Formula 1 has a new world champion. In a tense, high-stakes Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale, McLaren’s Lando Norris clinched the 2025 drivers’ title with a third-place finish that ended Max Verstappen’s run of dominance and confirmed a changing of the guard at the top of the sport.
Under the floodlights of Yas Marina, Verstappen won the race on the road, but it wasn’t enough. Norris’ podium delivered just enough points to secure the championship by the narrowest of margins, with his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri completing a three-way fight that went down to the wire.
A Title Decided by Nerves and Details
The Abu Dhabi decider had all the ingredients of a modern F1 thriller: strategy gambles, tyre wear drama, and one critical overtake. Norris’ race hinged on a bold move on Yuki Tsunoda to claim third place and with it the points he needed to stay ahead of Verstappen in the final standings.
For Norris, long labelled one of F1’s brightest talents, the title is the culmination of years of near-misses and steady growth. He becomes the latest in a line of British world champions and McLaren’s first since the era of Lewis Hamilton, restoring a legacy the team has been chasing for more than a decade.
McLaren’s season wasn’t only about the drivers’ crown. Consistent podiums from Norris and Piastri, combined with a mid-season surge in performance, delivered the team a coveted constructors’ championship as well. In a sport where team and driver titles don’t always align, McLaren’s double underscored the scale of its 2025 turnaround.
Verstappen’s Era Tested, Not Erased
For Max Verstappen and Red Bull, Abu Dhabi 2025 will be remembered as a night of mixed emotions. The Dutchman did what he needed to do on track — take pole, control the race, and cross the line first — but fate and points mathematics were not on his side this time.
Yet the loss does not erase his status. Verstappen still put together one of his strongest seasons, stacking wins and poles and dragging the title fight to the final round. In his own words, this may have been his “best year,” even without the trophy at the end. The rivalry with Norris now looks set to define the next phase of Formula 1, much as Hamilton–Vettel and Hamilton–Verstappen did before.
Elsewhere on the grid, the finale also closed chapters and opened new questions: Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari season, George Russell’s continued push as Mercedes’ spearhead, and rising names like Kimi Antonelli and other rookies positioning themselves for the 2026 reset.
2026: Lighter Cars, New Power Units, New Games
While the paddock celebrates and mourns the outcomes of 2025, everyone is already looking to 2026 — a year that will usher in some of the biggest technical changes in modern F1.
The new regulations will bring lighter, more agile cars with a major shift in the power unit balance: roughly a 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric power. Aerodynamic rules will be tweaked to improve racing, and sustainable fuels will take on a larger role, all aimed at making the sport both more competitive and more aligned with manufacturers’ road-car technology.
For teams, that means a fresh opportunity and a major risk. Some of today’s front-runners could find themselves on the back foot if they misjudge the new technical window, while traditionally smaller outfits may see a chance to close the gap. For drivers like Norris, Verstappen and Piastri, the 2025 title fight might be only the prologue to a very different championship landscape.
F1’s Next Era on Screen: Apple Takes the U.S. Rights
The sport’s evolution isn’t limited to what happens on track. Off it, Formula 1 has also signed a landmark broadcast deal that will shape how many fans experience the new era.
Apple has secured exclusive rights to broadcast F1 in the United States from 2026, in a multi-year agreement that will put every session and race on Apple TV. For American viewers, it means one primary digital home for the championship. For F1 and its teams, it represents a deeper bet on streaming platforms as the future of global sports consumption.
Combined with Netflix’s ongoing impact through “Drive to Survive” and the sport’s growing social media footprint, the Apple deal reinforces the idea that F1 is no longer just a European-centric championship. It’s a global entertainment product, with drivers like Norris now carrying the status — and responsibilities — of crossover stars.
What This All Means for Formula 1
Norris’ championship, McLaren’s resurgence, Verstappen’s sustained threat, the looming 2026 rule reset and the Apple TV deal together form a snapshot of where Formula 1 stands at the end of 2025: highly competitive on track, increasingly sophisticated off it, and more global — and digital — than ever.
For long-time fans, this season’s finale offered something they’ve craved: a genuine, clean, multi-driver fight that went to the last race without controversy deciding the outcome. For newer fans, especially those drawn in by streaming and social media, Norris’ win provides a fresh hero with a story that stretches from karting tracks to the top step of the Abu Dhabi podium.
As the paddock packs up under the Yas Marina lights, one thing is clear: Formula 1’s next chapter will be written not only in lap times, but in how teams, drivers and rights holders navigate a rapidly changing technological and media landscape. And at the centre of it, at least for now, stands a young British champion in papaya orange.
Source: Formula 1 official coverage of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Lando Norris’ title, plus major motorsport news outlets reporting on the 2026 regulations and Apple’s U.S. broadcast deal.
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