Lando Norris secured McLaren’s first Formula 1 constructors’ championship for 26 years with victory within the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris led from begin to end and his fourth win of the season was sufficient to seal the championship by 14 factors, regardless of Ferrari ending second and third with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc’s sensible drive after beginning nineteenth on the grid stored the strain excessive – had something occurred to Norris’ automobile, Ferrari would have clinched the title.
Lewis Hamilton took fourth place in his closing race for Mercedes, passing team-mate George Russell with six corners of the race to go.
Hamilton did doughnuts on the pit straight after crossing the road after which took just a few moments together with his automobile, amassing his ideas, earlier than congratulating Norris and McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown and consoling Sainz and Leclerc.
The nervousness for McLaren began on the first nook when Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, who had certified second to the Briton, was tapped right into a spin by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The world champion was given a 10-second penalty for inflicting the incident.
That put Piastri to the again of the sector and left McLaren’s hopes hanging on Norris.
Leclerc elevated McLaren’s nerves with a surprising first lap, during which he gained a exceptional 11 locations, together with passing 5 automobiles in a single go approaching the chicane at Turns Six and Seven.
Leclerc’s climb continued, as he handed the Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, after which after his pit cease on lap 20 Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. He took third when the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen pitted out of his means.
Sitting in third behind Norris and Sainz within the closing 15 laps, Leclerc requested if “like this we lose the constructors'” and was advised, sure, however the race was not over.
But Norris and McLaren had every little thing beneath management and he crossed the road six seconds forward of Sainz to finish an extended and painful interval with no title.
