From a slippery start to a photo finish, how Lando Norris won McLaren’s first F1 driver’s title in 16 years

Lando Norris staved off a fierce challenge from Max Verstappen and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win his maiden Formula 1 world championship on Sunday. The British F1 star needed to finish third in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to deny Verstappen his fifth consecutive world title, and that is exactly what he ended up doing at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday evening.

By taking the third and final podium spot behind Verstappen and Piastri, Norris beat the former by just two points to finish the 2025 Formula 1 season on top with 423 points. McLaren had already secured the constructors’ title, their second on the trot and 10th overall.

Norris winning the title – the first driver’s championship for McLaren since 2008 – and Piastri finishing inside the top-three was just the cherry on top of the cake for the Woking-based British constructor.

Norris appeared set for the title after gaining a massive lead over Verstappen at one point in the season. In the end, however, it turned out to be quite the turbulent ride for the 26-year-old Briton, whose triumph was just as much a testament of his skills in the cockpit as it is of his steely mindset.

Trailing Piastri after a slippery start

McLaren were backed to complete the double in the 2025 season after winning their first constructor’s title of the millennium last December, and between Norris slightly ahead of Piastri among the pre-season favourites for the driver’s title. Norris and Piastri were then off to contrasting starts in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where they finished first and ninth respectively despite both McLaren drivers spinning off the track due to rain.

Despite a disappointing run in front of his home crowd, Piastri would surge ahead in the standings, winning the very next race in China before winning three in a row in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami. Norris wouldn’t win another race until the final week of May on the street circuit in Monaco, where he finished ahead of the Ferrari driven by home favourite Charles Leclerc, with Piastri and Verstappen relegated to third and fourth respectively.

Piastri, however, bounced back in the very next race to win the Spanish Grand Prix to maintain his slender lead over Norris atop the driver’s standings. And he would not relinquish the top spot until the final week of October, at which point the season was drawing towards a thrilling conclusion.

Verstappen catches up with a fightback for the ages

Verstappen’s chances of winning a fifth world title on the trot looked bleak after the Dutch Grand Prix, the 28-year-old getting beaten to the top spot by Piastri in his home race in Zandvoort, which completed five consecutive wins for McLaren over a couple of months. Piastri continued occupying the No 1 spot despite Norris winning three of those five races, including a home victory at the British GP.

At that point, Piastri led the defending champion by over a hundred points, sitting at the top of the standings with 309 points with Norris at second with 275. The Dutchman would have had to pull a rabbit out of the hat to win the driver’s title from such a position.

There is, however, a good reason why Verstappen had dominated the sport for years after denying Lewis Hamilton a record-breaking eighth world title at the Yas Marina in 2021. The Dutchman won three of the next four races – in Italy, Azerbaijan as well as in the United States GP – to fire a warning to the two McLarens that a hundred point deficit was not going to deter him.

Verstappen would then continue to narrow the gap with victories in Las Vegas as well as in Qatar, and was very much in reach of the glittering trophy after seizing pole in Abu Dhabi. What boosted his chances of retaining the title at the end of the season was Norris and Piastri getting disqualified in Las Vegas after a post-race inspection, as well as McLaren’s questionable decision to not bring their drivers in for fresh tires while every other team pitted during safety car in Doha.

Norris surges ahead in photo finish

Norris had surrendered the top spot in the driver’s standings to Piastri in Jeddah. And it wasn’t until his triumph in the Mexican Grand Prix, where his teammate failed to stand on the podium with a fifth-place finish, that he was back on top and in the title picture.

The Briton would then build a 24-point lead over Piastri and Verstappen – who were the only other drivers in the title picture towards the end of the season and were on 366 points each – with a perfect sprint as well as victory from pole in Brazil.

Norris did not let the double ‘DNF’ in Vegas deter his spirit. After sensationally overtaking Kimi Antonelli late in the race in Qatar to finish fourth, he simply needed to finish third in Abu Dhabi to win his maiden world title.

And after qualifying second at Yas Marina and getting overtaken by Piastri on the first lap, Norris staved off competition from Leclerc and avoided a collision with Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda to finish third and fulfill his lifelong dream.