Formula 1 visits Abu Dhabi this weekend, where three drivers are dreaming of the world championship title in the all-important final race of the season.
05.12.2025, 14:00
05.12.2025, 14:10
SDA
The starting position is reminiscent of 2010, when the smiling third-placed driver rejoiced in the end. Will the scenario repeat itself?
"Last year we set our sights on the constructors' championship here, this year we are fighting for a different championship (the drivers' championship)," says Lando Norris ahead of the big showdown in Abu Dhabi. The Englishman ended Max Verstappen's reign here a year ago with a win at the Yas Marina Circuit (after four previous victories).
Mathematically, Norris has the best cards of the three title contenders on Sunday. A podium finish would make the Englishman the 2025 world champion, regardless of the results of the competition.
However, McLaren, which secured the world championship title in the team standings for the second time in a row at the beginning of October, must be wary of Verstappen. The Dutchman has closed a gap of more than 100 points since the beginning of September. Before the final race, the Red Bull figurehead is just twelve points behind Norris and four ahead of Piastri. A maximum of 25 points are still up for grabs at the floodlit spectacle in Abu Dhabi.
No more mistakes allowed
The defending champion owes his impressive comeback not only to his immense talent, which has earned him four world championship titles in a row, but also to the growing strength of his car. A fact that is making McLaren increasingly nervous and has recently led to a series of mistakes.
In Qatar, team boss Andrea Stella left Norris and Piastri on the track while almost all the other drivers, including Verstappen, went for new tires during the safety car phase. The Dutchman won the race from third on the grid. A week earlier, McLaren had already lost valuable points in Las Vegas when both drivers were disqualified for cars that did not comply with the rules - another setback from which Verstappen again benefited.
Piastri like Vettel once did?
McLaren still have it in their own hands, but the parallels to the 2010 season are becoming increasingly obvious. If Norris misses the podium on Sunday, it will be more complicated and a case for the slide rule. Fifteen years ago, it was Piastri's current manager Mark Webber who started the last race in Abu Dhabi in second place. Fernando Alonso, then in a Ferrari, started as the world championship leader. He had an eight-point lead over Piastri's compatriot.
But there was also Sebastian Vettel, who was third in the championship standings, 15 points behind Alonso, and the world title was still within reach. And the German seized his chance. While the other two weakened, he drove to victory and crowned himself and Red Bull world champion for the first time.
Will history repeat itself with a happy ending for Piastri? Or will Verstappen actually pull off the miracle and end up at the top of the world championship rankings for the only and decisive time this year? In contrast to Vettel's title premiere 15 years ago, it would be Verstappen's fifth World Championship title in a row. Only one person in the 75-year history of the World Championship has ever achieved this: record world champion Michael Schumacher with Ferrari at the beginning of this millennium.
Now after all: McLaren turnaround on the subject of stable orders
However, the Hollywood-style showdown was made possible above all by McLaren, which is now facing a major dilemma. Finally abandon the papaya rules, according to which neither driver is favored and there is no number 1? Or demote Piastri to helper in the last of the 24 races?
On Sunday, the situation could arise where Verstappen leads the race and the McLaren drivers are in third and fourth position. Piastri would then have to make way for Norris to become world champion.
In view of the actually very good, but also delicate starting position, McLaren now wants to deviate from its course and issue a team order if necessary. Managing Director Zak Brown confirmed this to Sky Sports UK: "Yes, of course. We are realistic. We want to win this drivers' world championship."
Brown emphasized that both drivers would start with a chance of winning the title. But they don't know how qualifying will go and what the reliability situation will be. "But if we go into the race and it becomes pretty clear that one has a chance and the other doesn't, we'll do everything we can to win the drivers' championship. It would be crazy not to do that," Brown said.
"Killer doll" Verstappen
One thing is clear: the stress factor will reach its peak at the finale in Abu Dhabi. Verstappen's title era began there in 2021 after a dramatic duel with Lewis Hamilton. The fact that the man with the number 1 on his car is now once again in the thick of the world championship battle was unthinkable in the summer.
"I'm completely relaxed," said Verstappen when asked how he was dealing with the pressure. He has nothing to lose and it is a "bonus" for him to still have a chance of winning the title. Piastri is also "relaxed" in view of the starting position, and Norris explained that he doesn't even think about it, which is of course not so easy because he is constantly being asked about it.
But Verstappen remains a threat to his rivals. Or as McLaren's managing director Zak Brown said recently: "He's like that guy from a horror movie who pops up just when you think he's gone." When asked about this, Verstappen said, alluding to the "killer doll" from the 1980s horror film of the same name: "He can call me Chucky."
