3 days ago
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Lando Norris secured McLaren's archetypal Formula 1 constructors' title for 26 years with triumph successful the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris led from commencement to decorativeness and his 4th triumph of the play was capable to seal the title by 13 points, contempt Ferrari finishing 2nd and 3rd with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc's superb thrust aft starting 19th connected the grid kept the hostility precocious - had thing happened to Norris' car, Ferrari would person clinched the title.
Lewis Hamilton took 4th spot successful his last contention for Mercedes, passing team-mate George Russell with six corners of the contention to go.
Hamilton did doughnuts connected the pit consecutive aft crossing the enactment and past took a fewer moments with his car, collecting his thoughts, earlier congratulating Norris and McLaren F1 brag Zak Brown and consoling Sainz and Leclerc.
The anxiousness for McLaren started astatine the archetypal country erstwhile Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri, who had qualified 2nd to the Briton, was tapped into a rotation by Red Bull's Max Verstappen. The satellite champion was fixed a 10-second punishment for causing the incident.
That enactment Piastri to the backmost of the tract and near McLaren's hopes hanging connected Norris.
Leclerc accrued McLaren's nerves with a stunning archetypal lap, successful which helium gained a singular 11 places, including passing 5 cars successful 1 spell approaching the chicane astatine Turns Six and Seven.
Leclerc's ascent continued, arsenic helium passed the Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, and past aft his pit halt connected thigh 20 Pierre Gasly's Alpine. He took 3rd erstwhile the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen pitted retired of his way.
Sitting successful 3rd down Norris and Sainz successful the last 15 laps, Leclerc asked if "like this we suffer the constructors'" and was told, yes, but the contention was not over.
But Norris and McLaren had everything nether power and helium crossed the enactment six seconds up of Sainz to extremity a agelong and achy play without a title.
McLaren past won the drivers' title successful 2008 with Hamilton, but their team's rubric drought went each the mode backmost to 1998.
They person been done a pugnacious play successful the past decade. But their fortunes person been revived by years of restructuring that started erstwhile Zak Brown joined the squad arsenic enforcement manager successful 2016, earlier being made main enforcement serviceman of McLaren Racing successful 2018, and gathered gait erstwhile Andrea Stella was made squad main astatine the extremity of 2022, erstwhile their guardant momentum had stalled.
Stella's enactment has turned McLaren into the fastest squad successful F1, and they volition spell into 2025 arsenic imaginable favourites.
Norris whooped with delight implicit the squad vigor arsenic helium was told the rubric was won, and said: "Next year's going to beryllium my year, too."
Hamilton's past contention for Mercedes was a beardown 1 from his 16th spot connected the grid, wherever helium ended up aft misfortune successful qualifying.
He was the lone operator to commencement connected the hard tyres and utilized an inverted strategy to summation places passim a agelong archetypal stint.
Rejoining from his pit halt connected thigh 34 of 57, Hamilton repassed Hulkenberg and Gasly, and with Verstappen already down due to the fact that of the Dutchman's penalty, the seven-time champion was up to 5th down Russell.
On fresher tyres, Hamilton closed connected Russell and started the last thigh connected his tail.
Hamilton closed successful and passed Russell connected the backmost consecutive with six corners to spell and instrumentality a 4th spot arsenic helium bowed retired from 12 years astatine Mercedes to extremity the astir palmy team-driver operation successful F1 history.
Verstappen took sixth, up of Gasly, Hulkenberg and Alonso, portion Piastri recovered from his first-lap collision with Verstappen and a 10-second punishment for hitting the backmost of Franco Colapinto's Williams to instrumentality the last constituent for McLaren.
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