All good things come to an end — and on Sunday night in Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen learned that even dynasties have a finish line.
The Dutchman won the battle at Yas Marina, taking the chequered flag in the season finale. But the war? That belonged to Lando Norris, who clinched the 2025 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship with a nerveless third-place finish — just enough to finally halt Verstappen’s furious late-season charge.
Verstappen’s comeback had been the stuff of legend. A 104-point deficit carved all the way down to just two. A run of relentless form from a four-time champion refusing to bow. Heroic? Absolutely. Enough? Barely not.
And in the wreckage of that near-miracle, one person felt the weight more than Verstappen ever would: Mercedes
rookie Kimi Antonelli.
The 18-year-old, who was brutally scapegoated after last week’s Qatar Grand Prix, walked up to Verstappen post-race and apologised — again — for a single late-race mistake in Losail that let Norris slip into P4, swinging two crucial points in the McLaren driver’s favour.
Respect 🤝 pic.twitter.com/sWwnMZ3L50
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 7, 2025
The viral Mercedes clip showed Antonelli extending a hand, with a sheepish remorse written all over him. Verstappen accepted the apology with a smile, shrugging it off with grace, consoling the Italian with a simple ‘Mate, it’s all good’.
No tension, no blame — only sportsmanship.
But the damage inflicted on Antonelli went far beyond the championship table.
Mercedes later revealed over 1,100 abusive or threatening messages, including death threats, were flagged on his accounts after Qatar — despite Red Bull themselves confirming the accusations were baseless.
The moment in question had been painfully simple: Antonelli, pushing flat-out behind Carlos Sainz for a podium, lost grip in dirty air on the penultimate lap. He ran wide. Norris pounced. Two points gained. Two points that ultimately decided a world title.
“I pushed more every lap to get closer, and I arrived at the point where the tyre gave up,” he said later. “Then after the race, to receive those kind of comments… it hurt.”
Even after Abu Dhabi, the abuse forced him to disable comments once more.
But the championship storyline now reads in permanent ink: Norris is champion. Verstappen’s reign is over, at least for now.
And Kimi Antonelli, unfairly crushed under the weight of it all, still showed maturity far beyond his years.
