The final race of the 2025 F1 season is almost here, with Lando Norris looking to end Max Verstappen’s four-year reign as world champion in Monday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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Australian Oscar Piastri, of course, also remains in the hunt setting up a fascinating season finale.
Both McLaren drivers were quizzed on how it will all play out, while a Mercedes rival sent a clear message when asked how he would act if he were in Piastri’s shoes.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton signalled there could be big changes coming for his team at Ferrari and the driver at the centre of last week’s drama opened up on the ugly online aftermath and how Max Verstappen supported him through it.
Read on for the latest news ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in Pit Talk!
THE ONE QUESTION LANDO WON’T ASK PIASTRI
Lando Norris rejected the idea of asking title rival and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to support him this weekend in the decisive season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix even if it is the only way he can beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the title.
The 26-year-old Briton, who holds a 12-point lead on four-time champion Verstappen and a 16-point advantage on Piastri, said he would welcome help in certain scenarios, but would not seek it — because it was not how he, personally, felt about it.
He and Piastri made clear that McLaren had not discussed team orders for the race and would continue racing under ‘papaya rules’ that encourage them to race each other with equal team backing.
“I don’t think I would ask for it because – and I don’t know — it’s up to Oscar, if he would allow it,” Norris told reporters before Sunday’s showdown.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily down to me.
“It’s the same if it’s the other way around. Would I be willing to or not? Personally, I think I would — just because I feel like I’m always like that and that’s just how I am.”
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The three drivers sat together answering questions of which some focused on the possibility that if Verstappen was leading with Piastri third and Norris fourth, it would mean the Dutchman took his record-equalling fifth consecutive title unless the two McLaren men swapped positions.
“I’m not going to ask it,” he continued.
“I don’t want to ask it because I don’t think it’s necessarily a fair question, but at the same time if that’s how it ends and Max wins, then well. That’s it.
“Congrats to him and look forward to next year. It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change my life. He will deserve it over us.”
Verstappen, who has won five of the last eight races, appeared to be the most relaxed of the trio while Norris seemed understandably tense and Piastri, who was deprived of a likely victory by bungled team strategy last weekend in Qatar, composed if edgy.
“It’s not something we’ve discussed,” said the 24-year-old Australian, bidding to be his country’s first champion since Alan Jones in 1980.
“Until I know what’s kind of accepted, I don’t really have an answer.”
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
McLaren team chief Andrea Stella said they had no plan to change their approach as they aim to secure the drivers’ title and complete a first double since Mika Hakkinen in 1998.
“I think for us it is important that we are in a condition to beat Verstappen with one of our drivers,” said Stella, having guided the team a second consecutive constructors’ title with months to spare.
Mercedes driver George Russell, meanwhile, said it would “not be acceptable” for McLaren to ask Piastri to help Norris in the title-deciding race.
“I don’t think it’s acceptable or reasonable to ask a driver who’s also in with a shot of a championship in the very last race to move over for your team-mate,” Russell told reporters.
“I think if it were, in other seasons gone by – let’s just say Checo (Sergio Perez) and Max, or (Rubens) Barrichello and (Michael) Schumacher – when clearly one driver is the one going for the championship, and if in the last race, the guy who doesn’t have a shot of winning the championship moves over, that is absolutely reasonable, and I think every single driver would do that.
“But for me, I don’t think it would be fair at all. I think they both need to be given a shot. And if they lose out because of it, you just need to say the other guy did a better job, and that’s racing.
“That’s how it should be.”
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HAMILTON REVEALS PLANS FOR FERRARI SHAKE-UP
Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton said he plans a shake-up of his team at Ferrari next year after enduring a nightmare first season with the Italians.
The 40-year-old seven-time world champion, who has gone a Ferrari record 23 races without a podium finish, said he was surprised at his own resilience after enduring the most miserable run of form and results of his Formula One career.
“It’s been difficult,” he said ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “Confidence goes up and down, it comes with the territory.
“But I still have full belief in my abilities and that’s the most important. Holding onto that is not always the easiest thing to do, but that’s got me to where I am.” Hamilton added there was “nothing that I can’t face moving forwards” after this season.
The Briton vowed to make changes to his set-up for 2026, but declined to offer details of who would be involved.
“It’s not a straightforward process,” he explained.
“We are testing next week and then go back to the factory — and I have to decide what my approach is.
“In terms of personal perfection, I have written down what I felt went wrong every weekend and the decisions I’ve taken. So, there’s a lot of things to do.
“I will analyse those decisions and make markers on how I can make better decisions in the future.” Hamilton added the factors he would be taking into account would include “my surroundings, in terms of my personal personnel, team personnel — how do you utilise people? Do people need to move into different positions to work better?”.
“All this needs to be looked at in my personal space so we can optimise our teamwork,” he concluded.
Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
“Got nothing to do with it” | 01:36
MERCEDES STAR THANKS MAX AFTER UGLY AFTERMATH TO QATAR DRAMA
Meanwhile, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli thanked Max Verstappen for his support as he revealed that the Red Bull driver and his race engineer had spoken to him after receiving death threats on social media following the Qatar Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old rookie made a mistake on the penultimate lap of last Sunday’s race which allowed series leader Lando Norris of McLaren to pass him and claim fourth place.
It earned Norris two more points in his bid to dethrone four-time champion Verstappen, who he leads by 12 points ahead of this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and prompted Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s race engineer, to comment on team radio that Antonelli “had just pulled over and let Norris through”.
This led to Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko adding that he had suspicions about the move, suggesting a conspiracy against Red Bull and Verstappen, which Mercedes’ team chief Toto Wolff described as “brainless”.
The comments, broadcast widely during the race, sparked a slew of abusive comments, including death threats on Antonelli’s social media. Mercedes reported a rise of 1100 percent in hateful comments on their social media channels.
“It wasn’t easy to get those comments after the race, for something that I would never do, waving past a competitor,” said Antonelli. “I was fighting for P3 at the end of the day. I was pushing hard and pushing so hard, the mistake arrived.
“Every lap, I was getting closer to the point where the tyres gave up and at that moment, I made the mistake, and Lando passed me.
“Then to receive those comments after the race, it definitely hurt.”
Piastri reacts to Qatar chaos | 01:25
But the young Italian said he has subsequently received support from other members of the paddock.
“It was nice to see the Red Bull statement (issued on Monday) and then Lambiase came to talk to me as well and I also clarified it with Max. I had a lot of support and it helped me to forget what happened and focus on this weekend,” he said.
“Max saw what happened and he wasn’t bothered… He even showed me support. “That was really nice from him and I can’t say what he said because it contains some bad words, but it was just ‘don’t worry about these kinds of people, because they’re brainless, so just focus on the job’.” Ruling body the International Motoring Federation also issued a statement of support for Antonelli and condemned the online abuse.
Verstappen, who is aiming for a fifth-consecutive world title on Sunday in a threeway race with McLaren’s Norris and Oscar Piastri, defended Red Bull’s initial reaction to the incident.
“What people say on social media is a problem with social media and that has nothing to do with what Helmut (Marko) actually says,” said Verstappen on Thursday.
“After what he said, it still doesn’t mean you can completely tear someone to shreds, does it?
“That’s the problem to tackle with social media. Why can people create all these accounts even without a real name? It’s just not regulated.”