Abu Dhabi Track Preview
- therookiereporters
- Dec 4, 2025
- 2 min read
The 2025 season finale awaits us; our championship will be decided out in the desert. Before our last race weekend begins, here's what you should know about the track, what happened last year and what to expect this year.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was first held in 2009 and has been the season showdown for major World Champions. In 2010, there were 4 championship contenders going into the race weekend and Sebastian Vettel prevailed; ironically, it was the first time that season he’d be leading the championship too! It was also the place of the infamous 2021 battle that caused a plethora of ruffled feathers within the motorsport scene. With 58 laps of racing action (equivalent to the 306.183km race distance) left in 2025, can anyone beat our fastest lap record? Currently, it is held by former F1 driver and now WEC driver, Kevin Magnussen at 1:25.637s and was set last year when he was contracted with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
As mentioned, Abu Dhabi has rounded up Driver’s Championships, but it has also decided Constructors’ Championships. Last year, there was a two-horse race between McLaren and Ferrari for the Constructors' Championship. In the end, Lando Norris would take the chequered flag after starting on pole and Oscar Piastri would place P10, securing the Woking-based team their first Constructors' Championship since 1998. Ferrari put up a valiant fight and would close their season with a double podium (Carlos Sainz 2nd and Charles Leclerc 3rd).
On the opening lap of last year's race, there were many incidents including one between Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. The two collided, falling to the back of the field. Verstappen was stricken with a 10-second penalty for his collision with the Australian driver and was “wholly at fault” as stated by the stewards' report. Piastri’s bad luck continued as he received the same penalty for causing a collision with Franco Colapinto’s Williams on lap four.
Abu Dhabi also gave us emotional farewells for Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Zhou, Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen as they would not be on the grid for 2025. However, it would no be the last time we saw some of these drivers, with Bottas and Perez set to return to the grid with new team Cadillac in 2026. Furthermore, it was Lewis Hamilton’s final race with Mercedes after 12 years with the Brackley-based team to move to Ferrari in the following season.
What to expect in 2025
This year, Abu Dhabi is set to seal the deal for another championship between Lando, Max and Oscar. Norris is currently leading and is 12 points ahead of Verstappen. If Verstappen wins the Grand Prix, Norris must finish in a podium place to claim his first championship. This is just one of the many potential outcomes for this season finale.
With only 16 points separating the trio, the World Championship is all to fight for, but who do you think will be crowned? Will we have a new driver join the champions list or can Verstappen claim his fifth?
Article written by Alice Seager ©️Alice Seager 2025
