Lando Norris captured his first ever Method 1 world championship within the ultimate race of the 2025 season on Sunday, finishing a comeback in an exhilarating and unpredictable season.
The McLaren racer completed forward of rivals Max Verstappen of Purple Bull and Oscar Piastri of McLaren within the standings in any case three entered the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with an opportunity of turning into the world champion.
Norris performed the lengthy recreation within the race, understanding he solely wanted a podium end to clinch the trophy no matter the place his rivals completed. He saved his composure regardless of an early risk from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and some shut calls in wheel-to-wheel racing after pitting for recent tires and popping out in site visitors.
“I like you guys. Thanks for every little thing. You deserve it,” an emotional and jubilant Norris mentioned by crew radio after crossing the road. “We did it, guys!”
Norris completed third, behind Verstappen and Piastri.
“It’s a protracted journey,” Norris mentioned in a postrace interview, thanking his crew and his mother and father, with whom he celebrated. “It feels wonderful. … I’m simply loopy completely satisfied.”
Coming into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Norris held a 12-point lead over Verstappen and a 16-point lead over Piastri, with a most of 25 factors awarded for victory.
Regardless of Verstappen’s victory in Abu Dhabi, the race ended his four-year reign of world championships, making Norris the primary British F1 champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020. It’s McLaren’s first drivers’ championship since 2008 — additionally gained by Hamilton in a season-ending thriller — and the primary since 1998 when the crew gained each the motive force’s and constructors’ championships.
It got here one 12 months after Norris misplaced the championship to Verstappen — and boldly proclaimed after successful the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2024, “Subsequent 12 months goes to be my 12 months.”
He made good on it — nevertheless it was something however an easy season.
Norris entered 2025 because the title favourite and gained the opening race. However Piastri quickly started to outshine him and took the championship lead, holding it for a lot of the season. Within the ultimate stretch, Piastri slumped whereas Norris went on a scorching streak, and the British driver regained the championship lead in late October, by no means to relinquish it.
Whereas Norris’ expertise has by no means been doubtful, his consistency and mentality confronted questions this season. At occasions, Norris seemed to be his personal greatest adversary, making unforced errors that value him factors. He overcame these demons all through the season by stepping again from social media and, as he put it after a dominant victory in Brazil final month, studying to “simply ignore everybody that talks crap about you.”
In the meantime, Verstappen seemed down and out in the midst of the season, falling 104 factors off the lead after the Dutch Grand Prix in August. However he fought his approach again with a sequence of stellar performances and unforced errors by McLaren, most notably with a double-disqualification attributable to unlawful plank put on in final month’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
On the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen certified on pole place and held his lead in the beginning, transferring over aggressively to cowl off Norris, who began second and misplaced a place to Piastri on the opening lap. Norris settled down into third place and managed his tires as Piastri sought to assault Verstappen’s lead and put him beneath strain.
Norris was the primary of the title contenders to pit for recent tires, on Lap 17, popping out into site visitors and having to overhaul a slew of vehicles that stayed out, giving him just a few nervous moments.
Purple Bull saved its second driver, Yuki Tsunoda, out to dam Norris with a view to assist Verstappen. However the gambit failed and Norris breezed previous as Tsunoda was slapped with a five-second time penalty for improper blocking ways.
In a midrace interview that aired on the ESPN broadcast, McLaren CEO Zak Brown known as it “a harmful and pointless maneuver” by Tsunoda.
Towards the top, Verstappen grew inquisitive on crew radio about whether or not Norris was going through a risk from Leclerc for his very important third place end, which his race engineer informed him was uncertain. After briefly chasing Piastri for second place within the ultimate laps, Norris backed off and settled for third place, understanding it was sufficient to crown him world champion.
In the long run, Norris completed 2 factors forward of Verstappen and 13 factors forward of Piastri.
“They definitely didn’t make my life straightforward this 12 months,” Norris mentioned of Verstappen and Piastri.
