{"id":4218,"date":"2025-12-03T20:15:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=4218"},"modified":"2025-12-03T20:15:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:15:21","slug":"verstappen-norris-piastri-f1-set-for-three-way-title-fight-in-abu-dhabi-motorsports-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=4218","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen, Norris, Piastri: F1 set for three-way title fight in Abu Dhabi | Motorsports News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Max Verstappen can win a fifth straight world title but will need to overcome McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Formula One will crown its champion in Abu Dhabi on Sunday with McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both seeking to dethrone Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen and deny the Dutchman his fifth title in a row.<\/p>\n

Norris is favourite in the three-way showdown, 12 points clear of Verstappen and needing \u201conly\u201d to finish on the podium at Yas Marina whoever wins on what could be a night of high drama.<\/p>\n

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Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n

list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n

The last season before the start of a new era for the sport, and the expansion to 11 teams with new rules and engines, has been one of comebacks and shocks for all three contenders, and none can be counted out.<\/p>\n

All have seven wins each, are capable of adding to that tally and ready to deliver an edge-of-seat sunset finale that might have come straight out of Brad Pitt\u2019s recent F1 movie blockbuster.<\/p>\n

All have also suffered the agony of race retirements due to collisions or crashes.<\/p>\n

McLaren\u2019s incredible season, Verstappen\u2019s incredible fightback<\/h2>\n

Norris, winner of the opener in Melbourne last March, was 34 points behind Piastri at the end of August but turned his fortunes around with a hot streak, while the Australian stalled.<\/p>\n

He won in Abu Dhabi from pole last year, after losing a title battle with Verstappen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible season. We have an incredible car. I\u2019m proud of everyone in the team. Thank you to all of our fans. We\u2019ve got one more race, and we\u2019ll give it everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Piastri, leading from Saudi Arabia in April to Mexico in October, had looked set for Australia\u2019s first championship since Alan Jones 45 years ago, but is now 16 points behind his teammate.<\/p>\n

He needs to win or finish second and hope for a twist in the tale \u2013 twice this century, the driver who was third overall going into the final round has come out on top.<\/p>\n

Verstappen, who can join Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to take five titles in a row, could be on for the most astonishing comeback of all after being 104 points behind Piastri in late August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stay in the fight until the end,\u201d grinned the Dutchman after winning in Qatar last weekend, following on from victory in Las Vegas the Saturday before that.<\/p>\n

Abu Dhabi has been a happy hunting ground for him in the past, with four wins in a row at the anti-clockwise circuit until last year.<\/p>\n

Another win, with Norris not on the podium, would suffice.<\/p>\n

McLaren had both their cars disqualified in Las Vegas and threw away a win for Piastri and podium for Norris in Qatar, thanks to a bungled strategy.<\/p>\n

Surely the runaway constructors\u2019 champions, with the second-highest single-season points tally of all time, can\u2019t let slip through their fingers a first title double since 1998?<\/p>\n

\"Max
Verstappen has not led the drivers\u2019 world championship at any point in the 2025 F1 season but is hoping to be in front after the 24th and final round in Abu Dhabi on Sunday [Sorin Furcoi\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prizemoney and paddock pecking order<\/h2>\n

While the title drama plays out, others will be chasing prize money and points to improve their place in the paddock pecking order.<\/p>\n

Mercedes and Red Bull are fighting for second place, although the former looks likely to prevail with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, given the latter team\u2019s reliance on Verstappen.<\/p>\n

The race will be a final outing for Japan\u2019s Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull, his seat handed to Frenchman Isack Hadjar for next season, and engine partners Honda before switching to Aston Martin.<\/p>\n

Ferrari have one last chance to win a race in 2025 while seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton is facing his first season without even standing on the podium.<\/p>\n

Sauber, in their last race before becoming the factory Audi team and with Nico Hulkenberg making his 250th start, are only five points behind eighth-placed Haas, who are in turn seven adrift of Aston Martin.<\/p>\n

Renault-owned Alpine are competing for the last time with Renault engines before a switch to Mercedes power. For Argentinian driver Franco Colapinto, that means one last attempt to score his first point of the campaign.<\/p>\n

\"Lando
McLaren says there are no team orders for who wins at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which means their world title-contending drivers Norris, left, and Piastri, will be battling each other as much as Red Bull\u2019s Verstappen [File: Lars Baron\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


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Max Verstappen can win a fifth straight world title but will need to overcome McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Formula One will crown its champion in Abu Dhabi on Sunday with McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both seeking to dethrone Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen and deny the Dutchman his fifth title in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}