Overview
- Lando Norris secured his first championship by two points in a three‑way fight that ran to Abu Dhabi, while McLaren dominated the constructors’ race and sealed it with six rounds to spare.
- Max Verstappen won a season‑high eight grands prix, slashed a 104‑point deficit with 10 straight podiums to close the year, and was voted RaceFans Driver of the Year.
- McLaren’s post‑race double disqualification in Las Vegas for excessive plank wear and a strategy error in Qatar materially narrowed Norris’s buffer and kept Verstappen in contention.
- A spate of heavy incidents underscored safety focus, including Gabriel Bortoleto’s reported 57G impact at São Paulo and Yuki Tsunoda’s frightening barrel rolls at Imola from which both drivers walked away.
- Lewis Hamilton endured a podium‑less debut season at Ferrari as Red Bull underwent an organisational reset that included Christian Horner’s sacking.