On the 7^th December, the final race of the 2025 F1 season took place. Going into the race weekend, three drivers had the chance to claim the World Drivers’ Championship. Many other positions in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings were undecided before the Grand Prix, making the race an exciting end to the last season of the ‘Ground Effect’ era.

McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, were all still mathematically in contention for the title when they arrived in Abu Dhabi. Norris led by 12 points over Verstappen and 16 points over Piastri. With this advantage, Norris needed to finish third or above to claim his maiden Drivers’ Championship. Despite losing a position to his teammate during the Grand Prix, Norris finished third and clinched the Championship by only two points over Verstappen. He is McLaren’s first Drivers’ Champion in 17 years, the last being Lewis Hamilton in 2008. The second half of this season, in particular, was highly successful for Norris, and winning the Championship is certainly a highlight. 

…Norris finished third and clinched the Championship by only two points…

It would be a mistake to ignore the efforts of Piastri and Verstappen, despite missing out on the win. Piastri, who is only in his third season of F1, led the Championship for a large portion of the year and was particularly brilliant in the early races of the season. Despite falling behind in the latter half of the season, Piastri gave his all in the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to try to close the gap. Piastri has displayed immense talent and determination this year, and he will certainly be a Championship contender again in the future.

The 2025 season also taught us to never count out Verstappen. Back at the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Verstappen was 104 points away from the title. To claw his way to a two-point gap by the final race is a testament to the brilliance of Verstappen and his ability to push any car he is given to its absolute limit. Whilst Verstappen’s four-year Championship streak has come to an end, he will certainly continue to be a threat as long as he remains in the sport. 

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was also significant in finalising other positions in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings. Whilst McLaren secured the Constructors’ Championship at the Singapore Grand Prix in October, second place was only confirmed over the last weekend. Mercedes secured second place as George Russell finished fifth. Red Bull miraculously secured third, even more surprising as Verstappen was responsible for over 90% of the team’s points this season. In a season to forget for Ferrari, the historic team finished in fourth place. Whilst it would take too long to list the rest of the results, Williams deserves attention. As a team that has struggled over the last 10 years, securing fifth place and having both its drivers in the top 10 of the Drivers’ standings is an outstanding result.

Red Bull miraculously secured third, even more surprising as Verstappen was responsible for over 90% of the team’s points this season.

Besides securing this season’s results, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked a point of finality for certain aspects of the sport and the progression to a new era. Yuki Tsunoda is leaving the F1 Grid and moving to a reserve role in Red Bull as Isack Hadjar moves up from the sister team, Racing Bulls. Arvid Lindblad is replacing Hadjar, and he will be the only rookie driver in F1 next year. Red Bull has been a controversial team this year regarding the management of its drivers and the hotly debated ‘second seat curse’. It will be interesting to see if this changes in the future, and we can already see some positives with the team’s new team principal, Laurent Mekies.

Abu Dhabi also marked the last race for the Sauber team, as next year they will rebrand to Audi, a giant name in so many aspects of motorsport. Next year, there will also be an eleventh team added to the Grid. Cadillac is dipping its toes into the world of F1, and with its two veteran drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez, it will be interesting to see how they fare in the team’s first-ever season in the sport.

The 2026 F1 season is sure to be an exciting season, especially as the sport enters a new era of regulations, which will change the cars quite significantly. As there are large regulation changes, it is hard to predict which team and driver will prosper, but there are certain rumours about certain teams, such as Mercedes being potentially further ahead. We will just have to tune in to the next season in March to watch this new and exciting time in the sport begin.

Image: Cesar I. Martins via Wikimedia Commons