POWER RANKINGS: Who dazzled our judges at the finale in Abu Dhabi?

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix closed out the 2025 season in unforgettable style, with Lando Norris sealing his first World Championship by crossing the line in third, while Max Verstappen just missed out on the title despite clinching his eighth victory of the campaign. But who else impressed our judges at the Yas Marina Circuit? Check out the final Power Rankings scores and overall leaderboard below...

How it works

• Our five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and score them out of 10 according to their performance across the weekend – taking machinery out of the equation
• Our experts’ scores are then averaged out to produce a race score – with those scores then tallied up across the season on our overall Power Rankings Leaderboard (at the bottom of the page)

While his 1,457-day-long reign as World Champion came to end in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen arguably could not have ended his season on a higher note. The Red Bull driver was in commanding form, claiming pole position before wrapping up a dominant eighth victory of the campaign – leaving him only two points adrift of Norris in the final standings.

It is no secret that Ferrari have faced a tough run of late, but Charles Leclerc did his utmost to end a challenging year with a positive. After gaining a position at the start to move up into fourth, the Monegasque even looked in contention for a podium at times as his SF-25 came alive. Although this charge faded in the latter stages, Leclerc certainly gave it his all in the season finale.

Fernando Alonso made a great launch as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix got underway, overtaking Mercedes’ George Russell whilst remaining on the tail of Leclerc. While he could not hold off Russell, the Aston Martin driver kept himself at the head of the midfield pack and took a valuable sixth place, meaning that the squad finish seventh in the Teams’ Championship.

Despite arriving into the weekend with a 12-point championship lead, Norris faced a tense few days in Abu Dhabi. The Briton needed a podium finish to secure the title – and he ultimately did the job required in order to become the 2025 World Champion, resisting pressure from the likes of Leclerc to hold onto that vital top-three result.

On the other side of the McLaren garage, Oscar Piastri’s title chances were slimmer – but that did not stop the Australian from putting in a determined drive at the Yas Marina Circuit, storming past Norris on Lap 1 to take second place. While he did not have the pace to chase down Verstappen, Piastri’s good weekend ends his season on a better note following a difficult run during the second half of the championship.

Esteban Ocon completed his first season as a Haas driver with one of his strongest drives from recent races. The Frenchman kept himself in the battle for points throughout, and even held off the chasing Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the Grand Prix to claim seventh place.

Qualifying had not gone well for Nico Hulkenberg, with the Kick Sauber man finding himself down in P18. However, from there he managed to make his way through the field during Sunday’s race, leaving the German “very, very pleased” to score two points with a final result of ninth.

Despite being the closest challenger to the title contenders in Qualifying – where he took fourth on the grid – Russell faced a tougher outing in the Grand Prix, losing out at the start to Leclerc and Alonso. While the Mercedes was struggling for pace, Russell managed to bring it home in a somewhat lonely P5.

In the team’s last weekend under the Sauber name before transitioning to Audi in 2026, Gabriel Bortoleto only just missed out on making it a double-points finish for the squad in Abu Dhabi. The Brazilian initially ran in the top 10, but lost out during the pit stops and had to settle for 11th in the final race of his rookie campaign.

There was disappointment for Ollie Bearman at the end of the season finale, with the Briton handed a five-second time penalty for changing direction more than once whilst defending against Lance Stroll, putting him in a final result of P12. However, it was an otherwise solid outing for the Haas driver, marking a continued strong run of form across the second half of the season.

Missing out

Hamilton just misses out on a place in the top half of this week's Power Rankings, the seven-time World Champion having fought his way to a P8 result after starting the race back in P16.