Lando Norris revealed he was tempted to go for the fastest lap on the final lap of the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but resisted due to wanting to preserve his car.
The Brit drove a controlled and measured race to finish third at the Yas Marina Circuit to be crowned World Champion for the first time.
Norris eventually won the title by just two points from race-winner Max Verstappen, after a titanic season in which he, Verstappen and team-mate Oscar Piastri battled for supremacy.
With no threat forthcoming from Charles Leclerc behind him, Norris was able to comfortably see out the final few laps, having worked his way through the field after his solitary pit stop.
This included his heart-in-mouth overtake on Verstappen’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, which helped him work towards the third place he required to be #1 for 2026.
Speaking after the race, Norris revealed there all the permutations of what might take place during the race were discussed with McLaren beforehand, including Tsunoda’s deployment as a mobile chicane, and explained how he resisted the temptation to go for fastest lap at the end.
“You know, there were certainly moments through the race today where I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to be up next’,” he admitted to media including Motorsport Week.
“And we knew from before that Tsunoda might try and do it, try and hold me up and make my life difficult, like [Sergio] Perez did to Lewis [Hamilton] just a few seasons ago. So a lot of that was in our script and estimations already.
“But I managed to get through pretty quickly and it was a bit close, got pretty close. And it’s crazy thinking about it, because if you do think about it straight away, you’re like, damn, if I was like five centimetres closer, it’s over.
“And that’s when you get to the end of the race, like three laps to go, four laps to go. I stopped taking any curbs because I’m like, ‘if that just makes one piece of the cover undo itself, it’s over’, and that kind of thing. So I’m like, ‘shall I go for a fastest lap on the last lap?’ Maybe! It’s not worth it.
“And you know, a lot of those things go through your head and I had to make some fairly decisive overtakes and commit to a few things.”
F1 title won across the whole year, not just in Abu Dhabi – Norris
Norris acknowledged that whilst he did have to be brave and bold at times during the race, the title was not primarily won there – it had been won over the course of the year.
He continued: “But again, the championship was not won today. It was won by my consistency this year, by my great races I’ve had over the last four months or so.
“And yeah, it could have been an easy race. It also could have been a harder race.
“But sometimes it’s just, it was another race on the calendar for me. It was a fun race, but it was, I tried to really treat it as just another race today, like I said, and try to stay calm through it, which I feel like I did and try to just maximise my result.”
Norris will have the privilege of carrying #1 on his car for next year, defending his crown as F1 enters a new era in 2026.
READ MORE – How the Abu Dhabi GP exposed a glaring issue in the Lewis Hamilton-Ferrari F1 partnership
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