Lando Norris and Team McLaren ended Max Verstappen’s world championship-winning streak at the Yas Marina Circuit last Sunday. Being the first McLaren driver to win the Drivers’ Championship since Lewis Hamilton won it in 2008.
The 75th Formula 1 season began with all the pundits predicting an easy constructors’ championship for Team McLaren, as they were the defending constructors’ champions in 2024. And as predicted, the season unfolded exactly that way, with McLaren winning the constructors’ championship with multiple rounds to go.
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The team in orange were dominating the track with ease in the opening half of the season. And in the Drivers’ Championship, both teammates looked equally sharp, Oscar Piastri leading the standings comfortably, with Lando Norris just a few points behind.
But since the summer break, Red Bull, with some major changes, rejuvenated their season through Max Verstappen. Verstappen closed down a 100-plus point gap coming into the final round in Abu Dhabi.
This incredible late-season charge transformed the narrative of the 2025 campaign. Verstappen’s genius shone through in the face of what was, for most of the season, the second-fastest car on the grid. Coming into the final race weekend in Abu Dhabi, the title fight was narrowed to a knife-edge: Norris held a fragile 12-point advantage over Verstappen, with Piastri still mathematically in contention just 16 points from the lead
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Verstappen drove a flawless race to secure the Grand Prix victory, his eighth of the season and a powerful statement of his enduring talent. Piastri followed him home in second place, capping a phenomenal year.
But the moment of history belonged to the orange car crossing the line in third. Lando Norris took the chequered flag, securing the 15 points he needed and clinching the 2025 Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship.
