Norris win seals McLaren championship
- racereadypod
- Dec 8, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 19, 2024
Lando Norris's victory at the Abu Dhabi GP means that McLaren has finally won the F1 Constructor’s Championship for the first time this century.
Norris dominated the race from pole after surviving a chaotic opening lap.
Max Verstappen tagged Oscar Piastri at the opening corner, taking both drivers out of contention. Verstappen received a 10-second penalty, and Piastri received the same penalty for a separate collision.
This allowed Sainz up to second, while Leclerc stormed through the field, creating a chance for Ferrari to win the championship.
Source: Joe Portlock/Getty Images
But Norris held off Sainz as Ferrari’s misery at championship finales continued. The Scuderia hasn’t won any championship since 2008.
Lewis Hamilton also gained on the opening lap and performed a last-lap overtake on his teammate George Russell to take fourth in his final race for Mercedes.
Verstappen recovered to sixth. His teammate Sergio Perez retired after first-lap damage in what could be his last race in F1, with Red Bull left to make a decision about their 2025 lineup in the coming days.
Source: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
Pierre Gasly held off Nico Hulkenberg for seventh, which meant Alpine held on to sixth in the constructors championship. His teammate Jack Doohan had a quiet debut race in 16th and slowest of the competitive cars.
Kevin Magnussen’s final race for Haas was tarnished with a slow pit stop and a collision with Valtteri Bottas, which saw the Finn retire. He signed off from F1 with the fastest lap, being the only driver to use soft tyres during the race.
Orange Sky and Mad Max
The sky seemed to light up in orange, symbolic of McLaren’s success. It’s their first championship since the team switched back to their historic papaya livery when Zak Brown became CEO in 2017.
The journey to a championship has been painful throughout the years, with the team lacking a long-term engine supplier and suffering bad luck at times.
Source: Joe Portlock/Getty Images
That bad luck seemed to strike again when Oscar Piastri spun on the lap. They were disappointed to miss out on the Driver’s Championship with Lando, but he has dominated several races this year when on his own out front, and that happened again today.
The success will give McLaren confidence that they can challenge for both championships in 2025.
Max Verstappen’s chances of winning or even getting a podium were ruined by a divebomb attempt on Oscar Piastri on the opening lap. Verstappen has been frustrated with stewarding decisions in recent times, but the stewards were correct to give him a 10-second time penalty.
His driving style has become much more aggressive in the second half of this season, as he feuds with the FIA and the Red Bull car performance declines.
Verstappen is now on eight penalty points, just four away from the race ban punishment Kevin Magnussen had for Baku.
This weekend it was announced his partner Kelly Piquet is expecting, and Verstappen commented, “Maybe I’ll make sure I get to 12 points when the baby is born. Then I can go on paternity leave”.
He's had to fight hard for the 2024 championship. He might need to fight hard, even harder, in 2025. He's made a lot of enemies this year, but maybe that's his intention.
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