Abu Dhabi - Race

Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri all came into the final Grand Prix of the season filled with hope and determination. For the Dutchman, the race could become the crowning jewel of a surprising season, making him the second driver in the history of the sport to win five consecutive championships. For his rivals, it could be the Grand Prix that led to one of their names being etched into Formula One's hall of fame. Only one of them could come out victorious. Only one of them could win it all.

Verstappen, whose rapid pace on Saturday let him secure the pole position, kept the lead going into Yas Marina's first corner. Despite a close moment between them, the order of the two McLarens remained unchanged. Behind them, after George Russell's terrible start, both Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso managed to move up a place, closing out the race's new top five. Although this was the order the cars had fallen into at the beginning of the lap, it wasn't the order in which they got to its end. Hungry for the title that he could see slipping away from his grasp, Piastri managed an impressive pass on his teammate, moving up to P2. 

The lost position wasn't the end of Norris's troubles. Having been overtaken by the Australian, he ended up right by Leclerc's Ferrari. Although the Monegasque had no stakes in the championship, he still wanted to finish the season on a high, and therefore stayed glued to the McLaren, always just on the brink of attempting a pass. As he drove with his sights set on Norris, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, came in for an early pit, shedding his softs as he attempted an ambitious undercut. 

The Tifosi had to wait quite a while to see if the strategy would pay off, but around lap 16, when many drivers pitted for the first time, they got their confirmation. Among the chaos of stops and burning rubber, Hamilton moved into a point-scoring position. Of course, the performance of the Ferraris wasn't what most fans paid attention to, not with the World Driver's Championship on the line. Norris was the first out of the title contenders to visit the pit lane, doing so on lap  17,  alongside Leclerc, the man he just couldn't seem to escape from. Having changed his tires, he began clearing the traffic ahead. 

His journey back to the top of the grid culminated with a controversial moment involving Red Bull's second driver, Yuki Tsunoda. On lap 23, Norris had found himself in P4, with only Tsunoda separating him from Verstappen and Piastri, who remained at the front, still on their first sets of tires. The Red Bull driver was instructed to hold the Brit up as long as he could. When Norris approached him, he tried to protect his position, but wasn't able to hold it, as the Brit seemingly went off the track as he completed his overtake. Both drivers were investigated for the incident: Tsunoda for more than one change in direction during the defensive maneuver, and Norris for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Ultimately, only the Red Bull driver was punished. He wasn't the only one to receive a penalty during the Grand Prix. Later in the race, Alex Albon was punished for speeding in the pit lane, and Pierre Gasly saw five seconds added to his time for exceeding the track limits one too many times. 

Norris' overtake wasn't the only interesting thing to happen during lap 23. As it came to an end, Verstappen pitted, making Piastri the new race leader. Due to having quite an advantage over the rest of the field, the Dutchman stayed in P2, and quickly focused all his efforts on catching up to the McLaren ahead. He slowly ate away at the distance between them, and on lap 41, just as Norris pitted for a second time, he found a way past the Australian. Having been overtaken, Piastri immediately drove into the pits. He came out in P2, still ahead of Norris, but quite a while behind the man with whom he was battling for the lead. 

It quickly became clear that Piastri wouldn't be able to catch up to the Red Bull, and that Leclerc, running in P4, was Verstappen's only hope of winning the championship. If he could overtake Norris and finish on the podium, the World Drivers' Championship would fall into the Dutchman's hands for the fifth time in a row. But, try hard as he might have, Lerclerc was not quick enough to even come close to the McLaren ahead. As the last laps of the 2025 season ticked down, the order at the top remained the same. 

It was Max Verstappen who crossed the finish line first, winning the last ever Grand Prix in the ground effects era, but it wasn't him who lifted motorsport's most coveted trophy. After a challenging season, Lando Norris became Formula One's newest champion, forever securing his place in the sport's history. As the British anthem sounded off around Yas Marina, the 2025 season came to an end. 

The end of the season also marked the end of my second year running The Anatomy Of Formula One, and just like I had done the year before, I would like to finish this entry by thanking every single person who has ever read an article I have written. Without you, I wouldn't have the motivation to continue writing week after week. 

Thank you to my friends, who never refused the invitation to watch the race together, who always let me know if I forgot to note an important detail, and who never got mad when I took away my laptop to begin writing the newest post. I appreciate you more than you will ever know. 

And, of course, the biggest thank you goes out to my family, people just as infected with the Formula One bug as I have grown to be. Once again, everything I do, I am doing for you. That will never change.

And so, for the final time this season, let's look at the order of the grid:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Oscar Piastri

3. Lando Norris

4. Charles Leclerc

5. George Russell

6. Fernando Alonso

7. Esteban Ocon

8. Lewis Hamilton

9. Oliver Bearman

10. Lance Stroll

11. Gabriel Bortoleto

12. Nico Hulkenberg

13. Carlos Sainz

14. Yuki Tsunoda

15. Kimi Antonelli

16. Alex Albon

17. Isack Hadjar

18. Liam Lawson

19. Pierre Gasly

20. Franco Colapinto