Lando Norris on Sunday claimed his maiden drivers’ championship to complete McLaren’s first title double since 1998 with a perfectly-judged drive to finish third behind Red Bull’s winner Max Verstappen and teammate Oscar Piastri.
A tearful Norris won the title by two points ahead of Verstappen, who relinquished his crown after four consecutive years, in a tense and emotional season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix dominated by strategy and tactics.
After crossing the line his team engineer told him: “That’s it mate, you are world champion, world champion.”
Photo: Reuters
“Thank you guys, you made a kid’s dream come true,” he replied.
“I haven’t cried in a while, I didn’t think I would cry, but I did,” Norris said on the podium in the desert night at the floodlit Yas Marina Circuit.
“I want to thank my mom, my dad. They’ve supported me since the beginning,” he said.
Photo: AP
“It feels amazing, I know now what Max feels like a little bit. I want to congratulate both Max and Oscar, I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a long year,” he added.
McLaren, headed by team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown, secured back-to-back constructors’ titles in Singapore last month.
“That was exciting, a little too exciting, awesome,” Brown said. “What an effort, Lando and Oscar, what a fantastic season.”
“I’m so proud of our drivers, we let them race to the end. It’s been a dream with these two guys, as that Max guy is hard to beat so what an accomplishment,” he added.
Norris becomes Britain’s first world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020 with this 13th drivers’ crown for McLaren.
The 26-year-old’s success comes over half a century after Emerson Fittipaldi claimed the British marque’s first drivers’ title in 1974.
A galaxy of F1 greats followed — James Hunt (1976), Niki Lauda (1984), Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), Mikka Hakkinen (1998, 1999) and Hamilton in 2008.
Assessing his path to glory, Norris said: “As we’ve seen many times, anything can happen. So, I just kept pushing. I wanted to fight to the end. [Verstappen and Piastri] Certainly did not make my life easy this year, but I am happy.”
“It has been a long journey with McLaren, I’ve been with them for nine years,” he said. “For me to bring something back to them, I feel like I did my part for the team this year, so I’m proud of myself.”
Piastri, who had led the championship for much of the season before being overtaken by Norris in Mexico, finished third in the standings.
Sunday’s season-closer was the first time the title was decided by a contest involving more than two drivers since a four-way scrap at the final race in Abu Dhabi in 2010.
Norris showed great discipline and patience as he executed his race under extreme pressure knowing that any error could gift the title to an unforgiving and relentless Verstappen or Piastri, who led the championship for 15 Grands Prix this year.
“I’m definitely not disappointed,” Verstappen said. “I am proud of everyone. We never give up.”
It was Verstappen’s fifth win in Abu Dhabi and extended the Yas Marina Circuit’s record in producing 11 consecutive winners from pole position as he came home 12.594 seconds clear of Piastri with Norris third, 3.9 seconds further adrift. Charles Leclerc, who was pressing Norris for much of the race, came fourth for a revitalized Ferrari, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Esteban Ocon of Haas. Seven-time champion Hamilton finished a solid eighth for Ferrari, after starting 16th, ahead of Oliver Bearman of Haas and Nico Hulkenberg, in his 250th Grand Prix, of Audi-bound Sauber. It was Verstappen’s eighth win of the year and the 71st of his career, and one of his most controlled.
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