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Dec 9, 2025
Why Max Verstappen couldn't bunch the pack up in F1 title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP
Motorsport.com
Max Verstappen's dominant victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was not enough for him to win the 2025 Formula 1 drivers' title.
Championship leader Lando Norris, who was 12 points ahead of his Red Bull rival coming into the season finale, took third behind Verstappen and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri - therefore prevailing by two points.
So, could Verstappen and Red Bull have done anything differently to change the final result?
The situation was somewhat reminiscent of the 2016 Yas Marina showdown, which Lewis Hamilton went into with a 12-point deficit to Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg - the exact same gap.
Hamilton dominated that race from pole, but needed Rosberg out of the podium positions in order to take the title. The Briton slowed down in the last few laps to back the German up so that he would be attacked by Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen behind - a delicate art as Hamilton also needed to retain the lead.
The order eventually did not change, with those four drivers crossing the finish line within 1.7 seconds of each other and Rosberg winning the world championship by five points.
Fast-forward nine years, Verstappen failed to overcome Norris' advantage too, as no car other than Piastri's troubled the McLaren driver's march to the title.
"It was not quite enough, and it was one Red Bull against two McLarens," Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko commented. "And unfortunately, we were hoping that Leclerc and Russell would have more speed, but that wasn't the case." Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished seven seconds behind Norris.
"The problem was that Ferrari and Mercedes were not strong enough. We saw Ferrari just five, six laps, and then the tyres were gone."
Asked if Red Bull considered bunching the field up like Hamilton did in 2016, Marko explained: "They did a clever move to put Piastri on hard tyres. That's why we couldn't bunch up the whole field, because the benefit would have been on the side of Piastri."
Marko is not wrong, but his point deserve
