We can finally breathe a sigh of relief. In the end, we were all anxious for him, the new world champion, a good-hearted, sometimes naive young man who, in the decisive race, drove with the aggression that had always been his missing ingredient and that, in Abu Dhabi, represented the greatest danger, the most hidden rival. But precisely at the moment of greatest tension, Lando Norris emerged as he should have several races ago, controlling the situation, limiting risks, and decisively executing a series of extremely risky overtakes against drivers like Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, both in Red Bull cars, ready to block his path. Lawson was overtaken in an instant, while Tsunoda tried to complicate things with a couple of trajectory changes that ultimately did nothing except earn him a penalty, because then Lando, with breathtaking courage, overtook him on the outside, putting all four wheels outside the white line—but the stewards rightly let it pass.
It was only a two-point margin that allowed Norris to stay ahead of Max Verstappen, the superb winner of the Grand Prix but too far behind in points to rely solely on his own efforts. Max is the driver who won the most races this season, eight in total, and he is the world champion by popular acclaim. Very skilled, extremely fast, and determined, but the 104-point deficit he faced after the Dutch Grand Prix was too great to overcome. Nevertheless, he is still the driver who ignited this championship and deserves thanks for that.
Max Verstappen dominated once again, starting from the front and immediately pulling away from Oscar Piastri, who had overtaken Norris hoping to make his own race at the front—a mirage, however, with such a strong Max Verstappen. Oscar gave up after a dozen laps and then became a piece to be removed from the chessboard, in case Charles Leclerc had overtaken Lando Norris. That didn’t happen because Charles played more defensively than offensively, and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ended there, with the boring wait for the chequered flag. A sad finale, without what elsewhere would have been a festive track invasion, if the race had taken place on a circuit with tradition and passion: but the excessive flow of money from the teams leads to racing in the emptiness of the Emirates, with a cold, distracted, incompetent crowd.
Is Lando Norris a true world champion? It’s a million-dollar question. Lando is extremely fast when racing alone, but he certainly doesn’t have the verve of Max Verstappen or Charles Leclerc. However, the hard-fought climb to this year’s title will make him stronger, wiser, and more cunning. Let’s say the title is the first step in proving he is a real champion in the years to come.
Without McLaren, however, neither he nor Oscar Piastri would have reached such heights. The Woking team was extraordinary, able to bring two drivers to the verge of the world championship in the final race, after having already secured the Constructors’ Championship well in advance. All of this while spending far less than giants like Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes. McLaren’s bet on two young drivers paid off, sending a moral lesson to many by never forcing a driver to protect the other. A high-risk policy that worked, to the great joy of Andrea Stella (showing what the engineers can do far from Maranello!) and Zak Brown.
In the final race of the championship, Ferrari raced very well, securing an excellent fourth place with Charles Leclerc and eighth with Lewis Hamilton. Late consolations with a small note: in 2024, Ferrari had finished second among the teams with 14 points behind McLaren; now it is fourth, 435 points back. Is there anything else to add?
Lando Norris is world champion. About time. But if you ask the paddock, the forums and the grandstands who they believe is the fastest man on the planet right now, nine out of ten will still say Max Verstappen. And that, in its own way, is the perfect epilogue to one of the greatest title fights we’ve ever seen.
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