Express Sport rounds up all the main F1 news ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.

Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen will battle it out with Lando Norris for the F1 title on Sunday (Image: Getty)

It’s a very exciting week in the world of Formula One, with the final race of the 2025 season set to present a thrilling afternoon of entertainment on Sunday. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix sees the curtain brought down on a three-way battle for the Drivers’ Championship crown, and any one of Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri could yet be named the new world champion.

Express Sport runs you through the main F1 stories ahead of the concluding event in the calendar…Oscar Piastri replaced

McLaren will replace Piastri with Pato O’Ward for FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend, giving him one less session than rivals Norris and Verstappen.

That could potentially count against the Australian but McLaren have no choice due to the rules of F1. All non-rookie drivers must give up their car for at least tw practice sessions in the year and Norris has already skipped FP1 in Austria and Mexico.

But the positive for Piastri is that Norris won both of those races despite missing a session. Mexican driver O’Ward, 26, competes full-time in the IndyCar Series as well as being McLaren’s reserve. He’s second in the standings with 515 points, behind ex-McLaren reserve Alex Palou who leads the championship on 711 points.

Max Verstappen’s new partner

Isack Hadjar will replace Yuki Tsunoda as Red Bull’s second driver for 2026. Verstappen will get a seventh new team-mate with Tsunoda to drive his 22nd, and final, race in Abu Dhabi.

He is the fourth-longest-serving team-mate of Verstappen’s. Hadjar, 20, will aim to do far better after just a single rookie season with sister team Racing Bulls. The Frenchman is hoping to cling on and finish in the top 10 of the Drivers’ Championship.

Hadjar said: “I’m so grateful to Red Bull for giving me the opportunity and trust to race at the highest level of Formula One. After all the hard work I have put in since joining the junior team, it’s such a great reward. I’ve had many ups and downs throughout my career, and they kept believing and pushing me.”

Isack Hadjar will be Max Verstappen’s new team-mate (Image: Getty)

Having endured a difficult first year at Ferrari, who have not won a single race in 2025, Lewis Hamilton believes criticism from the media has negatively affected the team’s staff. Having narrowly missed out on Constructors’ Championship glory last term, the Scuderia have taken a backwards step this season.

Charles Leclerc accounts for all of their seven podiums and Ferrari are 418 points behind constructors’ championships McLaren with a round to go. Hamilton said: “The negativity that’s constantly within the media and everything like that, that affects them.

“They get home to their wives and their wives say ‘they’ve been saying this about where you work’, and I’m sure that’s tough, and the kids, and all those things. So there’s a huge effect on lots of people.”