadowing and pacing himself to clinch the most important third place of his life. And in those final laps, the Leclerc threat finally dwindled as the Ferrari dropped back to finish an unthreatening fourth. This Grand Prix hadn’t been a thriller, but the natural tension with so much on the line had kept us all gripped.

Norris, the new World Champion

Now the emotion was released, in scenes familiar from other such Yas Marina moments down the years. Although this time, a sense of relief was perhaps the most overwhelming sensation. Norris struggled to string words together as he thanked his parents, his team and those who have carried him through his racing career to the highest achievement any driver can aspire to.

Lest we forget, Verstappen was imperious in Abu Dhabi. This was his eighth win of the campaign, one more than the tally managed by both Norris and Piastri, and his third in as many weeks. He’d come up only two points short of pulling off the greatest comeback in history.

“We showed them one final time,” said Verstappen on the radio after taking the flag. “Don’t be too disappointed,” he told his team. “I’m certainly not disappointed.” What a drive, what a season, which has only enhanced his reputation as one of the greatest racing drivers from any era.

But last word goes to Norris, who fully earned his title under the most intense pressure and against two great rivals. “I found a good rhythm with the car halfway through the season and I feel like I’ve been able to find confidence in myself, in my ability not just to win races but to go and fight for a World Championship,” reflected Norris with his natural humility.

“I’ve certainly had some fortune this year, but I’ve certainly had a fair share of tough moments — especially at the beginning, [there was] a lot I struggled with and lost a little bit of belief early in the season.

“More for myself at that point, it was nice to prove myself wrong in a way at times, starting off in Monaco qualifying and a few moments after that. The second half of the season I’ve really been able to show to myself what I could do, what I was capable of doing.”

Lando Norris, Formula 1 World Champion. He’s earned the right to enjoy the sound of that, and it’s a title that will be with him forever. Life will never be quite the same again.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.