ROCK HILL – For the first time since 2010, the race for the title of the premier class of motorsports reaches its final limit with more than two candidates with mathematical options. After Lando Norris let a crown escape in Qatar that seemed like a given, he now must face his teammate Oscar Piastri and an inspired Max Verstappen in an all-or-nothing final play. This is what is at stake at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

First modification: 06/12/2025 - 21:25

Lando Norris will long wonder how he missed a crown that he could have pocketed in Qatar. Max Verstappen, on the other hand, does not stop to think: he simply attacks, taking advantage of every advantage granted to him, as he has done in the last five races of the season. And Oscar Piastri simply hopes for the best, but prepares for the worst.

This December 7, Abu Dhabi will once again be an all-or-nothing bet, a season finale unlike anything that has been experienced for a long time in Formula 1, so accustomed to the monologue of Verstappen and the Red Bulls.

To increase the tension at the height of such a critical outcome, the three candidates were at the front for the start, after a pole won by Verstappen, with Norris in second, Piastri in third and the commitment of the McLarens to fight together if necessary to secure the crown.

The last time the title was defined in the last race was in 2021, when the legend of Verstappen began, but it had been 15 years since there had been more than two contenders on the closing date, always with Abu Dhabi as a backdrop.

In 2010, Fernando Alonso, then with Ferrari, reached the final stop eight points ahead of Max Weber and 15 ahead of Sebastian Vettel, both of Red Bull, while Lewis Hamilton's McLaren was fourth, 24 points behind.

Alonso only needed to be fourth to win the title for the third time in his career, but he was trapped behind Vitaly Petrov's Renault for 40 laps, due to a strategy error by Ferrari, and Vettel dominated from start to finish to make up the two positions he needed and become the youngest Formula 1 champion in history, at 23 years old.

This time there will be three men with the option, the three who have dominated from start to finish, winning all the races, except the two that George Russell scored with his Mercedes.

This is the scenario for each of the candidates at the end of the 2025 season:

Lando Norris: with the wind in his favor

The Briton reaches the final stretch with a 12-point advantage at the top of the standings and is the only one who depends on himself to keep the title, because it will be enough for him to be on the podium to become the monarch, adding the drivers' title to the constructors' title that McLaren has already secured.

He was the last winner on this circuit, in the race that secured the team crown with which McLaren broke Red Bull's monologue last season.

At the Grand Prix presentation, he assured that he would not ask his teammate Piastri for help, aware as he is of the Australian's personal ambitions, but the team has made it clear that it reserves the option of giving instructions to ensure victory.

"If we get into the race and it's pretty clear that one has a chance and the other doesn't, we'll do what we can to win the drivers' championship. It would be crazy not to," admitted CEO Zak Brown in statements to 'Sky Sports'.

Norris has never passed through Yas Marina without scoring, but now it is not enough for him to maintain that statistic, because the points that serve him are those of the first three places.

Having everything in your favor is not necessarily a guarantee. A victory in Qatar would have given him the title, but a mistake at the pit stop ended up giving him a fourth place which left his options open again.

Max Verstappen and his race against time

The Dutchman returns to where it all began. The first of his four consecutive titles came in an in-extremis definition at the Yas Marina circuit, which he won literally at the finish line to prevent Lewis Hamilton from adding an eighth crown and breaking Michael Schumacher's record.

There are many things he has going for him on a track that suits him like a glove and where he has won four times.

One of them is the curious statistic of Saturdays and Sundays in Abu Dhabi: the last 10 editions of the Grand Prix have crowned the driver who started in pole position, as Verstappen will do this December 7.

If he wins the race and Norris is fourth, they will have tied on points and the championship will go to Verstappen, because the criterion for breaking the tie benefits the one with the most wins, and for the Dutchman there would be eight, one more than the British.

In general, any combination that means leading Norris by 13 or more points works for him, and that is precisely the scenario that Piastri and McLaren will try to conjure.

But the Dutchman is the driver of the moment, with an impressive rebound of five victories in the last eight races, including the last two, and eight podiums in a row, which have allowed him to put Norris against the wall.

For a man who had given up the championship for lost three months ago, it is the dream scenario, and precisely the one that most enhances his proverbial strength.

Oscar Piastri: how to lose a title in 90 days

When he took the candy out of Verstappen's mouth in his own home, in the Netherlands, Oscar Piastri had a 104-point lead over the Dutchman. After three months in which McLaren seems to have followed the perfect path to squander that advantage, the Australian is the one with the least chance of keeping the crown.

Piastri has been the most affected by McLaren's string of blunders. He lost the lead in the standings to Norris when he won in Mexico, and after that he has only been able to make one podium, the second place in Qatar that put him back in the fight.

Along the way there was the disaster in Las Vegas, where the McLarens were disqualified and lost 30 points between them, and the mistakes in Qatar, which allowed Verstappen to get within reach of a fifth consecutive title that has not been won in the Grand Circus since the times of Schumacher.

He arrives at the decisive event with an additional disadvantage, because he did not compete in the first free practice session, a key moment to be in tune with his car, since the young drivers rule forced him to give the wheel to the Mexican Pato O'Ward.

His option is to win the race and have his teammate finish sixth or lower, a very unlikely scenario.

But Piastri has a winning hand that can help him in this latest bet: Yaz Marina is a circuit that he was good at throughout his youth career, including triumphs when he was active in Formula Renault and Formula Two.

Related keywords

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.