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Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2025 - Race Weekend Discussion
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina Circuit
December 5-7, 2025
Qualifying Results -- SPOILER
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 1:22.877 | 1:22.752 | 1:22.207 | 18 |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:23.178 | 1:22.804 | 1:22.408 | 17 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:22.605 | 1:23.021 | 1:22.437 | 17 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:23.247 | 1:22.730 | 1:22.645 | 18 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:23.163 | 1:22.948 | 1:22.730 | 18 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:23.071 | 1:22.861 | 1:22.902 | 18 |
| 7 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 1:23.374 | 1:22.874 | 1:22.904 | 21 |
| 8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 1:23.334 | 1:23.023 | 1:22.913 | 18 |
| 9 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 1:23.373 | 1:22.997 | 1:23.072 | 18 |
| 10 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 1:23.386 | 1:23.034 | DNF | 17 |
| 11 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 1:23.254 | 1:23.041 | 11 | |
| 12 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1:23.187 | 1:23.042 | 12 | |
| 13 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 1:23.265 | 1:23.077 | 14 | |
| 14 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:22.894 | 1:23.080 | 12 | |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:23.316 | 1:23.097 | 15 | |
| 16 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:23.394 | 9 | ||
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:23.416 | 6 | ||
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 1:23.450 | 9 | ||
| 19 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:23.468 | 9 | ||
| 20 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 1:23.890 | 9 |
Source: F1.com
Grand Prix Results -- SPOILER
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time / Retired | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 58 | 1:26:07.469 | 25 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 58 | +12.594s | 18 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 58 | +16.572s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 58 | +23.279s | 12 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 58 | +48.563s | 10 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 58 | +67.562s | 8 |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 58 | +69.876s | 6 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 58 | +72.670s | 4 |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 58 | +79.014s | 2 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 58 | +79.523s | 1 |
| 11 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 58 | +81.043s | 0 |
| 12 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 58 | +81.166s | 0 |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 58 | +82.158s | 0 |
| 14 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 58 | +83.794s | 0 |
| 15 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 58 | +84.399s | 0 |
| 16 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 58 | +90.327s | 0 |
| 17 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 18 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 20 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
Fastest Lap: Charles Leclerc // 1:26.725 on lap 45
DOTD: Max Verstappen
Source: F1.com
2025 Final Drivers Standings -- SPOILER
| Pos. | Driver | Nationality | Team | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren | 423 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing | 421 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | AUS | McLaren | 410 |
| 4 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes | 319 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Ferrari | 242 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Ferrari | 156 |
| 7 | Kimi Antonelli | ITA | Mercedes | 150 |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | THA | Williams | 73 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Williams | 64 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Aston Martin | 56 |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | Racing Bulls | 51 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | GER | Kick Sauber | 49 |
| 13 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | Haas F1 Team | 42 |
| 14 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Racing Bulls | 38 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Haas F1 Team | 38 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin | 34 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Red Bull Racing | 33 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Alpine | 22 |
| 19 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRA | Kick Sauber | 19 |
| 20 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | Alpine | 0 |
| 21 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Alpine | 0 |
Source: F1.com
2025 Final Constructors Standings -- SPOILER
| Pos. | Team | Pts. |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLaren | 833 |
| 2 | Mercedes | 469 |
| 3 | Red Bull Racing | 451 |
| 4 | Ferrari | 398 |
| 5 | Williams | 137 |
| 6 | Racing Bulls | 92 |
| 7 | Aston Martin | 89 |
| 8 | Haas F1 Team | 79 |
| 9 | Kick Sauber | 70 |
| 10 | Alpine | 22 |
Source: F1.com
Next race:
Pre-Season Testing 2026 - Sakhir
Bahrain International Circuit
February 11-13 & 18-20, 2026
Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park Circuit
March 5-7, 2026
See you all next year -- Enjoy the break!
And that's the end of the 2025 F1 Season. Massive congratulations and kudos to Lando Norris and McLaren! A brand new WDC! The 35th! That's exciting, period.
