Lando Norris is Formula 1 world champion for the first time in his career after finishing third in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix behind conquered title candidates Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.
The race did not have the predicted gamesmanship of polegetter Verstappen, but had enough danger in store for Norris, who lost a place to teammate Piastri on the first lap and dropped to ninth place after a first pit stop under high pressure. It forced the Englishman, who looked content to finish in a comfortable third place early in the race, to face the prospect of making several critical passes to restore himself to a championship-winning position.
But Norris seized the opportunity to end his successful championship run with an aggressive flourish, overtaking five cars in three laps to return to third position. With a podium finish being all he needed to guarantee himself the championship, and lacking the pace to challenge teammate Piastri ahead of him or Verstappen in the lead, he was content with a third place finish which was enough for Norris to secure his first championship.
“I was able to fight until the end,” said the emotional Brit. “That’s what we did, that’s what we had to do this season, so that Max chased us all the way, and Oscar overtook us at the end – they certainly didn’t make my life easy this year.
“I just tried to enjoy the moment. Not many people in the world, not many people in Formula 1, will ever experience what I experienced this season and this year.”
“I’m happy for everyone. I’m more happy for everyone than for me. I’m just very happy.”
Norris’s crowning achievement began with a punch from polegetter Verstappen, who made up for his usual launch by swinging to the inside line to block the title leader’s path to the first corner. It cost Norris some momentum, which helped the fast-starting Piastri guide his teammate through the first two sectors of the circuit, including a much better exit from the chicane linking the two back straights. That gave the Australian a great slingshot into the parabolic Turn 9, where he executed a daring pass around the outside of his teammate, defying his cold, hard tires.
The move moved Norris into third place and within reach of Charles Leclerc, who took advantage of a slow start from George Russell to run fourth in the opening stages of the race.
McLaren’s tire management in the early stint gave Leclerc ample opportunity to pile on the pressure and grab hold of Norris’ gearbox from lap 4 through to lap 10, when the need to deal with rubber began to close the gap in the field. But the question of the first pit stop was taken out of Norris’s hands by Russell, who pitted from fifth on lap 14 in an attempt to undermine his way to the front.
Norris and Leclerc both responded on lap 16, dropping to the lower reaches of the top 10 and behind a potentially damaging train of yet-to-be-stopped traffic.
It was the crucial moment of the Briton’s race, but he ruthlessly muscled his way through it. On lap 18 he decisively passed Kimi Antonelli on the hairpin with a big move on the brakes and then slid past Carlos Sainz before Turn 9. A daring double overtake from Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson on the second straight on the following lap moved Norris into fourth place.
Yuki Tsunoda, who started on the hard tire, was next on the road, and his team told him to “give everything he could” when his teammate’s title rival appeared in his mirrors. Tsunoda replied that he would, but the ruthless Norris left him with no defensive options.
The McLaren targeted the gearbox of the Red Bull Racing car from the hairpin bend. Tsunoda tried to weave to break the slipstream and close a pass, but Norris responded by taking the racing off the road and passing the fired Japanese star on the way to the chicane.
In a heart-in-mouth moment in front of the McLaren pit wall, the stewards examined the move, but after deliberation sided with Norris and penalized Tsunoda 5s for weaving.
Norris returned with no strings attached to a championship-winning podium finish. Only a late conversion to two stops to cover for Leclerc kept him busy on an otherwise simple cruise to his new status as 35th Formula 1 world champion.
However, the battle for the lead still had to be decided.
Piastri was one of only two drivers in the top 10 to start on hard tyres, his strategy being to go deep into the race and hope conditions gave him the lead and hurt his championship rivals.
Leader Verstappen came in on lap 23, with Piastri inheriting the lead. He drove deep, until lap 41, but late in his mammoth opening stint it became clear that he was shipping time to the Dutchman and even Norris by waiting for catastrophe.
Piastri retained second place with his pit stop, but with a lead of 24 seconds. Despite McLaren’s optimism that he could overtake the leader just like in Qatar, the task in 17 laps was too big. It gave Verstappen the freedom to record an eighth win of the season, extinguishing the four-time champion’s defense by just two points.
Leclerc finished a surprisingly impressive fourth place, even after pulling the trigger on a second pit stop on lap 39, beating Russell into place.
Fernando Alonso finished sixth for Aston Martin, ahead of Haas Esteban Ocon, keeping their teams in seventh and eighth places respectively on the title table.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from 16th to eighth with a soft-starting two-stop strategy, beating Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg to the final points of the season.
Lance Stroll finished 11th ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon, Raching Bulls teammates Isakck Hadjar and Liam Lawson, and alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapino.
RESULTS
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