Formula 1's first title-deciding season finale in four years kicked off with a day of media ahead of the main event.
Here are our main takeaways from Thursday...
Antonelli reveals Verstappen message after online abuse
Kimi Antonelli said the barrage of abuse in the aftermath of him falling behind Lando Norris in the Qatar Grand Prix was "not easy to get" - but appreciated Red Bull's and Max Verstappen's messages of support.
Senior Red Bull figures such as motorsport advisor Helmut Marko and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase were among those alleging Antonelli deliberately let Norris through to aid his title bid, and that implication was also behind the messages including death threats and homophobic abuse directed at Antonelli online.
Antonelli said the accusation was "something that I would never do".
"I was fighting for P3 at the end of the day, I was pushing hard and I was trying to get into DRS of [Carlos] Sainz. And you know, especially after so many laps in dirty air, pushing so hard, the mistake arrived.
"Then after the race to receive those kinds of comments, definitely it hurt."
Antonelli revealed, however, that in addition to Red Bull's statement he had a conversation with Lambiase in the Abu Dhabi paddock - and had also been texting with Verstappen.
"He saw what happened, he wasn't bothered by anything [he saw]," said Antonelli of Verstappen. "He even, like, showed support, so, really-really nice from him. He just said... I cannot really say what he said because it contained some bad words, the message, but it just said 'don't worry about these kind of people, because they're brainless...just focus on the job'." - Valentin Khorounzhiy
... while Colapinto makes a bold suggestion
Fellow F1 youngster Franco Colapinto has had - like Antonelli and like presumably everyone in the public sphere in F1 - his own dealings with online abuse, although in Colapinto's case this has also been because he's had to try to rein in his own particularly vociferous fanbase when there had been run-ins with other drivers.
"I think most of drivers had it [online abuse] at some point this year and unfortunately something that started to become quite normal," he lamented.
And while he said "you cannot do anything about it" but try to ignore it, he did also suggest that there should be more of a responsibility placed on prominent figures in not contributing to it.
"I think that we also need to be much more careful with what we say after races or during races - and looking at the post-race interviews I do understand where the hate was coming from to Kimi and that's something that should be avoided in first [place], before the hate comes.
"That's what we have to work on, trying to avoid those moments."
Colapinto went as far as to say that it may be worth policing the same way the FIA has sought to police drivers using explicit language.
"We are getting penalties by saying bad words in the media, but people that say something that is completely wrong or creating hate are not getting anything - and maybe that's also something to look at and not super fair." - VK
McLaren's big team order admission
Even as the threat from Verstappen has grown, McLaren's repeatedly claimed it won't favour one driver over another in this year's title fight while both are still in contention.
But after its Qatar strategy blunder left the door open for Verstappen to split its drivers in the championship ahead of the Abu Dhabi finale, McLaren knew it had to have some tough conversations.
The Race understands McLaren's opened the door to the prospect of team orders should either of its drivers fall out of realistic contention during the weekend.
Norris and Oscar Piastri say the scenarios haven't been discussed yet, but they could include Piastri being asked to move aside for Norris, should Norris need one more position on Sunday to secure the title from Verstappen.
A perfect weekend for Norris will make it unnecessary, but McLaren has to have those tough conversations with its drivers pre-race in the unlikely - but not impossible - event that team orders are the only thing that can stop Verstappen from stealing away the title. - Josh Suttill
What rivals make of the title fight
Norris is the championship favourite by virtue of the 12-point advantage he has over Verstappen, and that's a sentiment shared by most of the F1 grid.
His first-ever F1 team-mate Carlos Sainz was perhaps his biggest advocate on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
"Abu Dhabi is a Lando track," Sainz said. "He's not lucky but I think he's...It's good for him that I think the final is in Abu Dhabi, which from my experience, being his team mate here, it's one of his best tracks at driving and the win he took last year in front of me still hurts.
"He dominated last year in race in front of me and I knew it's a Lando track and it's a McLaren track. So I think he plays with that advantage.
"Still, going into the last weekend, having to finish on the podium is never easy, even if you drive a McLaren. He needs to execute a perfect weekend."
Sainz believes Norris can do it "given how well he's responded under pressure recently", and rates his speed as right up there with other former team-mates like Charles Leclerc and Verstappen.
Williams team-mate Alex Albon cited Norris's "really impressive" second half of the season, while Leclerc believes "if nothing big happens, it will be Lando".
Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto believes Max Verstappen "deserves the title", having proved he's one of the best drivers in the world this year.
His Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg said he'll try to follow it via the TV screens if his race allows it, while Fernando Alonso delivered a classic one-liner when asked if we will have a world champion who is not the best driver that season.
"This has been happening for the last 19 years now. So will be the 20th, yeah," Alonso quipped, 20 seasons on from his second F1 title triumph. - JS
What Tsunoda regrets about 2025
Even though he's been demoted to a reserve driver for 2026, Yuki Tsunoda doesn't regret stepping into Red Bull Racing two races into the 2025 season.
But he does regret missing out on a "pretty good f**king car in VCARB" which Liam Lawson has used to build a case that was strong enough for Red Bull to give him another year at Racing Bulls for 2026, instead of Tsunoda.
Tsunoda described it as "like throwing away your kids, your baby" because there's basically "my DNA" inside the car as well.
Tsunoda would have still made the move, as ultimately that was his long-awaited shot at the senior team.
But he probably knows his 2025 would have been nowhere near as difficult - nor his 2026 prospects so bleak, given he couldn't talk to non-Red Bull teams until the decision was made - if that swap never happened. - JS
Hadjar's Verstappen approach is right
Isack Hadjar well understands the challenge that he is going to face next season when it comes to going up against Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
With a long history of Red Bull juniors who have dreamed of beating the Dutchman, only to get spat out the other end very quickly after failing, he knows that there is a second seat curse to break.
So it was interesting to hear on Thursday that he has laid out his strategy to do it. And it is to accept that he will be slower than Verstappen at the start of next season.
For the first time in his career, Hadjar says he is approaching a campaign ready to be beaten – and accepting that the frustrations from not being able to match his team-mate will be immense.
But he says it is for a greater good. For in accepting the scale of the challenge that he faces, there is no risk of him getting into a tailspin if things start out tougher than anticipated.
He thinks that the mistake many of his predecessors have made is in thinking they are the chosen one who can take on and beat Verstappen.
“Everyone thinks they are special,” he said. “You come in, you're like, 'he's a human, I'm going to beat him'. And then you get stomped. Then, snowball effect starts, you know?”
Under-promise and then hopefully over-deliver has always been a great tactic in F1. - Jon Noble
Unwelcome end to Colapinto's weird season
Since securing his Alpine seat for next season, Colapinto has had a tough time. He lagged well behind Pierre Gasly in qualifying in Brazil, Las Vegas and Qatar – with the kind of gap, and discomfort in the car, that is reminiscent of how much he struggled before a big step forward around the summer break.
Colapinto admits he is "not ending with the best feeling" even in the context of Alpine having a terrible season. This challenging run is stopping him building on an encouraging spell that earned him the contract renewal announced in Brazil.
He says he doesn't know the reason, but since he crashed in the Brazil sprint race, Colapinto's not felt confident in the car again. When we asked in what way, he explained that he is not able to push the car like he was before "in corners where you carry a lot of lateral load" – so long corners where there is steering lock applied, particularly when braking.
That's a particularly challenging type and phase of corner in this generation of car, especially with a fundamentally limited Alpine that is rarely a joy to drive.
And it's left Colapinto struggling to end a challenging year on a relative high. - Scott Mitchell-Malm
