McLaren’s Lando Norris clinched his maiden F1 title with a third-place finish at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, narrowly edging out four-time winner Max Verstappen in dramatic fashion.
Norris accumulated
423 points over the season, surpassing Verstappen, who scored 421 points driving for Red Bull, and thus claimed the championship crown.
Rocking up to track as a World Champion 🏆#McLaren pic.twitter.com/nJ9zxVl2bb
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 9, 2025
Despite Verstappen’s determined effort to erode Norris’s 102-point lead from earlier in the season, the Brit ultimately triumphed after a strong performance throughout the year. In stark contrast, Norris’s fellow Briton, Lewis Hamilton, faced his first season without a podium finish during his debut campaign with Ferrari.
The seven-time champion’s impressive record in the top tier suffered a significant blow as he replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari. Meanwhile, Sainz elevated Williams to a fifth-place finish in the championship, securing two podium finishes and helping the team to accumulate 137 points by the year’s end.
Sainz has a history of improving the teams he races for. During his time with Renault, he saw the team rise from ninth place in his debut season in 2016 to fourth place by 2018. With McLaren, he helped the team move from sixth place in 2018 to third in 2020. His subsequent move to Ferrari saw him assist the legendary team in climbing from sixth place to second before his departure last year.
Norris will sport the No.1 next season, a prestige reserved for the incumbent champion, while Verstappen will have to vacate the number for the Brit.
Long-term Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is set to retire from his role at the end of the year as the Austrian manufacturer aims to move forward after a year in which four-time winner Max Verstappen’s dominant reign at the top was surpassed by Norris, who clinched the title ahead of the Dutchman.
Reports suggest that the 82-year-old Marko could depart from Red Bull as the team seeks to gain more control and future-proof its organisational structure.
