McLaren secured the Constructors’ title on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, and Lando Norris delivered when his team needed him most
McLaren began the day Sunday at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the verge of a Formula 1 Constructors’ title. With a 21-point lead in hand over Ferrari, and both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri starting on the front row, it felt as if McLaren had one hand on the trophy, with the other just inches away.
Then in the first corner of the race, everything changed.
While Norris and Piastri got off to solid starts, so did Max Verstappen, who bolted off the line and got to the inside of Piastri at Turn 1. The Red Bull driver drifted wide and into Piastri, sending the McLaren driver spinning, and to the back of the field.
When the dust settled on a chaotic opening lap the Virtual Safety Car was out, Piastri was at the back of the field, Carlos Sainz Jr. was on the rear wing of Norris in P2, and Charles Leclerc, who started at the back of the grid, was already up into P8.
A championship that had seemed settled was suddenly anything but. McLaren’s hopes rested on Norris’ shoulders, but one slip, one mistake, one poorly-timed blink, and the title that was theirs would not be.
But Norris delivered, salting away his fourth win of the season over the next 57 laps, and in the process McLaren’s first title since 1998.
Speaking at the FIA Press Conference following the race, Norris conceded that the beginning of the race allowed some nerves to sink in.
“Yeah, I was watching the TV screens and I saw Charles was P8 after lap one, so I was a little bit nervous,” admitted Norris after the race. “But I knew I just had to focus on myself, put my head down, and Carlos was never far away. I think the biggest I got the gap was to like 4.2 seconds in the first stint, and that’s not a very nice gap in my opinion. It’s a bit too close to my comfort.
“So it was still a tricky race, and I’m sure there was probably a lot more nervous people on the pit wall and in the garage, knowing what was at stake and things, and I’ve got the adrenaline of the car and focused on that,” continued Norris. “For them, they’re just sitting and watching the screens, and they have a lot more time to think about what can go wrong and all of that.”
Norris also outlined that he and Piastri were hoping to finish up front, to close out the year in style.
“But, yeah, a shame for Oscar. We really wanted to have a one-two today and let McLaren be on top today as a team in a race, but also for a championship, you know, and I felt quite bad for him in the beginning,” added Norris. “It wasn’t his fault. But he’s had a great year, so we’ll all celebrate together. I certainly am. And we’ll have some fun.”
While it was a massive moment for Norris and McLaren, it was also a season of growth for the British driver. This year gave Norris his first true taste of driving up front consistently, and his first foray into a Drivers’ title race as he battled Verstappen throughout the season. As the laps ticked down on Sunday, it was hard not to recall Norris’ face in the media pen in Austin at the United States Grand Prix. Norris fought Verstappen hard that day, ultimately being hit with a five-second penalty when the two battled in the closing laps, and Norris was judged to have overtaken Verstappen off the track.
In the pen, as Norris talked to the media, including SB Nation, you could see on the driver’s face the realization of just what it might take to beat a driver like Verstappen.
“The thing is with Max you’ve got to commit, but people don’t understand that kind of thing. With Max, you can’t just go half-hearted,” said Norris in Austin.
That was one of the many lessons Norris learned during the 2024 season. On Sunday in Abu Dhabi, in response to a question from Luke Smith at The Athletic, Norris talked some more about the lessons he learned this year, and about some of the moments that led to his growth as a driver.
Norris pointed to some of the “hardest” moments of the year, that brought about that growth.
“Honestly, it’s probably the harder moments, which are the ones you learn the most,” began Norris. “So it’s kind of true what people say. But those harder times, my battles with Max, that kind of thing, certain other cases throughout the season, you know. If I go back to Austria. Silverstone. You know, there are just some along the way and some have different reasons, but... None of them are necessarily ones which have made me doubt myself any more. This season’s been my best season from a performance, like personally. Was it good enough? Probably it wasn’t, no. But when you look at my own performance and my qualifying performances, for instance, they’ve been almost twice as good as what I was last year, especially comparing to the other guys in exactly the same car.”
