F1 Norris, Verstappen or Piastri, world sprint: who goes fastest at Yas Marina

The last act of the 2025 season will determine who between Norris, Verstappen and Piastri will be World Champion. The various events that led to the epilogue in Abu Dhabi now no longer count, or at least they have the value of elements that allow us to outline who currently has the car that, on paper, can express the best performance at Yas Marina. The route as a whole can be divided into two distinct parts. A fast one, which characterizes the entire second sector with two straights interrupted by a variant, while the first is in fact characterized by the short finishing straight and a fast mixed section. But it is the third sector that represents the part that contrasts with the first two, with right-angle curves, in fact the most guided part of the entire circuit. Given these premises, it is correct to consider Yas Marina a stop and go track, which favors traction rather than dynamic balance in corners. In essence, a track where efficiency counts on the long straights of T2, while traction dominates the scene in T3.

FAVORITE

—

These are characteristics that lead one to think that Verstappen’s RB21 is the car that can best interpret them, in fact finding analogies with the behavior he had shown in Austin, another track with a dual soul, where traction counted in the last corners and after the first downhill corner, while efficiency played a primary role in the home straight. The RB21 is not a car without flaws with a setup window that has proven to be extremely limited throughout the season, but within which Max has found a decisive comfort zone that allows him to extract the maximum possible performance from the vehicle he has at his disposal. The McLaren, on the other hand, is the car with the best vehicle dynamics, i.e. capable of dictating the law in long corners in support and changes of direction at high speed. The sector in which it can actually express itself best is the last part of T1, while in T3 it could find a strong point in traction out of corners, but essentially without excelling in this respect compared to the RB21, considering the aerodynamic setup envisaged for Abu Dhabi, as a medium load. It therefore promises to be a very interesting challenge that will develop starting from the first free practices to determine the setup that best highlights the characteristics of each of the two cars. A weekend, therefore, to be followed also from a technical point of view: not that linked to developments, which are completely absent, but rather to the determination of the dynamic and aerodynamic set-ups that could make the difference on Sunday.

rb21 front view

—

The RB21 is the car that has made aerodynamic efficiency and traction its strong points, once the project limits highlighted at the beginning of the year have been overcome.

MCL39

—

McLaren has instead based all its strength on extreme vehicle dynamics, based above all on the originality of the front suspension geometry, impossible for its rivals to replicate during the season.