Lando Norris Achieves The Ultimate

In the end, Lando Norris held his nerve, and his lead. Three drivers came into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a chance to win the championship, but it was Norris who did exactly what he needed to: a podium would guarantee a championship win, and a podium he achieved. He beat four-time champion Max Verstappen by two points and his teammate Oscar Piastri by 13, and put 15 years of Red Bull and Mercedes domination in the ground to help herald in a a new era of racing. Not too shabby for a driver who people were beginning to write off a third of the way into the season.

Let's get the negativity out of the way. Despite the potential of a three-way championship battle and all the discourse about team orders, the race itself was, honestly, a bit of a dud. Like much of the year before Max Verstappen's abrupt ascension and McLaren's late-season self-sabotage, it was a primarily mathematical endeavor; the top three drivers in the championship qualified in the top three, and all Norris had to do was maintain his place. Bar a remarkable overtake by Piastri around the outside of Norris in the opening lap of the race, and some early pressure from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, there was little tension across the race's 58 laps. There were no safety cars, no retirements, no tough strategy calls. Verstappen and Piastri, who was virtually running an entirely separate race, barely felt relevant to Norris's personal championship battle, which was intentionally more concerned with the final podium spot and Leclerc than any potential victory.