Bit of a snoozer of a race (per usual...). Everyone played it pretty safe. Which for Lando, definitely made sense. On the otherhand, Lewis quietly cutting through the pack was nice. Was hoping Red Bull would pull shenanigans. Because why not? But alas, none. Not even a yellow flag or VSC from/for anyone on the grid. Seriously, I started playing some FFXIV while the race was going on.
Anyway, funny that at the beginning of the season, I was with others who were starting to write off Lando. Oscar was killing it. It seemed like a slam dunk for Oscar. I thought Lando's best chance was last year.
And then Oscar...Poor, Oscar. How did it go so wrong? Idk. I know some people point to the swap after Lando's poor pit. Or the absolute shamble of a team strategy last weekend in Qatar. Conspiracies that the team was intentionally screwing him over, maybe along with his car. And those weren't non-factors (well, not the conspiracies; that's just dumb). They mattered. But Oscar didn't help himself either. He was just gone for weeks. We weren't sure we'd see first-half-of-the-season Oscar ever again! Hopefully McLaren is strong next year. And hopefully Oscar is, too.
Not to detract from Lando's win, but to me, the biggest story is really Max and Red Bull. Guy goes from being out of WDC contention basically from the start. Even Max and the team didn't really think he'd seriously have a chance. Yet from about the summer break, he goes on a tear. Capitalizes on McLaren's mistakes over and over. Him and the car are back to form. And gets within 2pts of a fifth WDC. Also without any real help from his teammate (not from lack of wanting to; Yuki just couldn't). Like what?! Has that happened before? Maybe it has. But even so, I imagine it has to be pretty rare. We all know Max is the GOAT already and doesn't need any more glazing. But still. How does someone do that?
Anyway, pre-season testing starts in February. We have new regs, new engines, a new team, a new PU manufacturer, new drivers, a new track, and more. So hopefully with so many changes, it'll shake things up and we'll have an entertaining 2026 season.
In the meantime, enjoy the break, enjoy sleeping in or going to sleep on time, and happy holidays. See you all next year in Bahrain!
Watching Oscar's meltdown was so painful I had to stop watching F1 for a bit. Was really rooting for him to win it.
Oh well. At least it wasn't Max, again.
A friend said to me earlier the name of the season should be Technically Interesting: The F1 Story. 😂
There were definitely some good races this year but it definitely felt like a season that was more interesting to talk about than to watch.
I'm thinking next season will be a flip with the new regs. No title fight to speak of but the on-track action will be good. That's my guess. We'll see.
No racing till I hyperfixate on the Dakar Rally in a few months!!
Ha, you're not wrong.
My new-ish supervisor is into F1. And this is his first season. He's enjoying it, but he's mentioned some of the races being boring. So I told him that if he wanted to see some exciting races, he should watch IndyCar, Formula 2, Formula 3, and F1 Academy. Even Formula E (who's season apparently started yesterday??).
There were definitely times this season where I was like "Meh. Should I watch this weekend?" But the FOMO got the better of me. That said, I've missed more non-GP/Quali sessions this year than in past years. For FPs, part of that I'm in the office on Fridays when I used to WFH on Fridays, so it's harder to watch. But I wouldn't even watch a replay; I just skipped them altogether. I know FPs aren't always that exciting in the first place, but they can at least provide some info or insight to quali and the GP itself. Still, just didn't care.
So yeah hopefully all the changes for 2026 will be just what the doctor ordered.
Been a McLaren fan since I was a kid so cannot say I was not very happy at Lando's WDC.
However, this year was super scrappy and really shouldn't have gone down to the final race. Between Lando struggling with the car at the start of the year, to Oscars shocking drop of form in the second half I'm hoping both drivers come into 2026 swinging and firing on all cylinders.
The drivers aren't fully responsible for the mess from the team. Everyone will point to the Vegas DSQ and Qatar strategy fumbles but McLaren haven't always been great in strategy so I'm hoping over the break they work on that too.
What a year from Max though. He's managed to keep himself in contention without any real aid from the 2nd seat and has shown by himself he can tangle with anyone even at a car defecit. He was definitely the best driver of the year
I'm hoping that 2026 will be close between multiple teams (and maybe even multiple engine constructors?) But we'll see in 90ish days when Quali in Australia comes and everyone's taken the sandbags off.
