Brilliant Norris deserved better stage than soulless Yas Marina: Up/Down in Abu Dhabi

Senna vs Prost at Suzuka; Hamilton claiming that last-gasp first title in Brazil; heart-wrenching scenes on the streets of Adelaide.

All moments of high-drama and emotion, seared into the mind memory of every F1 fan.

It isn’t just the thrills on-track that makes them unforgettable, but the charismatic circuits and surroundings in which they happen.

As highlighted by Motor Sport’s Chris Medland, all of this is exactly why the world championship needs to stop having its season finale at Yas Marina. In contrast to those other locations just mentioned, the soulless Abu Dhabi track is seen an autodrome of nightmares or nothingness – an incubator for everything that isn’t good about sport.

It will forever be remembered for Abu Dhabi 2021 and Ferrari naffing up Alonso’s best chance of a third title eleven years. And that’s it.

Abu Dhabi was just where Lando Norris got the job done, but the story of his fantastic 2025 title triumph was written at Silverstone, Monaco, Sao Paulo and elsewhere.

Going Down – Yas Marina

Please just relegate it to the Asian Le Mans series, where it belongs.

Going Up – Papaya Power

The Zak Brown-led renaissance was completed with the title double in Abu Dhabi, and its star boy won the championship.

Bruce would be proud.

Going Down – Poor Yuki

Yuki Tsunoda’s season as useless fodder for Red Bull was summed up both by the way his team sacrificed him to try and stymie Norris, as well as how badly he did the job.

Hopefully Yuki has a race seat somewhere next season. Has more personality than most of the rest of grid put together.

Going Up – Stars & Gripes

IndyCar star Alex Palou, who is currently involved in a bitter legal dispute with world champions McLaren after pulling out of a contract with it, showed his allegiances pre-race.

Going Down – Dead-end result

For all his chutzpah, Franco Colapinto has laboured massively in the rubbish Alpine F1 car, not scoring a single point.

His last place at Yas Marina summed it all up.

Going Up – New school rules

So farewell then, massively overhyped 2022-2025 generation of F1 cars, which made overtaking only marginally easier.

The 2026 machines likely won’t make the racing any better, but should provide some kind of comedy factor – a Haas winning by seven laps etc.

Going Down – Don’t even think about it

F2 saw several breakout stars shine this year, including new champ Leonardo Fornaroli, Alex Dunne and Luke Browning.

Will they get a chance to race in F1 next year? Highly unlikely!

Going Up – Nearly there

Just over a month till those above-mentioned new F1 cars hit the track. And we can start this all over again!