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ABU DHABI: Lando Norris clinched McLaren’s first team title in 26 years on Sunday when he drove to a calm and accomplished victory ahead of two chasing Ferraris at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
On an evening of stirring emotions under floodlights at the Yas Marina Circuit, as seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton drove from 16th to fourth in his final race at Mercedes, Norris was the embodiment of cool as he raced from his eighth pole position to his fourth career win.
“It feels incredible,” said the driver born in 1999, one year after McLaren’s last constructors’ crown.
“Not for myself, but for the whole team. The team has done an amazing job this year to come from where we were at the beginning. I am so proud of everyone.
“It has been a lovely journey and so to end the season like this is perfect. A congrats and big thank you to everyone at McLaren.”
His team boss Zak Brown, who has generated energy and enthusiasm at English-based McLaren, said: “I love everyone in Woking. What a team effort! Amazing, but that was stressful. The worst two hours of my life!“
McLaren won their title by 14 points from Ferrari whose challenge was finally subdued on a night of accidents, penalties and tantrums.
McLaren ended the season on 666 points ahead of Ferrari on 652 and Red Bull on 589. Mercedes finished fourth on 468 and Aston Martin were fifth with 94.
“Papaya on top!” said Norris on his slowdown lap in his orange-yellow car.
“Congrats to everyone. Incredible. So proud of you all. You all deserve this. It’s been a special one. Next year is going to be my year too.”
The 25-year-old Briton came home 5.832 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz and his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc to end the Italian outfit’s hopes of a first title since 2008.
McLaren had not won the teams’ title since 1998, started the day with a lead of 21 points and a front row lockout, but suffered an early setback when Oscar Piastri was sent spinning in a clash with newly-crowned four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull at the first corner.
This encouraged Ferrari and they mounted a defiant if vain bid for glory, to finish second and third ahead of Hamilton, who passed team-mate George Russell on the final lap.
“It’s a bitter-sweet feeling today,” said Sainz, who will join Williams next year when his Ferrari seat is taken by Hamilton.
“P2 was the maximum we could do today given the pace of Lando in the McLaren. I gave it everything.”
Team-mate Leclerc, who started 19th on he grid, said: “I knew I had to be aggressive on lap one to gain as many places as possible to gain positions and be in a good position for the rest of the race. This was achieved. but we were just too far back to do anything more for the rest of the race.”
Russell came home fifth ahead of Verstappen, who was handed a 10 second penalty crashing into Piastri.
Hamilton, 39, marked the end of his 12 years at Mercedes with a rousing and memorable drive from his record 246th start with the team and spun his car in a series of ‘donuts’ to celebrate at the end.
“Lewis, that was the drive of a world champion,” said team chief Toto Wolff as the crowd chanted “Lewis, Lewis.”
“What started out as a leap of faith, we turned it into making history,” said Hamilton to his race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington.
Norris made a clean start from his eighth pole of the year to lead into Turn One where Verstappen attacked Piastri on the inside and made contact to send both spinning.
Verstappen’s ‘dive bomb’ drew the comment “yep, move of a world champion there” from Piastri on McLaren team radio.
Piastri rejoined in 20th and last, but Verstappen squeezed back into 11th as team-mate Sergio Perez’s miserable season concluded with a spin out after contact with Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber.
After serving his penalty Verstappen asked with sarcastic venom: “Could we ask for 20 seconds? Stupid idiots.”
With 20 laps to go, Hamilton’s race engineer Bonnington, for the final time, told his driver “Lewis, it’s hammer time.” Hamilton asked for the gap to third and was told 14 seconds. “You can do it,” chimed in his team chief Wolff before Hamilton overtook Gasly for fifth.
At the front, Norris was the embodiment of cool, 5.9 clear of Sainz and managing his race with detached precision.