McLaren are Formula 1 constructors’ champions for the first time in 26 years after Lando Norris beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to win the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Having put themselves in full control of the lucrative teams’ title race by locking out the grid’s front row, McLaren experienced a more nervous race under the Yas Marina floodlights than might have otherwise been the case after Oscar Piastri was spun around by Max Verstappen into the first corner.
But Norris never put a foot wrong from pole position and kept Sainz at arm’s length across the 58 laps to claim his fourth win of the year and secure McLaren their ninth Constructors’ Championship – but first since 1998.
Ferrari, whose hopes of a final-day turnaround from 21 points behind almost-absolutely rested on winning the race, at least finished their season with a double podium with Sainz driving strongly on his final outing for the team to second and Charles Leclerc brilliantly charging from the grid’s back row to third.
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Opening lap drama in Abu Dhabi as Max Verstappen collided with Oscar Piastri before his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez span out
And ahead of his blockbuster winter move to replace Sainz, Lewis Hamilton performed his own stirring race-day turnaround on his Mercedes farewell to finish fourth from 16th on the grid.
Hamilton’s final lap as a Mercedes driver after a 12-year period of unparralled success saw him pass team-mate George Russell around the outside into Turn Nine.
“That was the drive of a world champion. Amazing,” said Toto Wolff amid an emotional series of messages on Mercedes team radio with Hamilton on his slow-down lap after the race.
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Bono and Toto say thank you and farewell over Team Radio to Lewis Hamilton in his final race for Mercedes
Verstappen, who clinched this year’s Drivers’ Championship for the fourth season in a row a fortnight ago in Las Vegas, ended his campaign in a distant sixth for deposed teams’ champions Red Bull after losing ground in the Piastri collision at the start and then being handed a 10-second time penalty for it by stewards.
Pierre Gasly concluded the fine end to his season in seventh to secure Alpine sixth in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Haas, who were eighth with Nico Hulkenberg.
Abu Dhabi GP Result: Top 10
1) Lando Norris, McLaren
2) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
3) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
4) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
5) George Russell, Mercedes
6) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
7) Pierre Gasly, Alpine
8) Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
9) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
10) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Fernando Alonso took ninth for Aston Martin with Piastri, who picked up his own 10s penalty for hitting the back of Williams’ Franco Colapinto after returning to the track after end-of-lap one repairs, recovering to 10th.
McLaren back on top for first time in a generation – how Norris closed it out
Just seven years after McLaren, one of F1’s oldest and most storied teams, appeared at their lowest ebb after finishing second and last in the teams’ standings, Sunday’s title-winning result absolutely confirmed their return to the very top of the sport.
The Woking team’s pre-race lead of 21 points had always made them big favourites to close the title out on Sunday, a status underlined when Norris and Piastri qualified first and second with Ferrari only third and, due to a grid penalty and then difficult Saturday, 19th with Leclerc.
But the race’s opening yards unexpectedly created what team chief Zak Brown termed the “worst two hours of my life”.
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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was not happy with the officials after he received a 10-second penalty for his crash with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri
While Norris made a strong getaway from pole on the outside, Piastri’s mirrors on the inside started to be filled by Red Bull blue towards the Turn One braking zone as Verstappen, who had qualified fourth, launched a bold bid for second place on the Australian’s inside.
But as Piastri came across to take the left-hander, Verstappen collected the McLaren on the inside in costly contact that spun both cars around. It was Piastri who came off worse, the McLaren ending up facing backwards in the run-off area as the pack streamed past on his inside.
Although he was able to get going, Piastri had to pit for fresh tyres at the end of the opening tour before his race was then further compounded soon on his return to the track when he hit Colapinto up the back on the backstraight, earning his own 10-second sanction that he would serve at his next pit stop.
So with his team-mate almost immediately out of the reckoning at the front, Norris was effectively now suddenly carrying McLaren’s hopes on his own with Ferrari’s prospects boosted as Sainz moved up into second and Leclerc started to make inroads into the points from the back.
But while mistakes from team and driver may have ultimately undone their bid for the drivers’ crown against McLaren, Norris was supreme here as the Briton opened small, but steady, leads over Sainz either side of the sole round of pit stops.
“It feels incredible. Not for myself but for the whole team,” said Norris, who was promoted to a race seat at the Woking outfit in 2019. “They have done an amazing job from where we were at the beginning.
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Zak Brown praises Lando Norris’ drive to claim the constructors’ championship for McLaren and the important part played by Andreas Stellar
“I’m so proud of everyone. It’s been a lovely journey. To end the season like this is perfect.
“For us to win the Constructors’ Championship after 26 years is pretty special.”
More to follow…
