F1 in Abu Dhabi: And that’s the championship

The 2025 Formula 1 World Championship drew to a close this past weekend in Abu Dhabi, and with it came the end of the current generation of cars. After a grueling 24 races, the title was decided in a three-way fight by the finest of margins; just two points, less than half a percent, separated the winning driver from second place when the checkered flag waved on Sunday. Coming into Abu Dhabi, McLaren’s Lando Norris was, if not a comfortable favorite, then at least the driver with the highest odds of prevailing. After a strong start to the season, the British driver’s form dipped at the Dutch Grand Prix. But he bounced back, retaking the championship lead from his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri in Mexico in October. For much of the season, it seemed to be a two-car race. McLaren had a clear car advantage and two strong drivers, suggesting a repeat of the years we saw Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg duking it out to bring home titles for Mercedes. But that didn’t figure on Red Bull developing its car late in the season. New boss Laurent Mekies has revitalized the energy drinks squad, and four-time champion Max Verstappen was able to close inexorably toward the McLaren drivers in the points with a string of sublime performances . At times, McLaren seemed to try to help him. Its commitment to scrupulous fairness between its own two drivers sometimes disadvantaged both. Then a double disqualification in Las Vegas gave Verstappen a huge catch-up. Things got worse last weekend in Qatar (apologies for no race report; I took some time off, even if F1 didn’t). A perfectly timed safety car saw the entire field-minus the McLarens, running at the front-stopped for tires in a 57-lap race where Pirelli restricted the maximum stint length for anyone to just 25 laps. In effect, the entire grid got a free pit stop over the two orange cars, which tried to use their pace advantage to claw back the 16-odd seconds they lost to everyone else to no avail. Norris could have wrapped the thing up then, but it instead went to the final race.

Preview: ~360 words