Norris then turned to his race starts, which were a focal point as the year wore on, in particular, Norris’ struggles to hold onto the lead when starting from pole position.
“So I’ve definitely stepped it up at a good level this season. I obviously lost out on a few things. And there were maybe three starts this year, which lost me one or two positions at times. But they were positions quite often just to Max,” added Norris. “Or it was Budapest and one to Oscar and little things like that. But none of them, when I look back on them, made me feel like, well, I’ve not got what it takes. Those moments only came when it was directly against Max. And it’s Max.”
That’s when Norris turned his attention to Verstappen, and Austin, and everything he learned about battling the champion over 24 races.
“Going up against Max in any state is always going to be tricky. And no one has a nice time racing Max. I think Mexico was a bit of a turning point when it was proved that not everything he does is perfect,” described Norris. “I think if we all go back to Austin and go back to Turn 12, the majority of, I say, almost everyone on the grid, as drivers and also externally, disagreed with the fact I got the penalty. We either both should not have got one or we both should have got one. You know, so...
The McLaren driver then shifted gears, to address the areas where he improved, and grew, as a driver.
“I think it’s little cases along the way, but I certainly, from a pace point of view, have not doubted myself this year. And I think I’ve definitely given myself more faith. Like, when I look at qualifying, I remember 12 months ago here, I messed up my quali three lap, a lap that I should have done P2 when I had a big slide in 12, 13,” described Norris. “And I was pretty annoyed with myself post quali. And that was what everyone spoke about then.
“But that’s not really happened this year.
“I’ve closed off my quali laps. I’ve improved in all those areas. And it was more just that toe-to-toe fight, with one of the best in the world. And the thing is, what you don’t see on the outside are some of those moments where if I did certain things, we would have crashed,” Norris said. “People on the outside have no idea on what it takes and those moments where you accept losing a battle. And that is the case. And that was because of where we were in the first six, seven races of the year. We lost too many points. And I was just in that position where I couldn’t gain as much as what I needed to and wanted to.
“But I’m not using any of these as excuses. I’m saying I didn’t have what it took this season to fight against Max and deliver what I needed to deliver. But it certainly gave me the feeling of, ‘OK, if I improve this little bit here, this little bit here’, for the first time, I have confidence in saying I’ve definitely got what it takes,” concluded Norris.
Sunday in Abu Dhabi was the culmination of every hard lesson Norris learned this season, often at the hands of Verstappen. Whether it was their collision in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix, or his penalty in Austin, or the pole positions he was unable to convert to Lap 1 leads during the year, 2024 was a season of lessons, and learning, for Norris.
But with McLaren’s title hopes in his hands, Norris put those lessons to use, and delivered the performance they needed in the final race of the season to lock down a title.
A moment of pride for Norris, and the entire organization.
“Today was a very special day for all of us,” described Norris. “It was ours to lose today and I’m sure at certain moments people thought that it was not far away from being lost. You know, two Ferraris up there and Charles doing a great job to get back to the podium. Oscar was super unlucky. He got taken out in Turn 1. So for a minute, my heart was like, ‘oh God, it’s not looking as likely’. But if I just kept my head down and kept focused, I knew I could deliver and do what I got to do.
“That’s that, but the bigger picture of us winning a championship for the first time in 26 years, you wouldn’t have thought that when you say the name McLaren,” continued Norris. “But for me to be part of that, for Oscar to be part of it, is something we’re incredibly proud of. And delivering that for the team has put the biggest smile as possible on everyone’s face. This is the biggest reward you can give back to everyone who designs the car, builds the car, gets the partners. Everyone has played such a big part, so just proud. Proud is my biggest thing.
“Of course, I’m happy I finished the season this way, but I’m way more happy for the team than I am for myself.”
Growth, indeed.
