Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Prediction: Can Verstappen do it?

The 2025 season is entering its final act, with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit bringing the most eagerly awaited and loved finale in Formula 1. Three drivers from two teams arrive at the final race of the season with real chances of becoming world champions: McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastre, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. A season that recently seemed like a fait accompli has turned into a real drama.

Abu Dhabi GP

The stage where the last act of the season will take place is Yas Marina, a relatively young circuit that debuted on the Formula 1 calendar in 2009. Already in 2010, a real drama took place on this track. Alonso, as the leader in the standings, was chasing his third title, while behind him, the Red Bull boys were dreaming of their first title. In second place was Mark Webber, and the young Vettel was only in third. Alonso's dream has remained elusive to this day, Ferrari's strategic error costing him the title. He was stuck in sixth place, and Vettel became the youngest Formula 1 champion ever. What Alonso used to be. The most recent example of drama from the desert is the one from 2021, when Lewis Hamilton was supposed to become world champion for the eighth time. One of the most dramatic last-lap battles, peppered with decisions related to the procedure behind the safety car, gave Verstappen his first title. This weekend at Yas Marina, the pressure will flow from corner to corner, and two teams and three drivers will not be allowed to blink. The smallest mistake can prevail in favor of the other. Or the third one.

Verstappen took pole position before the final in Abu Dhabi!

Max Verstappen secured the best starting position for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. The Dutchman would be in pole position with the best laps in Q3, and the McLarens didn't show the right speed at key moments. However, Lando Norris did an important job for his race, securing second place and the first starting row. Let's remind, third place is enough for the Englishman to confirm the title if Verstappen celebrates. Oscar Piastri is third in the second McLaren. George Russell qualified fourth as the last driver within half a second of Verstappen, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fifth. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was eliminated in Q1 for the third time in a row. Fernando Alonso once again had a good performance in qualifying, he will start in the third row as sixth. And in seventh place is Gabriel Bortoletu in Sauber, ahead of Esteban Ocon in Haas. The top 10 was rounded out by Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls, and symbolically, Yuki Tsunoda finished in tenth place, who will give up his place to the Frenchman after this race.

Stella: An interesting race awaits us

The boss of the McLaren team said that he expects interesting racing in Sunday's race in Abu Dhabi, but also fair play from Verstappen's side. Max Verstappen won pole position in Saturday's qualifying, ahead of his title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Given that he has a 12-point advantage and third place is enough to win the title, it seems Norris is still in the best position, even though he was second in qualifying.

Verstappen: We will need some luck

In qualifying at Yas Marina, we saw another excellent drive from Max Verstappen, but pole position and a potential race victory do not guarantee he will win the championship. That's why he calls on the goddess Fortune. On the final race weekend in 2025, Max Verstappen reached his eighth pole position of the season. There are more of them than any other driver. If we look at the Abu Dhabi GP statistics, Verstappen is now level with Lewis Hamilton in the top five starting positions at this track. He knows the right way to pole position. The last ten races in Abu Dhabi have been won by the driver who started from the first position. But victory does not guarantee Verstappen the title. Everything depends on Lando Norris, who will start from second place and become the champion if he finishes the race in the Top 3.

Expert Betting Tips

If we ignore the events at the top, we will see that the battles are being fought on all sides. It's not just the driver's title that has yet to be played. Currently, Mercedes is the second-placed team in the constructors' standings, but Ferrari still has a chance to improve the overall impression. Racing Bulls are currently in sixth position, just 12 points ahead of seventh-placed Aston Martin, who are just seven points ahead of Haas. Haas in eighth place and Sauber in ninth place are separated by only five points. Maybe it doesn't mean much to us mere mortals, because more or less we all just want to know who will be the winner, but it really matters to these teams whether they finish the season in sixth or ninth place. The difference in these positions for the teams means about 10 million US dollars in prize money. If we take into account the financial aspect of the problem, we can expect considerable chaos behind the leading trio. In the drivers' standings, another interesting situation is on the horizon in the battle for sixth place. Young Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Mercedes is slowly winning the hearts of Formula 1 fans, and he enters the season finale almost equal on points with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. If he finishes the season ahead of one of the biggest, it will be a great incentive for further progress for the young Italian. 

OUR PREDICTION: Max Vestappen to set the fastest lap