This time on Yas Island, contrary to four years ago, there was no incomprehensible twist of Formula 1 fate. No late crash, no safety cars, no race manipulation. The reality was that it was always going to take something extraordinary for Lando Norris to blow this year’s drivers’ title and, to the delight and relief of the McLaren team on tenterhooks trackside, the closing laps progressed without incident. Their golden boy had his triumph.
As he passed the chequered flag, Norris’s hands went straight to his fluorescent yellow helmet in disbelief. A season in which he started in front, squandered a lead and looked dead and buried in August, has concluded with fulfilling his wildest dreams. The 26-year-old from Somerset becomes Britain’s 11th F1 world champion and McLaren’s first since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
But boy was it a close-run thing. In the end, Norris repelled tonight’s race winner, Max Verstappen’s magnificent fightback by just two points. A podium was all Norris needed on Sunday night in Abu Dhabi and, despite a few nervous glances at Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in his rear-view mirror, a top-three finish never really looked in doubt. When he needed to perform some key overtakes after his first pit-stop, Norris exuded confidence and self-belief, attributes of his that have long been under the microscope. Supremely and efficiently, Norris did what he had to do.
Oscar Piastri, Norris’s impressively magnanimous teammate, finished in second on the track and third overall, 13 points behind the champion. McLaren CEO Zak Brown has some tricky days to navigate the joy on one side of the garage in contrast with the deflation on the other. Piastri led by 34 points in August; he will rue an error-laden end to the season.
But for Norris, after hugs aplenty on the start-finish straight, it was the most emotional of moments.
“I’ve not cried in a while,” he told David Coulthard after the race. “I didn’t think I’d cry, but I did. It’s a long journey, first of all, I want to say a big thanks to my guys, everyone at McLaren and my parents. They’re the ones who’ve supported me since the beginning.
“It feels amazing, I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors, it’s been a pleasure and honour to race them. I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a long year… they certainly didn’t make my life easy this year.
“Not many people in the world or in Formula 1 get to experience what I’ve experienced this year. I’m just crazy happy! It’s been a long journey for me and McLaren; we’ve been together nine years, been through crazy times.”
This year, in isolation, has been one to categorise as somewhat crazy. Norris, the pre-season favourite, endured a tricky opening half of the season, littered with errors in qualifying and summed up by his idiotic crash with Piastri in Canada. Despite that, statement victories in Australia, Monaco and Silverstone kept him on the pace, with a win in Hungary prior to the summer break leaving him just nine points behind Piastri.
Yet in Zandvoort, everything changed. A cruel late mechanical issue for Norris was a game-changer, gifting Piastri a 34-point lead. For the Briton, it was time to go hell-for-leather; a much-needed change of tack. Elbows out, we saw Lando 2.0.
Race-by-race, Norris cut the deficit: somewhat controversially in Monza, as McLaren ordered their drivers to swap, and aggressively in Singapore with a bold move on his teammate. And as the season entered its final furlong, Norris found his performance at the crucial moment. Sterling pole positions in Mexico and Brazil set up two vital race victories and, if it wasn’t for McLaren’s recent clangers in Las Vegas and Qatar, the title would already have been wrapped up. As it was, the irrepressible Verstappen still had a shot.
HOW THEY FINISHED - F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 423 points
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 421 points
3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 410 points
Yet it went down to this 24th and final round, which, from the get-go, saw an immediate grenade to proceedings on lap one. Pole-sitter Verstappen swerved immediately and aggressively to the left at lights out, memories of a poor start four years ago against Lewis Hamilton fresh in his mind, and all three protagonists progressed smoothly through turn one.
Yet that satisfaction in camp Norris quickly diminished as Piastri, on harder tyres technically slower than Norris’s mediums, swooped brilliantly around the outside of the left-handed turn nine to nick second from his teammate. It was a stunning overtake – one Piastri simply had to make – and sent a firm message to his teammate. At this earliest of phases, there were to be no team orders.
Norris, now in third and one position away from losing it all, moved on precariously with Leclerc hot on his heels for the first 10 laps. After fourth on the grid, George Russell endured a poor start, dropping to sixth. Mercifully for Norris, however, he defended well, and his McLaren car eventually found its performance window, progressing outside of Leclerc’s one-second DRS range and settling into a solid rhythm.
“Keep building this gap on Leclerc, it gives us choices,” Norris’s engineer Will Joseph told his driver, before the Briton dived into the pit-lane on lap 17. A rapid 2.1-second stop, with Leclerc and Russell also in the pits, and back out in ninth. Vitally, he then overtook midfield bystanders Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz on the same lap to move up the order, before a tremendous double overtake down the inside of turn 7. It was heart-in-mouth stuff – and next down the road was Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
“All you can when he catches,” Tsunoda was told on team radio. Could the out-the-door Tsunoda perform a defensive masterclass in his final race, akin to Sergio Perez’s super job on Hamilton in 2021, and back Norris up into Leclerc? Not quite.
With Tsunoda illegally weaving down the back straight, Norris went for broke and surged down the inside, clipping the grass and making the pass, but arguably with all four wheels off the racetrack. The stewards in race control took a deeper look but correctly ruled against the Japanese driver, dishing out a five-second penalty.
Meanwhile, Verstappen pitted on lap 24, switching to hards, and Piastri took the lead of the grand prix. Crucially, in the middle phase, Norris extended his lead to Leclerc in fourth, creating a considerable 25-second buffer. Yet it wasn’t the Australian who pitted next, it was Norris.
Another neat 2.4-second stop on lap 41 and Norris re-emerged safely in third place. A lap later, Piastri took on fresh rubber, re-entering the race in second place. But as the laps dwindled to single figures, Leclerc’s pace remained strong, and he looked to be gradually catching Norris. “Is Charles catching him or not?” Verstappen queried. Not quickly enough was the answer.
Was there to be a late twist, a la 2021? Norris’s Belgian mother, Cisca, could barely watch from the back of the garage. Tension was high. Thankfully for the papaya-clad outfit, fingernails chewed away, not this time. Norris took the chequered flag in third, ahead of Leclerc by six seconds, and despite Verstappen’s third race victory in a row, his valiant fightback fell just two points short.
Astonishingly, Verstappen ends the season as the driver with the most wins, standing at eight. No doubt he’ll be back for more next season, in search of title number five. But now, the Dutchman will have to hand over the No 1 tag on his racecar to his good friend. This time, it’s Norris’s time.
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