Verstappen Makes It Look Straightforward
Max Verstappen took pole, led from the front, and crossed the line first at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — a fitting full stop to a season that had rarely been straightforward for anyone. Starting from P1 at Yas Marina, he banked 25 points to end the campaign, with Red Bull sending their car out in style for the final round.
Behind him, McLaren filled second and third, but not in the order the grid suggested they would. Oscar Piastri, who started from P3, crossed the line ahead of Lando Norris, who had qualified second. Whether that was the result of strategy, pace differential, or track position working against the higher-starting McLaren, it was a notable inversion that gave Piastri the superior result when the curtain came down on 2025.
McLaren's Split Finish and What It Means
Piastri and Norris finishing second and third respectively, with Norris starting ahead of his teammate, is the kind of result that will feed plenty of off-season analysis. The fact sheet doesn't tell us where the order changed, but the outcome does: Piastri converted a lower grid slot into a higher finishing position. For a driver who spent much of 2025 measured against his higher-profile teammate, it was a clean way to sign off.
Compare Piastri and Norris across 2025 to see how their seasons tracked relative to each other across all 24 rounds.
McLaren's haul of 33 constructor points in Abu Dhabi — 18 plus 15 — underlined that they remained the clearest threat to Red Bull through the final stretch of the season, even if they could not prevent Verstappen from taking the win on the day.
Leclerc, Russell, and the Midfield Resolution
Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari, having started fifth, and added the fastest lap to his afternoon — a minor prize but a real one. Fourth is a result that sits somewhere between encouraging and frustrating depending on what Ferrari expected from Abu Dhabi, but he was clearly the faster Ferrari on the day.
Lewis Hamilton, starting 16th for Ferrari after whatever had gone wrong in qualifying, worked his way up to eighth. Starting from that far back around Yas Marina — a circuit not renowned for offering generous overtaking — P8 and four championship points was a reasonable salvage job.
George Russell was fifth for Mercedes from P4 on the grid, which kept position broadly rather than gained it. Fernando Alonso gave Aston Martin sixth from P6 — perfectly maintained, no drama.
The Unexpected Points: Ocon, Hülkenberg, Stroll
Esteban Ocon finished seventh for Haas F1 Team, gaining a place on his grid position of eighth. It was a tidy close to what was by any measure a significant career move for Ocon — arriving at Haas and collecting points at the final round.
Nico Hülkenberg scored two points from P18 on the grid, finishing ninth for Sauber. That is a significant climb through the field and stands as the result of the race in terms of positions gained from grid to flag, based on the results available. For a team navigating their transition ahead of the 2026 regulations, points at the final round carried some weight.
Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten in tenth, having started 15th, adding a single point to Aston Martin's tally and continuing his habit of quietly gaining positions in races.
A Season Closed, Not Summarised
Round 24 at Yas Marina produced a clean, controlled finish to the 2025 season. Verstappen won from pole, McLaren took the next two positions, and a spread of teams collected points across the rest of the top ten. Charles Leclerc's fastest lap was the only other individual highlight the data surfaces.
For the full picture of how the 2025 standings resolved across all 24 rounds, the 2025 season page has the complete driver and constructor breakdowns.