Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter in Abu Dhabi

I think Lando Norris is an exceptional talent, he's going to be one of the greatest when people look back over the eras, but he struggled at the beginning with the McLaren car.

McLaren worked hard to try and remedy the problems he was facing, introducing new suspension parts for him and that really helped him.

He's changed his team around him and has brought in a helping hand when it comes to mindset and how he goes racing.

He has always maintained this mantra of one race at a time and I think that has really helped him.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Abu Dhabi

Everyone in the top 10 in mediums except Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri. Piastri on hard will give McLaren strategic options in the race, whilst Red Bull are working out ways to hold up one of the McLarens with Tsunoda.

Lewis Hamlton, Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg at the back of the grid are starting on the soft tyre tonight in Abu Dhabi.

Formation lap is under way.

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Live in Abu Dhabi

It's very difficult to keep yourself calm, but Lando Norris will be doing that with all the training he's been doing to stop the adrenaline from becoming too much.

You don't want to be jumpy, you've got to be calm and you've got to have a low heart rate and just focus on the simple task of getting an F1 car off the line the moment those lights go out.

Image source, Getty Images

The main goal on the opening lap for the top three drivers is to stay out of trouble.

Easy said than done.

Last year's race witnessed Oscar Piastri in second and Max Verstappen in fifth make contact with each at the first corner. It didn't end either drivers race but it did give polesitter Lando Norris a clear run to victory.

What tyres are we starting on then?

Lando Norris. - medium

Max Verstappen - medium

Oscar Piastri - hard

Split strategy for McLaren. Yuki Tsunoda, Verstappen's team-mate, is also on the hards.

Max Verstappen speaking on Sky Sports: "Slept good, ready to go. The plan is to win the race and rely on luck from behind.

On whether he will need team-mate Yuki Tsunoda's help: "We will try everything as a team actually."

We have been asking our audience who they think will win the drivers' title in Abu Dhabi.

Here are the results.

71% of you have selected Lando Norris to win the 2025 championship.

25% think Max Verstappen can make it five in a row.

3% believe it could be Oscar Piastri.

And 1% of you are apparently undecided how it will all play out!

Steve Crossman
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter in Abu Dhabi

I'm just looking at the face of McLaren's CEO Zak Brown because he has got so much to think about.

Both of his drivers have given absolutely everything for him all this season, but both of them I'm sure are going to feel like this is going to be their day.

McLaren boss Zak Brown speaking to Sky Sports: "I'm feeling good, I am excited. It is going to be an epic race.

"It is business as usual, we won the race last year, we have two good drivers. I'm pretending it's business as usual.

On McLaren's strategy for the race: "We got a couple different strategies but it depends on what everyone else does, we have a couple of thoughts how this will play out."

On team play: "We want to win the drivers' championship, sitting here now who knows what will happen. Everyone is totally aligned, we had a conversation with both drivers. Everyone is aligned on the game plan today."

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Live in Abu Dhabi

You do need a bit of luck [to become world champion], everyone is trying really hard and knocking on the door, doing everything they can to get in that position.

When you get into that situation you need to have an incredibly clear head and you need to be only focused on what you need to do.

Image source, Getty Images

Four-time world champion Alain Prost speaking to Sky Sports on the final race of the season: "Honestly it depends on what Max wants to do in terms of pace. For McLaren, it is important that they win the drivers' championship as well. They need to be in good spirit. If the pace is too slow and you have other cars coming, I will be stressed for them."

On Renault leaving F1: "I am very sad. It is almost 50 years they have been involved in F1."

"Everyone is totally aligned," says McLaren boss to Sky Sports when asked how the team will approach the different scenarios that could play out in Abu Dhabi. "Everyone is aligned with what are gameplan is today."

Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter in Abu Dhabi

It's incredible down here on the grid, we're being passed by celebrities and musicians, some huge names have come to see what is going on.

This atmosphere is electric and if you look up into the grandstands, they are absolutely packed.

Below the top three in the championship, there are still positions to play for.

Kimi Antonelli had a little wobble during the European leg of the camapaign but a good haul of points after the summer break, including two podiums, has put the Italian rookie just two points off the man he replaced at Mercedes, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, in the standings.

Sixth place is the goal for Antonelli in his debut season, however, he is starting outside the points in 14th place. Hamilton, meanwhile, is way down the order in P16 after another Q1 elimination.

Racing Bulls man Isack Hadjar has the opportunity to seal P10 in his first season - he'll be making the leap to Red Bull for 2026 - as he's lining up in P9 today. Nico Hulkenberg, celebrating his 250th grand prix start in Abu Dhabi, is two points behind the Frenchman in 11th but the German will need a recovery drive from P18 to get inside the points places.

It still makes me sad he's not actually named after Lando Calrissian.

This is how the top of the standings looks as we inch closer to today's season finale getting under way. The top three are starting in the best seats in the house but what will the opneing lap have in store for our title contenders? Stay out of danger will be job number one on the to-do list.

Image source, Getty Images

The end-of-year photo has been taken before the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

For the new era of racing in 2026, we'll be waving goodbye to Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, who is being replaced by Isack Hadjar next year, and saying hello to 18-year-old Briton Arvid Lindblad, who is taking Hadjar's seat at sister team Racing Bulls.

National anthem time. Strike up the band.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Abu Dhabi

Image source, Getty Images

It seems certain that this will not be a straightforward race. How can it be when the driver on pole position is in the title fight but has a deficit to the leader, alongside him on the grid, that is more than the gap between first and second places?

Max Verstappen surely has to do something to mess with Lando Norris’ race.

Pole position has a strong conversion rate into a lead at the first corner. Many expect Verstappen to back up the field to mix things up strategically and make life difficult for the McLaren drivers, even if he has been sort of playing that down when asked about it this weekend. "I hope it’s not straightforward, the race," he said after qualifying, "but hopefully that’s not because of me."

At the same time, backing up the field can also backfire on the leader, so it’s not a simple decision. It’s not impossible Yuki Tsunoda could come into the equation strategically against Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, given he has qualified in the top 10.

Piastri needs to win the race, so McLaren may well look for options to make that possible, without disadvantaging Norris. McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has the lessons of 2010, when he was race engineer to Fernando Alonso and Ferrari botched their strategy, opening the door to Sebastian Vettel to win the race and title.

And this race has similarities, with three title contenders and tyre graining expecting to play a part, as it did in the key strategy decisions back then.

The top teams have all kept their strategic options open when it comes to tyre selection, even if the one-stop is considered the most likely strategy.

A pit stop takes 21 seconds under racing conditions and 14 under a safety car.

Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter in Abu Dhabi

I think his skill and determination have been on show all season long. It's actually the fact that Red Bull weren't able to deliver him the car to deliver the results in the mid-part of the season.

After such a deficit after the Dutch Grand Prix, he was 104 points behind the championship leader at that point, and he has clawed his way back. It's been his determination and skill, but McLaren have also dropped the ball slightly on an operational point of view, and also Oscar Piastri lost his form, and he had a bit of a lull.

So it's a combination of factors that has led towards the end of the season.