McLaren and Red Bull promise ‘clean fight’ in Abu Dhabi showdown

Abu Dhabi is primed for a finale worthy of a blockbuster script: three drivers, two teams and one championship on the line.

Yet amid the rising tension, both McLaren and Red Bull insist Sunday’s showdown will be decided the right way – with a fair, fierce and “clean fight.”

Lando Norris arrives at Yas Marina with a 12-point cushion over Max Verstappen, while Oscar Piastri lurks just four points further back. It’s a trio nobody would have expected to still be locked together after the summer break, when McLaren looked set to walk it and Verstappen sat 104 points adrift.

But Verstappen’s late-season charge – five wins and four podiums in the last nine events – has dragged Red Bull back into play and set up a title decider for the ages.

And despite the stakes, both camps made it clear: this battle stays above the belt.

Brown: ‘Race hard, race clean’

McLaren CEO Zak Brown was unequivocal when asked how the final fight would unfold.

“We’re going to race cleanly,” Brown said. “Obviously, strategy comes into play, but I like everyone on the Formula 1 grid, and I think we’re here to race hard, race clean.”

That doesn’t mean McLaren won’t use every tool at their disposal.

“So that’s exactly [how] I expect the race will play out,” he added. “We all have multiple cars, etc, so you’ll be smart and strategic, but I think it’ll be a very healthy battle to the finish.”

This season has brought McLaren from title hopefuls to title favourites – and now to the brink of their first Drivers’ crown in over a decade.

Norris topped both Friday practice sessions, extending his psychological edge by beating Verstappen by three tenths in FP2. But Brown insists that when the lights go out, the driving will speak for itself.

Mekies: ‘It’s a given they will race cleanly’

For Laurent Mekies, the Abu Dhabi finale caps an extraordinary personal journey. Having started the year as Racing Bulls team principal, he stepped into the Red Bull hot seat after Christian Horner’s shock departure – and helped spark a transformation that brought the RB21 roaring back to life.

Mekies echoed Brown’s confidence in the integrity of the fight.

“It’s quite refreshing to see that we’re not even discussing whether we are going to race cleanly or not,” he said, adding that “it’s a given that the guys out there will race cleanly.”

Under Mekies’ guidance, Red Bull has surged past expectations. Verstappen’s astonishing run across the final third of the season has reopened a title battle that once looked mathematically hopeless.

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Now, with everything on the line, Mekies believes the championship will be decided the way Formel 1’s great duels should be: not in stewards’ offices or with controversy, but in wheel-to-wheel combat.

Whether Norris converts his lead, Piastri delivers a shock twist, or Verstappen completes his improbable comeback, both teams insist the racing will be as fair as it is fierce – setting up a finale that could enter Formula 1 folklore.

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