Lando Norris as defending champion: his 2026 season and return to Abu Dhabi
The 2025 champion won in Hungary and Zandvoort and comes back to the track where he sealed his title.
Lando Norris returns to Yas Marina in December as the reigning world champion. Last year he finished third in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix behind Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, which was enough to win the title by two points.
His title defence started slowly. McLaren went without a win until the Hungarian Grand Prix on 26 July, where Norris won from pole. It was his first pole of the season, the first non-Mercedes pole of the year and his first win as champion. "I'm just happy to be back and see the number one again," he said.
He followed that with a second straight win at Zandvoort on 23 August, again from pole, finishing 11.54 seconds ahead of Kimi Antonelli. PlanetF1 reported that he passed Antonelli and then Lewis Hamilton on lap 54, and quoted team principal Andrea Stella crediting his feel for the hard tyre.
After Singapore, Norris is sixth in the standings on 201 points, 139 behind Antonelli. With 150 points left he is still mathematically alive, but only just. Team-mate Piastri is seventh on 138 and can no longer win the title.
Abu Dhabi has been good to him. Lights Out notes that his first win at the track came in 2024, from pole, and his title came there a year later. The 2026 race weekend runs from 4 to 6 December.
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix4 to 6 Dec · Yas Marina Circuit See ticketsSource: PlanetF1: 2025 Abu Dhabi GP results, Spin.ph (AFP), The Namibian (AFP), PlanetF1: Dutch GP winners and losers, RacingNews365, Lights Out, RacingNews365: Abu Dhabi winners
