We start off this week in dismay as we hear about the news of Yuki Tsunoda being dropped for next season. Hadjar will be stepping up to replace him as Verstappen’s teammate. F2 star Arvid Lindblad will be in Racing Bulls next year.
But we are excited for the final race of the 2025 season in Abu Dhabi. A 3-way battle to determine the driver world champion. It’s been 15 years since we had three drivers still in with a chance to win the final trophy at the last race.
The Constructors’ championship was already won by McLaren a few races ago. What an outstanding job they have done this year with two strong drivers, both fighting for the championship title.
However, all teams should know by now that they should never underestimate Max Verstappen, the 3-time World Champion.
Does practice make perfect?
FP1 saw many rookies replace the F1 drivers, such as Arvid Lindblad and Arthur Leclerc (Leclerc Junior to some), racing around Abu Dhabi.
Williams had some worrying moments in FP2 as FP3 paused due to a red flag caused by Hamilton. His reins snapped, and he flew off into the barrier, ending his final practice session as a Ferrari driver in 2025.
Antonelli and Tsunoda crash together in the pit lane as the mechanic releases Antonelli at the wrong time. Both sidepods had damage which needed to be repaired.
Let the quick qualifying commence!
Q1 is a quick event with many cars desperate to get over the line as quickly as possible. Several cars were going wide and getting their lap times deleted.
An upset for Alpine as both cars are out in the bottom 5. Joining them are Hulkenberg and Albon, who both just aren’t able to improve their lap times.
A shocking twist as Bortoleto gets out of Q1 and knocks out Hamilton, and the Ferrari fails to make it into Q2—his 3rd consecutive Q1 exit.
We begin with Q2, and Verstappen sails on the track, putting in some quick times with Norris and Russel competing for the top spot.
All the cars have gone out for the final lap except for Verstappen, who thinks he’s safe. The rest of the cars are underway, and some brilliant purple sectors are being put in.
Some fantastic laps set by Alonso and Bortoletto see them through to Q3, whilst Leclerc struggles, nearly slipping off the track, but makes it through.
Unfortunately, Stroll is out in 15th place, joined by Antonelli and Lawson. Sainz and Bearman don’t make it into Q3 and are kicked out by Tsunoda and Ocon.
Tsunoda ran wide but managed to stay just about in and go into Q3, joining his teammate Verstappen for the final qualifying round.
Nine different teams in the top 10, only McLaren and Red Bull have both teammates in the top 10, and Red Bull plans to use Tsunoda to give him a tow to help his teammate.
It is a fantastic final qualifying as Verstappen is on top, he sets the quickest time, followed by Norris behind him and Piastri in 3rd. Our top 3 in the Driver championship are the same three starting in podium positions for the race.
Russel slots into 4th, followed by Leclerc and Alonso. Bortoletto makes an outstanding fast lap, reaching 7th with Ocon just behind him. Hadjar and Tsunoda take the final spots in the top 10.
What an exciting qualifying, and now we’re ready for the final race, the championship decider. Here in Abu Dhabi!
It’s time to go racing, for the final time!
It’s a raring start as Verstappen storms away, Norris close behind him and Piastri in pursuit.
Russel dives down the inside but falls short and ends up falling two places behind. Alonso lunges ahead and fights with Leclerc, but he holds him off.
Piastri overtakes Norris with an aggressive move to take 2nd place. Meanwhile, Verstappen quickly builds a substantial lead over the field.
Leclerc is determined to stay ahead of Alonso, as Russel, who went down to 6th, manages to gain a place back by overtaking Alonso.
Leclerc is trying to stick closely to Norris, but Norris is defending desperately. Hamilton has a brilliant start, overtaking several cars and moving up to 13th as Antonelli falls short, down to 17th.
Hulkenberg came in to pit on lap 8, as he was on the soft tyre, and so did Hamilton. Piastri is on hard tyres, whereas most of the other cars have started on medium tyres.
Lawson receives a 5-second penalty for driving erratically, which won’t be suitable for his race. On lap 15, Russel pits to attempt to undercut Leclerc, and Hadjar and Bearman follow suit.
