McLaren driver Lando Norris held his nerve but could not hold back the tears after clinching his first Formula 1 title at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.
Red Bull driver and defending champion Max Verstappen won the race with Norris placing third behind his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in second, which allowed Norris to finish two points ahead of Verstappen in the season-long standings.
Piastri was also in contention for his first F1 title and finished third in the standings, 13 points behind Norris, who ended the season with seven wins and 423 points.
The 26-year-old Norris became the first British champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020, and also denied Verstappen a fifth straight title.
“Oh God. I’ve not cried in a while. It’s a long journey. First of all, I want to say a big thanks to my guys, my parents,” Norris said a few minutes after the race. “I now know what Max feels like a little bit. I want to congratulate him and Oscar, too. It’s been a long year but we did it.”
Norris entered the three-way battle 12 points ahead of Verstappen and 16 ahead of Piastri, who also won seven races but none since the Dutch GP on Aug. 31.
Verstappen started from pole position for Red Bull with Norris on the front row beside him and Piastri third on the grid. Verstappen needed Norris to be fourth or lower and Norris had to finish outside the top five if Piastri won.
Verstappen’s astounding late-season charge came close to unseating both McLaren drivers after they had shared the lead throughout the season and then were undone by driver and team-strategy errors.
But even Verstappen’s season-leading eighth win and 71st of his career could not stop Norris, who kept his composure on Sunday, having been under severe pressure in recent weeks.
The McLaren motorhome erupted with joy and CEO Zak Brown congratulated Norris on the team radio in his usual jovial manner.
“Lando, this is Zak from McLaren. Is this the world champion hotline? You did it! You did it! Awesome,” Brown said.
Norris didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He did both.
“Oh my God, thanks so much. I love you guys. Thanks for everything,” Norris said and then broke down in tears.
After crossing the line, Norris stayed in in his car for a few moments, visibly emotional. His parents were on the side of the track and he went over to hug them before celebrating with his McLaren engineers and mechanics.
Mercedes driver George Russell came over to hug Norris. Others sympathized with Piastri, who was looking to become the first Australian champion since Alan Jones in 1980.
Pole position was crucial on the 58-lap circuit in Abu Dhabi, where overtaking is hard, and so it proved again as Verstappen joined the long list of race winners from pole since 2015.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Russell and with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso sixth.
Verstappen gets away
Verstappen made a clean start with Piastri overtaking Norris at the end of Lap 1, while slick Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was soon behind Norris.
Norris was the first of the contenders to change tires when he came in on Lap 17 to switch from medium to the more durable hard tires.
But Norris was caught behind some traffic and had Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda ahead of him in third spot, which in turn allowed Leclerc to gain some ground on Norris.
Tsunoda penalized
Norris overtook Tsunoda on Lap 23 but went very wide and off track limits but race stewards gave Tsunoda a 5-second time penalty for zig-zagging in front of Norris, who was cleared of wrongdoing.
Tsunoda, who is being replaced at Red Bull next year by Isack Hadjar, reacted angrily when informed he had moved more than once in front of Norris when defending his position.
Slick Leclerc
“This pace is mega,” Ferrari told Leclerc over team radio.
Norris pitted again on Lap 41, with Verstappen overtaking Piastri moments later to move into the lead. Piastri came in a lap later for his one and only change but Norris still held the cards because both McLarens had covered an eventual second tire change for Verstappen.
The main threat for Norris was Leclerc and he was about 4 seconds behind Norris with 10 laps left.
“Is Charles catching him or not?” Verstappen asked his race engineer.
Leclerc couldn’t get closer, meaning Norris could coast to the title barring any mishap or a late safety car.
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