Formula 1 Abu Dhabi GP Highlights: Lando Norris wins F1 2025 title despite Verstappen winning at Yas Marina

Norris is joined by his family at the circuit as he hugs his mother and his girlfriend. Joy flowing all around the Yas Marina.

It's time for the podium at the final race of the season. Verstappen on top of the podium, but it is the third-placed Norris who takes the championship by two points. Piastri is second and third in the overall standings. 

Max did everything but it was just not for him to win his fifth title here. Norris takes it with a third-placed finish.

"As we've seen many times, anything can happen. So I just kept pushing. I wanted to fight to the end. [Verstappen and Piastri] certainly did not make my life easy this year. But I am happy! It has been a long journey with McLaren, I've been with them for nine years. For me to bring something back to them, I feel like I did my part for the team this year. So I'm proud of myself, but I'm more proud of everything I have made cry," he adds.

"I didn't think I would cry but I did. It is a long journey. I want to say a big thanks to my guys, everyone at McLaren, my parents. I now know what Max feels like a little bit! I want to congratulate Max and Oscar as well, it has been a pleasure to race against both of them, and to learn from both of them. But we did it, we did it!" Norris said after the title win.

Lando Norris, take a bow. Champion of the world. He waited for years and is now finally the champion. He is the first McLaren driver to win the F1 title since Lewis Hamilton did it for them in 2008.

Lando Norris is the new world champion in F1. He is the 35th driver to win the F1 championship. His maiden title and he is down in tears. 

Max Verstappen has won the Abu Dhabi GP but will not win the F1 2025 title. Oscar Piastri is second, Norris comes home third and he is the F1 champion of the world. New world champion.

We head into the final lap of this 58-lap race. Verstappen leads with Piastri on second and Norris on third. But this won't be enough for him to secure his title.

Verstappen is leading by 15s over Piastri, but his title hopes are fading fast. 

It's all praise for Lando as he is doing well here to stay in the third place. Leclerc is more than 4.5 seconds behind the Briton, who was asked for what sets of tyres he would want if there is a pit stop situation in case a safety car comes in. Soft, said the championship leader.

Okay, so it looks like Max will not go for his second pit now. The gap is down to 20 seconds, and the pit window needs 21 seconds. Leclerc is not gaining much on Norris in the battle for the third. He is a little over 4s down. Less than 10 laps to go now, and Verstappen's hopes are dwindling.

Verstappen is first with a gap of over 23s over Piastri. Norris is third with a lead of around 4.5s over Leclerc. If this stays as it is, Norris will win the F1 title.

Verstappen has over 24 seconds of gap over the second-placed Piastri. He is having the pit window gap over Piastri and might come for a change of tyres as his hard ones are 20 laps old. He might take soft ones.

Verstappen had gone past Piastri as the McLaren driver now pits for medium tyres. This would be his only stop. He comes out more than four second clear of Norris in second.

Leclerc comes for his second stop, and this might prompt McLaren to pit Norris now. This is to get to the same tyre age as that of Leclerc so that Leclerc does not move past him on newer sets of medium tyres.

Piastri leads from Verstappen with the gap shrunk further down to less than two seconds. Norris is third, with a strong lead of over six seconds over the fourth-placed Leclerc, followed by Russell in fifth.

Leclerc is now losing time on his hard tyres. Norris is doing well on his hard tyres, which are nearly 17 laps older, similar to Leclerc's. Piastri is leading with a gap of nearly seven seconds, and he might be on just one pit stop strategy here.

Okay, so there will be no action on Norris for going off the track. Fair enough it seems as Tsunoda was waving all around and giving him no space out there. McLaren would have argued the same to the stewards.

Yuki Tsunoda has been penalised with a five-second penalty for waving around the straight to block Norris.

Here's the video of the overtake

Piastri might be leading here but his race is falling off. He has effectively been undercut by Norris and Leclerc now and might come out fourth when the race ends. 

The stewards are investigating Tsunoda and Norris here. Tsunoda, for forcing another driver off the track, and Norris for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when he tried going past Tsunoda. Meanwhile, Leclerc is giving pressure on Norris for third place. He has set a new fastest lap, three tenths faster than Norris. The battle for the third place is on.

The stewards have noted the Lando-Tsunoda overtake. Tsunoda was waving down the straight, trying to block Lando behind. Lando goes wide off the track to get past the Red Bull man. 

Lando gets past Tsunoda here with the help of the DRS. He couldn't fend off much and waste the Brit's time as Leclerc is within two seconds behind the two. Verstappen has been called for the pits. He joins back on second as Piastri takes the lead for thr while on hard.