Norris pits and rejoins in 9th place, facing heavy traffic. He skillfully overtakes Stroll and Lawson in one manoeuvre and now faces Tsunoda, who is likely to defend hard for Verstappen’s benefit.
Leclerc is following behind him, overtaking the same cars, and Russel is stuck behind them in 8th. The Ferraris are showing good race pace, with Leclerc up to 5th and Hamilton up to 9th after his early pit stop.
On lap 23, Norris managed to overtake him but did go wide as Tsunoda weaved around the incident, and we continued with Norris in 3rd. Verstappen comes into the pit and comes out 5 seconds ahead of Norris, and Piastri is 18 seconds ahead of Verstappen in 1st.
Tsunoda receives a 5-second penalty for moving while defending against Norris. Hamilton comes into pit again, his hard tyres not holding up for that long, which might indicate a few other cars will need to pit again.
There should be another stop soon for Verstappen, and we are waiting to see how quickly he will be on mediums.
On lap 36, Piastri is yet to pit as Albon is investigated for speeding in the pit lane, and he is later given a penalty.
A few laps later, as Leclerc comes into the pit again, they call Norris into the pit instead of Piastri to make sure they could cover Leclerc’s undercut. However, Verstappen manages to overtake Piastri, so he is called in on lap 41 to pit and comes out in 2nd, ahead of Norris.
There’s now a 25-second gap between Verstappen and Piastri. Leclerc overtakes Russel, and he’s now hunting down Norris.
Gasly receives a 5-second penalty for exceeding track limits as Hamilton overtakes Bearman alone and gets up to 8th.
Piastri has managed to reduce the time so Verstappen has lost a pit window, and he’s hoping Leclerc will catch Norris. Ten laps to go and Norris is holding out strong in 3rd with Leclerc, who’s 4 seconds behind him.
Starting lap 53, with only 5 laps to go, Norris is in line to become the world champion and win his 1st ever championship if he can continue to finish in 3rd place.
A tense race with the championship battle still fighting, and all the drivers fighting to finish the final race in their best positions.
Leclerc is struggling with graining on his tyres, and the gap is now 8 seconds behind Norris. Stroll overtakes Sainz and Bortoleto and gets into a points position.
Verstappen started the final lap in 1st place and had a tremendous race in Abu Dhabi, showing his consistency and finishing the season in 2nd overall.
Piastri is in 2nd place on track. He has always been a calm and concise driver, finishing 3rd in the championship table.
But it’s Lando Norris who comes 3rd in the race, and is now the championship winner, having won his 1st ever world championship—a powerful and daring driver who was willing to risk it all to become a world champion.
A fantastic performance from McLaren, the 2025 season has been Papaya’s year.
The 2025 season has come to a close.
The top 10 in the Driver championship table includes drivers from 6 different teams.
Williams had an impressive performance this year, with several podium finishes, both drivers in the top 10 of the Driver championship, and 5th in the Constructors. It’ll be interesting to see where James Vowles will lead Sainz and Albon next year.
Ferrari, despite their challenges, still came 4th in the Constructors’ championship, and Hamilton in 6th and Leclerc in 5th for the drivers’ championship. A disappointing season for them. Hopefully, they will come back fighting even harder next year. It would be great to see a Ferrari on top next year.
Toto Wolf should be pleased with Mercedes’ performance, finishing 2nd in the Constructors’ standings and beating Red Bull. Antonelli came 7th in the Driver championship, the highest rookie and Russel in 4th, a strong, consistent driver pairing which could become a dominating duo next year.
Redbull will be the unknown for next year, with a new teammate coming in to be alongside Verstappen. Time will only tell if Hadjar will hold out. Verstappen is a powerful force, and the team could be superior next year if they find the right teammate and the new team principal can meet the high expectations set for them.
As for McLaren, they have outdone themselves this year, taking home both the winning trophies for Constructors and now drivers with Norris. Although Papaya has an unbreakable duo in Norris and Piastri, I fear it could cause underlying damage to the team if they don’t pick a number 1 driver. This season is evidence of this, as we’ve come down to the final race.
However, the 2026 season is full of unknowns, with new regulations, brand-new cars, and no more DRS. We are in for a wild ride. I hope to see you all there for the pre-season testing and the first race of the 2026 season in Melbourne, Australia.