This year's championship fight was great, but unfortunately not many of the races were that exciting in a bubble. Out of Max, Oscar, and Lando, Lando is probably the driver I least wanted to win it all, but I can't say that it isn't deserved, he drove out of his mind this year. Max really just needed one more race to get it done or for them to have kept fastest lap points. Oh well, he's still the GOAT to me and will definitely have a shot at more titles.
I'm excited for the new regulations and teams to shake things up next year! The first year or two of these regulations were exciting, but these current cars have just raced like shit recently and DRS overtakes are just not exciting to me personally. I'm hoping next year will at least bring some drama in the form of some teams executing the new rules well and some not. I'm hoping that Williams can continue their upward trend. While Max is my favorite driver, Williams is definitely my favorite team and it just felt so wrong for them to be in the gutter the last dozen or so years before this year.
The commentators at the end of the race were talking about Max in a weird way. They were talking as if this was the last chance Max had to win the championship or something, like he'll never be able to do it again.
Maybe I'm wrong - heck, likely I'm just reading too much into it - but anyone else got the same vibe? And if so, anyone kind enough to explain to me why that would be the case? I know the cars are changing next year and that Red Bull will change engines, but I don't know if that's related.
Red Bull will lose Honda's engine and team after this season and they will move to their own (Ford branded) engine next season. Some of the comments Christian Horner made over the past few years have given the impression that Red Bull's engine development program isn't going great. The rumors this year have Mercedes being ahead of everyone in development of next seasons power train which would give Mercedes and McLaren a huge advantage to start the next era. Since Aston Martin also runs Mercedes engines, their Adrian Newey led 2026 car is being given major respect. With all the personnel Red Bull have lost over the last 5 years plus moving to their own power train under a new rule set, it's a tall order to continue their success.
Aston Martin are going to be powered by Honda next year. IMO, they'll be an unknown going into the year before we see what honda has shown up (either the 2014 McHonda or the 2018+ Red Bull Honda)
Mea Culpa, I forgot about Aston Martin moving to Honda power.
But 2014 was not Honda's fault- McLaren refused Honda's original powerplant concept because it didn't fit in their 'size zero' aerodynamic concept, forcing a redesign that ended up underpowered and unreliable.
We'll see what happens, but I think AM could be very good next year; Newey + Honda = Alonso's 3rd?
🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
thanks for the context mate. Cheers!
So we're only hours into silly season, but there are some rumors that there might be more major personnel changes for the team:
Marko's Red Bull future in doubt for 2026
Changes at Red Bull? What's behind Marko's hint and Lambiase's emotion?
While Marko is close to the Verstappens, I can't imagine his departure would have that big of an impact. He's primarily the talent scout. But if GP steps away from being Max's race engineer? That's definitely a bigger deal.
Maybe it's a confluence of all these factors, plus the changes that have already happened, as dna has mentioned.
Max himself has also mentioned more than a few times that if things don't go well with the new regs, he's not winning, or at least he's not enjoying it, he might just retire from the sport. That he's already got his four WDCs and he's not necessarily looking to snatch up as many as he can; he's not trying to be Hamilton. He's contracted through 2028 with Red Bull, but supposedly there are performance-based exit clauses that he can trigger if the car isn't up to snuff.
Guess we'll see how it all pans out.
Boy, not sure what to say without giving anything away. Maybe I'll wait a few hours and comment again. Good race! Great season!
Good for Lando for not fucking this up. Cutting it little close, though. The nice thing is that Max seems to be viewing a championship win as a 'nice to have' but wasn't expecting it.
Shame that it came down to this, really. I feel for Yuki. There was only so much he could have done and he didn't do any of it. I still think the overtake was inevitable, but pushing him a little wide wasn't the way.
Anyway, congrats to McLaren and Mercedes/HPP for a great year on all fronts.
poolwise,
During the off-season I'll be finishing off 2010. I meant to rewatch during the off-weekends (no f1 or moto), but I slacked.
Lance Stroll is the last driver to overtake using DRS.