Abu Dhabi Déjà Vu: Lando Norris beats Max Verstappen to F1 crown by two points

On December 7, 2025, the paddock experienced Déjà Vu in Yas Marina. The skyline blazed with fiery oranges as the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix reached its climax, lights flickering on like stars across the desert circuit. 

For McLaren, it was a night of redemption. Lando Norris ended the team's 17-year wait for a driver's title, becoming the first McLaren champion since Lewis Hamilton's triumph in 2008.​  Norris becomes the 11th British F1 world champion at the end of his seventh season in F1. And it is McLaren's first drivers' and constructors' title double since 1998. 

The crowd's roar swelled for Norris, the grinning Brit hoisting his maiden F1 crown alongside Piastri's P2 silverware. Norris, who becomes the 11th British driver to win the title, ended the season with 423 points to Verstappen's 421 and Piastri's 410. 

Norris’s victory was more than personal glory. It marked a resurgence for a team that had battled through years of frustration, finally reclaiming the summit of Formula 1. As the Papaya team took its place on the podium, the echoes of past glories filled the air. 

With teary eyes as Norris took his place on the podium, he said, "I've not cried in a while, and I didn't think I would cry but I did, it's incredible. It is pretty surreal, I've dreamed of this for a long, long time. It's not just this year, it has been over the last seven or eight years being with McLaren, with the last 16, 17 years of my life, trying to chase this dream, and today we all did it so I'm pretty happy."

The moment was a bittersweet symphony of triumph and heartbreak, etched into F1 history beneath the lights of Yas Marina Circuit. The 26-year-old took the title by only two points from Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

In 2021, Max Verstappen stood on the brink of his first world title, while Lewis Hamilton was about to make history with an eighth. The tension was palpable, the stakes sky-high. Four years later, the script flipped, and history repeated itself in Yas Marina again: Max, now chasing his fifth crown, faced Lando Norris, who was aiming for his first. 

The circuit once again became the stage for a championship decider that felt hauntingly familiar in 2025. This time, it was Lando Norris standing on the brink, chasing his maiden crown as Verstappen fought to extend his reign. 

The same corner, the same stakes, the same desperate attempts to snatch glory, each move echoing the high-stakes chess match that defined the 2021 finale. Even Verstappen’s season-leading eighth win and 71st of his career could not stop Norris from clinching the victory. 

The Dutch driver said, "I kept looking up at the screen and hoping something would pop up. Every straight, I kept looking to see if something was happening, but it didn't, and that is racing, and I am not too fussed about it. I have no regrets about my season.", celebrating Norris's maiden win.