There are seasons that build champions and then there are seasons that forge legends. Max Verstappen’s 2025 campaign belongs to the latter. A year that began with doubts, dipped into turbulence and resurfaced in a blaze of late-season brilliance has now delivered him to Abu Dhabi with a chance to do something extraordinary win a fifth consecutive Formula 1 World Championship.
And it comes not as a formality, not as a continuation of dominance but as the possible final act in one of the most dramatic title races the sport has seen in a decade.
To appreciate what’s at stake, rewind back to the beginning of the season to Verstappen wrestling with a car that seemed determined to test his patience. It oversteered, understeered, bounced without invitation and refused to behave like the machinery of a reigning champion. For the first time since 2018, Max endured weekends where podiums faded into mirages. The once unshakable certainty of “Max will sort it out on Sunday” wavered.
Meanwhile, McLaren flourished, led by a Lando Norris who looked reborn faster, sharper and hungrier than ever, with Oscar Piastri shadowing him through almost every sector. By mid-season, the question was no longer whether Red Bull had lost ground it was whether the Verstappen era was crumbling. And then, almost quietly, almost inevitably, the tide turned.
Verstappen’s resurgence didn’t arrive all at once it came in fragments. A podium that reminded everyone he was still in the fight. A pole that whispered the car had life. A win that cracked the championship wide open. And then another. And another. The champion who had spent early months defending scraps was suddenly closing the gap with mathematical precision and a ruthless calm.
Sixteen points covering three drivers. Lando with 408 points max verstapen with 396 and Oscar Piastri in third with 392 points. A season long storm converging on one desert evening. Abu Dhabi is not just another race. It’s a chessboard with engine noise. And the rules for victory are brutally clear, Max must outscore Norris by at least 13 points and he cannot let Piastri outscore him by 5 or more points
And the key permutations tell the story, If Norris finishes 1st, 2nd or 3rd Max cannot win the championship. If Norris finishes 4th Max must win. If Norris finishes 5th–7th Max must win. If Norris finishes 8th Max needs p2. If Norris finishes 9th or 10th Max needs P3 and If Norris scores 0 points Max still needs P3. There is no path to the title if Max finishes fourth or lower. This is the kind of mathematical pressure that breaks drivers or immortalize them.
It would be dishonest to pretend this story is only about Verstappen’s greatness. Because facing him is Lando Norris, a driver who has delivered the season of his career polished, relentless, beautifully consistent. If Norris wins the championship, it will not be an upset. It will be a coronation long overdue. He enters Abu Dhabi with the calm of a man who has finally become everything the world expected him to be.
And Piastri, lurking in third place, is no mere spectator. His performances have been razor sharp, his victories convincing. He is equally capable of flipping this story on its head. This is not a duel. It is a triangle. And triangles are always tense.
This final race is a decider and a stage set for history. If Verstappen wins and the points fall his way, he becomes only the second driver in Formula 1 history to win five consecutive world titles. He enters the realm of Schumacher not just as a champion but as an architect of an era.
If Norris wins, he becomes the newest world champion in a year where he drove like one from the first lap in Japan to the last lights out in Abu Dhabi. Two careers will pivot on what happens in the next 58 laps.
In the end Max Verstappen is one race away from becoming one of the greats. And Lando Norris is one race away from becoming one of the champions. Whatever happens under the lights of Yas Marina, this finale will be remembered for a generation. This is Formula 1 at its purest two giants, one night and no room for mistakes.