Norris is now chasing Tsunoda here. Red Bull say that the Brit will be within a second in one lap. Tsunoda is on hard tyres for this very reason, as he needs to hold Norris behind him for as much time as he can. But will he able to do?

Norris is making his moves here, and he is now up to fifth after getting past Liam Lawson.

Lando Norris pits as he comes for a hard compound of tyres for his McLaren. Charles Leclec follow,s and he is ahead of Russell. The undercut didn't work as Ferrari reacted quickly. Norris is down to P9 for now and is stuck a bit in the middle field here.

Russell comes for an early pit here. He is trying an undercut on Charles Leclerc to save time and see if he can get past the Ferrari man when he pits. "Leclerc is within undercut range of Norris. They'll be starting to think about pit stops in the next few laps," Jolyon Palmer said.

So McLaren CEO Zak Brown has said that Piastri going past Lando on lap 1 "was not a surprise." These might be team orders then. "So far, so good. We are in good shape right now - just need to manage the race," adds Brown.

10 laps are doen here. Verstappen leads the pack with Piastri second and Norris third. Looks like they are managing their tyres. If it stays this way, Lando will be the world champion.

McLaren have told Norris that they are happy with the pace and that he must stay with Plan A and target laps. This might mean he will stay out for a bit longer.

Verstappen is in control out here. His Race Engineer tells him that they might "wish" to go longer. He is managing his tyres but is 2.3s clear of Piastri.

Ferrari have a good race car today. Leclerc is creating pressure on Norris, while Hamilton is up to P13 and chasing down Bearman. McLaren tell Norris that the team are "happy" with his pace at the moment, knowing that Leclerc's tyres will eventually overheat behind. Norris might be managing his tyres.

And this is getting interesting, guys. Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari is closing in on Lando for third place. He is within a second of Lando.

In case you may not know, all racers in the top 10, excluding Piastri, began on medium tyres. The Australian is on hard sets of tyres and he is now a place up on his partner Lando.

And what a move this early in lap 1. Piastri gets past Lando to take second place. He is hunt for the title and would fancy his chances here at Max.

And the lights go out at the Yas Marina. Max Verstappen with a good start, blocks Lando and keeps his place at turn 1. Lando stays second with Piastri third, as it started.

Max Verstappen leads the grid for the formation lap in the final race of the year. "Slept good. Ready to go. The plan is to win the race, and rely on a bit of luck from behind," Verstappen said before the race today.

It's all down to this now. Max, Lando and Oscar. Three racers in battle. 58 laps. We will get a champion at around 8 PM IST.

1st Max Verstappen

2nd Lando Norris

3rd Oscar Piastri

4th George Russell

5th Charles Leclerc

6th Fernando Alonso

7th Gabriel Bortoleto

8th Esteban Ocon

9th Isack Hadjar

10th Yuki Tsunoda

11th Oliver Bearman

12th Carlos Sainz

13th Liam Lawson

14th Kimi Antonelli

15th Lance Stroll

16th Lewis Hamilton

17th Alex Albon

18th Nico Hulkenberg

19th Pierre Gasly

20th Franco Colapinto

Piastri also has a chance to win the f1 title, albeit a very slim one. He is third on the grid and needs to win the race and hope that Norris finishes sixth or lower, regardless of what Max does. This will ensure Piastri, the Australian, of his maiden F1 title.

Lando Norris is still the favourite man to win the F1 title. He is 12 points clear of Max and just needs to finish on the podium, regardless of what Max does. This will mean that Norris will win his maiden F1 title.

Max Verstappen, the pole-sitter, needs to be 13 points clear of Lando Norris. He is 12 behind, and if he wins the race, he would hope for Norris to finish outside the podium (top three). This would make Verstappen the winner for the fifth consecutive time.

Lando Norris leads the way with 408 points. Max Verstappen is second with 396 points, followed by Oscar Piastri at third with 392 points. Norris the favourites, but don't count Verstappen out.

We are less than 20 minutes away from when the lights go off at the Yas Marina Circuit. Celebrities are in attendance, including football legend Ronaldinho, Tennis star Jannik Sinner and English footballer Micah Richards.

As we head into the final race, three drivers are in the hunt for the F1 title. It's down to four-time defending champion Max Verstappen and the youngsters Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who can win the F1 title. Norris leads by 12 points from Verstappen, followed by Piastri, who is 16 behind the leader.

Are you ready?? For the first time since 2010, three racers head into the final race of a Formula 1 season with a chance to win the title. Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are in the hunt to win the elusive F1 crown to become the F1 champion of the world. It can't get bigger than this. Have a seat and some snacks as I, Varun Malik, take you across this action-packed ride at the Yas Marina Circuit.