Why Max Verstappen couldn’t bunch the pack up in F1 title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP

Max Verstappen’s dominant victory within the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was not sufficient for him to win the 2025 System 1 drivers’ title.

Championship chief Lando Norris, who was 12 factors forward of his Crimson Bull rival coming into the season finale, took third behind Verstappen and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri – due to this fact prevailing by two factors.

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So, may Verstappen and Crimson Bull have finished something in another way to alter the ultimate outcome?

The state of affairs was considerably harking back to the 2016 Yas Marina showdown, which Lewis Hamilton went into with a 12-point deficit to Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg – the very same hole.

Hamilton dominated that race from pole, however wanted Rosberg out of the rostrum positions to be able to take the title. The Briton slowed down in the previous couple of laps to again the German up in order that he could be attacked by Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen behind – a fragile artwork as Hamilton additionally wanted to retain the lead.

The order finally didn’t change, with these 4 drivers crossing the end line inside 1.7 seconds of one another and Rosberg profitable the world championship by 5 factors.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid, leads Nico Rosberg, Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid, Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF16-H, and Daniel Ricciardo, Crimson Bull Racing RB12

Photograph by: Andrew Hone / Motorsport Photos

Quick-forward 9 years, Verstappen failed to beat Norris’ benefit too, as no automotive apart from Piastri’s troubled the McLaren driver’s march to the title.

“It was not fairly sufficient, and it was one Crimson Bull in opposition to two McLarens,” Crimson Bull advisor Helmut Marko commented. “And sadly, we had been hoping that Leclerc and Russell would have extra velocity, however that wasn’t the case.” Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed seven seconds behind Norris.

“The issue was that Ferrari and Mercedes weren’t robust sufficient. We noticed Ferrari simply 5, six laps, after which the tyres had been gone.”

Requested if Crimson Bull thought-about bunching the sphere up like Hamilton did in 2016, Marko defined: “They did a intelligent transfer to place Piastri on arduous tyres. That is why we could not bunch up the entire discipline, as a result of the profit would have been on the facet of Piastri.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing

Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Photos through Getty Photos

Marko isn’t improper, however his level deserves additional evaluation.

Within the 23 laps earlier than his first pitstop, there was no level in Verstappen backing the sphere up as a result of a lot may occur down the highway, making the method irrelevant.

Then, whereas Piastri went lengthy on a hard-tyre opening stint, Verstappen slowing Norris down would solely have made Piastri a near-certain winner – which Verstappen couldn’t afford as beating Piastri was a prerequisite for the title.

The one time backing-up techniques would have been viable was the final 17 laps, however Verstappen would have wanted to forfeit his benefit to fourth-placed Leclerc, who was 35 seconds down. That might have entailed slowing down by some two seconds a lap.

Due to this fact, it was preferable to maintain the tempo up, and hope one thing may occur to Norris behind.

“I had a whole lot of eventualities in my head, however then after all I knew [given] the tyres Oscar had on the automotive that that might be fairly tough,” Verstappen admitted.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing

Photograph by: Zak Mauger / LAT Photos through Getty Photos

“We had been most likely a bit too fast up entrance, the others could not actually comply with that properly; Charles drove his coronary heart out immediately to attempt to get onto that podium in order that was additionally spectacular to see, however after all they went for a two-stop. That made it much more difficult, as a result of for those who keep on a one-stop, backing the entire thing up, it is robust.

“Anyway, this new format round right here makes it even tougher to try this in comparison with 2016 or no matter,” he concluded, referring to the chicane-less observe that has been in use since 2021 in Abu Dhabi.

Extra reporting by Ronald Vording

Photographs from Abu Dhabi GP – Race

Lando Norris, McLaren