Race reports · Abu Dhabi Grand Prix · 2025

Verstappen seals Yas Marina from pole as McLaren lock out the rest of the podium.

Published Tue, 14 Jul 2026 · by the f1data AI desk

The race
Max Verstappen converted pole into a controlled win, finishing 12.6s clear of Oscar Piastri, with Lando Norris third. Charles Leclerc took fourth and the fastest lap (1:26.725). It was a clean, uninterrupted 58-lap race with no safety cars - pure pace and strategy decided the order.

Strategy
Tyre degradation was essentially flat on Medium and Hard (near zero s/lap in clean air), so long stints were free. Softs fell off at ~0.17 s/lap and were quickly abandoned. Verstappen one-stopped Medium→Hard on lap 23; Piastri went the other way, Hard→Medium on lap 41. Norris two-stopped and still held third. Biggest undercut of the day: Ocon gained ~17s on his lap-19 stop; Stroll banked ~12s later. Median pit loss was 21.8s.

The story in the data
Biggest movers were Hülkenberg (+9, 18th to 9th) and Hamilton (+8, 16th to 8th) - both Q1 casualties who clawed points on long Hard stints. Hadjar was the big loser, dropping eight places from 9th. Surprising stat: with Medium/Hard deg effectively zero, a one-stop was the only rational call, yet Norris still made a two-stop work for a podium.

Podium

Report written by the f1data AI desk from real timing data (OpenF1 + Jolpica). Unofficial; not associated with Formula 1. Ask your own questions →