Lando Norris captured his first ever Formula 1 world championship in the final race of the 2025 season on Sunday, completing a comeback in a thrilling and unpredictable season.
The McLaren racer finished ahead of rivals Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Oscar Piastri of McLaren in the standings after all three entered the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a chance of becoming the world champion.
Norris played the long game in the race, knowing he only needed a podium finish to clinch the trophy regardless of where his rivals finished. He kept his composure despite an early threat from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and a few close calls in wheel-to-wheel racing after pitting for fresh tires and coming out in traffic.
“I love you guys. Thanks for everything. You deserve it,” an emotional and jubilant Norris said by team radio after crossing the line. “We did it, guys!”
Norris finished third, behind Verstappen and Piastri.
F1 World Drivers Champion and third placed Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the McLaren MCL39 Mercedes passes his team celebrating on the pitwall during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi on Sunday.Clive Rose / Getty Images
“It’s a long journey,” Norris said in a postrace interview, thanking his team and his parents, with whom he celebrated. “It feels amazing. … I’m just crazy happy.”
Entering the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Norris held a 12-point lead over Verstappen and a 16-point lead over Piastri, with a maximum of 25 points awarded for victory.
Despite Verstappen’s victory in Abu Dhabi, the race ended his four-year reign of world championships, making Norris the first British F1 champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020. It is McLaren’s first drivers’ championship since 2008 — also won by Hamilton in a season-ending thriller — and the first since 1998 when the team won both the driver’s and constructors’ championships.
It came one year after Norris lost the championship to Verstappen — and boldly proclaimed after winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2024, “Next year is going to be my year.”
He made good on it — but it was anything but a straightforward season.
Norris entered 2025 as the title favorite and won the opening race. But Piastri soon began to outshine him and took the championship lead, holding it for most of the season. In the final stretch, Piastri slumped while Norris went on a hot streak, and the British driver regained the championship lead in late October, never to relinquish it.
From left Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, and Lando Norris celebrate on the podium with champagne during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi on Sunday.Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images
While Norris’ talent has never been in doubt, his consistency and mentality faced questions this season. At times, Norris appeared to be his own biggest adversary, making unforced errors that cost him points. He overcame those demons throughout the season by stepping back from social media and, as he put it after a dominant victory in Brazil last month, learning to “just ignore everyone that talks crap about you.”
Meanwhile, Verstappen looked down and out in the middle of the season, falling 104 points off the lead after the Dutch Grand Prix in August. But he fought his way back with a series of stellar performances and unforced errors by McLaren, most notably with a double-disqualification due to illegal plank wear in last month’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified on pole position and held his lead at the start, moving over aggressively to cover off Norris, who started second and lost a position to Piastri on the opening lap. Norris settled down into third place and managed his tires as Piastri sought to attack Verstappen’s lead and put him under pressure.
Norris was the first of the title contenders to pit for fresh tires, on Lap 17, coming out into traffic and having to overtake a slew of cars that stayed out, giving him a few nervous moments.
McLaren driver Lando Norris in the garage ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit, in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.David Davies / PA Images via Reuters
Red Bull kept its second driver, Yuki Tsunoda, out to block Norris in order to help Verstappen. But the gambit failed and Norris breezed past as Tsunoda was slapped with a five-second time penalty for improper blocking tactics.
In a midrace interview that aired on the ESPN broadcast, McLaren CEO Zak Brown called it “a dangerous and unnecessary maneuver” by Tsunoda.
Toward the end, Verstappen grew inquisitive on team radio about whether Norris was facing a threat from Leclerc for his vital third place finish, which his race engineer told him was doubtful. After briefly chasing Piastri for second place in the final laps, Norris backed off and settled for third place, knowing it was enough to crown him world champion.
In the end, Norris finished 2 points ahead of Verstappen and 13 points ahead of Piastri.
“They certainly didn’t make my life easy this year,” Norris said of Verstappen and Piastri.
