Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Race Recap

Ocon took the start from eighth position on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and held ninth place through the opening lap, before pitting on lap 18 for White hard tires. The Frenchman emerged in 16th but worked his way through the yet-to-stop traffic to emerge in seventh position, including passing both Sauber drivers. Ocon maintained seventh through to the checkered flag, holding off seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, to add six points to MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s tally.

Bearman started from 11th place, also on medium tires, and challenged for the top 10 spots across the opening stint, before pitting on lap 14. The Brit took on hard tires and filtered back into the pack, before working his way through into ninth position. Bearman finished in ninth place on-the-road but was issued a five-second time penalty post-race for more than one change of direction, which dropped him to 12th place.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finishes the 2025 season in eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship on 79 points.

Up front Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen claimed victory, ahead of McLaren Racing’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris – with Norris securing his maiden Formula 1 World Championship.

Ollie Bearman:

“Overall, it was a good race. We pitted on the early side, but we managed to hold others off. To get penalized for more than one change of direction with Stroll – I broke the tow once, which is allowed by regulation, and then I defended the inside line for the rest of the straight. I’m looking forward to the winter break now, we built really strong foundations for this year, and that’s positive, and thanks once again to the whole team for everything this year.”

Esteban Ocon:

“I’m very happy to finish the year this way. I think it was a really strong race from our side, and it was the maximum that we could’ve done. We fought with Fernando Alonso the whole race, it was definitely a big fight as he was matching my middle sector, it was really close, and there was a lot of overtaking all the way to the end. It wasn't quite enough to finish ahead of Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship. It’s a bittersweet taste, but it’s definitely a good last race that gives us a solid platform to build on next year."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“At the start of the day, we aimed to get both cars into the points. We achieved it until Ollie’s penalty – which I thought was really harsh, however – that’s the rule. To cross the line in P7 and P10 is a really good job from everyone, as we started from P8 and P11. We raced really hard, really well, and there was huge pressure trying to get P7 in the Constructors’ Championship, but everyone stayed calm. The pit stops were good, especially the second one, but I knew we’d bounce back – that team has done a great job this year, ending on a high.

"We couldn’t quite reach our target of beating Aston Martin today, but those championship positions don’t happen over one race, that happens over the course of 24 races. I’m very happy to say we should be proud of ourselves, how we improved this year and scored 79 points. Last year we finished P7 on 58 points, but this year the competition is so much tighter, and in the last seven races, we scored in six of them. It’s amazing that we’ve improved the cars two years in a row and finished the season on a high, it gives us confidence going into next year. I want to say thank you to everyone in this team, you should be proud of yourselves, and this is an achievement from everyone. I’m very happy to be working with this group of people, I couldn’t be prouder.”