Lando Norris clinched his first Drivers' Championship title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but will need to wait a little longer to get his hands on the trophy. The young Brit ended Max Verstappen's four years of dominance by coming home in third place at the Yas Marina Circuit. He only needed a podium finish to claim the honours and achieved exactly that despite losing a position to Oscar Piastri on the opening lap.

Verstappen took the chequered flag after starting on pole and was joined by Norris and Piastri for the podium celebrations. As usual, trophies were handed out to all three drivers with respect to their finishing positions. However, there was no sign of the Drivers' Championship trophy despite it being paraded on the track before the start of the race.

That is because the FIA oversees the awarding of the trophy at its annual awards gala, unlike other sports where championship prizes are handed out almost immediately. This year's event will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Friday, December 12.

It means Norris will have to wait another five days before getting his hands on the biggest prize in motorsport. The unusual quirk is a throwback to the old era of the sport before its boom in popularity, thanks in part to the Netflix series Drive To Survive.

The trophy that was present in Abu Dhabi before the start of Sunday's race was merely a replica, with the real thing staying in London to be engraved following the conclusion of the 58-lap contest.

It will travel to Tashkent for next week's ceremony and will stay with Norris until it is required in London next year to engrave the name of the 2026 champion.

Once the 26-year-old is ordered to hand back the trophy, he will be able to order his own replica version to keep forever. Max Verstappen has done this with all four of his Drivers' Championship titles, keeping them in his Monaco home.

Norris was reduced to tears after realising his childhood dream in Abu Dhabi, with the McLaren driver struggling to keep it together in his post-race interview.

"I've not cried in a while! I didn't think I would cry, but I did," he said. "It's a long journey. First of all, I want to say a big thanks to my guys, everyone at McLaren, my parents, my mum, my dad, they are the ones who have supported me since the beginning.

"It feels amazing. I now know what Max feels like a little bit! I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors the whole season.

"It's been a pleasure to race against both of them. It's been an honour, I've learned a lot from both. I've enjoyed it. It's been a long year. We did it, and I'm so proud of everyone."

Asked if he was thinking about the possibility of winning the championship during the race, Norris replied: "You can't not think about it. I knew it was a long race and we have seen many times, anything in F1 can happen.

"I just kept pushing until the last two or three laps when I could ease off. I still wanted to fight until the end. That's what we did and had to do this season with Max chasing the whole way and Oscar catching at the end."