McLaren’s Lando Norris became Formula One world champion for the first time in Abu Dhabi, edging Max Verstappen to the title by just two points after a tense season finale.
Lando Norris sealed his maiden Formula One championship on Sunday, bringing an end to Max Verstappen’s four-year grip on the title with a nervy third-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver did enough to stay ahead in the standings as Verstappen won the race and team mate Oscar Piastri crossed the line second. The result closed out one of the tightest three-way title battles in recent seasons, with Norris finishing the year on 423 points, just ahead of Verstappen on 421 and Piastri on 410.
Verstappen, who took more race victories than any other driver this season with eight wins, arrived in Abu Dhabi still in mathematical contention and delivered under pressure with another dominant performance at Yas Marina. But the Dutchman’s late surge was not quite enough to overturn Norris’s advantage built up over a consistent campaign.
For Norris, the podium in Abu Dhabi capped a breakthrough season in which he combined raw speed with far greater composure on Sundays, turning regular podiums into a full-scale title challenge.
The result also underlined McLaren’s resurgence at the front of the grid. The team had already wrapped up the constructors’ championship in October for the second year running, but this is the first time since 1998 that the Woking outfit has secured both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles in the same season.
With Norris now Britain’s 11th Formula One world champion and Piastri firmly established as a contender, McLaren head into the winter as the benchmark team – and Verstappen, no longer the man to beat, with a new rival in orange to chase.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meetin...
The 81st UN General Assembly returns for its third day in New York on Thursday, with world leaders delivering high-level speeches and holding diplo...
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low on Thursday, as Iran reiterated that it will neither enter into new negotiations with th...
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low on Thursday, as Iran reiterated that it will neither enter into new negotiations with the United States nor re-open the Strait as long as its conditions are not met, despite recent indirect talks in New York mediated by Qatar.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meeting in New York, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday with ballistic missiles, killing two people and injuring six, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York on Wednesday, as Washington pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine and Kyiv and Moscow continue to strike energy infrastructure.
U.S. President Donald Trump said his team held a three-hour meeting with an Iranian delegation in New York that he described as “very good” and “productive”, with another round of talks scheduled soon.
The 81st UN General Assembly continues in New York on Wednesday, with another day of high-level speeches and diplomatic meetings. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, global security and international cooperation remain at the centre of discussions.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meeting in New York, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday with ballistic missiles, killing two people and injuring six, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The 81st UN General Assembly returns for its third day in New York on Thursday, with world leaders delivering high-level speeches and holding diplomatic meetings. Restoring trust, managing global transformation, peace and security, and international cooperation remain at the centre of discussions.
Australia says an OpenAI AI agent gained unauthorised access to a government Medicare statistics portal in June, in what officials say could be an unprecedented case of an AI system breaching a government network.
Pakistan says it carried out air strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan on Thursday, targeting sites it said were used to store and launch drones, as tensions between the two neighbouring countries continued to escalate.
Here’s your AnewZ Daily Brief for 24 September 2026, with five key developments from the second day of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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