Norris beats Ferrari pair to deliver long-awaited constructors’ title for McLaren · RaceFans

Lando Norris sealed the constructors’ championship for McLaren by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr and Charles Leclerc.

Norris led every lap of the season-ending race to take the final win of the season, securing the constructors’ title for his team.

Sainz took second place while Leclerc recovered from 19th on the grid to take the final podium spot of the season in third. Lewis Hamilton caught and overtook Mercedes team mate George Russell on the final lap for fourth place in his last race for the team.

When the lights went out for the final time, the two McLarens approached the first corner still in order, with Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri. Max Verstappen got ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr off the line and challenged Piastri for second place into the first corner, but hit the McLaren at the exit of the corner, sending both spinning and dropping towards the back.

At turn six, Valtteri Bottas made contact with Sergio Perez, spinning the Red Bull driver out of the race. While Bottas continued, Perez was too damaged to continue and pulled off track, resulting in a Virtual Safety Car.

The race resumed on lap three with Norris leading from Sainz, George Russell, Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg in fifth. Verstappen received a 10-second penalty for the turn one collision, with Bottas also penalised ten seconds for his clash with Perez. Piastri hit Franco Colapinto when the race restarted, earning him the same penalty.

Norris and Sainz pulled away from the rest of the field behind them, with Gasly holding third until he pitted on lap 14. Sainz maintained a gap of around three seconds to the leader ahead until he pitted at the end of lap 25, switching from mediums to hard tyres. Norris pitted on the next lap, but Sainz was now within two seconds of the leader after the benefit of an earlier lap on fresh tyres.

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Charles Leclerc, who had gained 11 positions on the opening lap, caught up to Russell and undercut the Mercedes when the pair pitted. Hamilton was the only driver to have started on hard tyres and ran until half distance before pitting for mediums from third place. That moved Leclerc up to third with Russell in fourth.

Hamilton pitted for medium tyres and rejoined in seventh. He overtook Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly to move up into fifth, then set about catching his team mate 14 seconds ahead.

Sainz dropped back slightly from Norris, who continued to lead comfortably over the second half of the race. Norris took the chequered flag to claim the victory and confirm McLaren as constructors’ champions for the first time since 1998.

Sainz finished just under six seconds behind in second, with Leclerc completing the podium having starting to the back of the grid. Hamilton overtook Russell at turn nine on the final lap to end his Mercedes chapter in fourth with Verstappen finishing sixth.

Gasly took seventh to confirm Alpine would beat Haas to sixth in the constructors’ championship, with Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Piastri completing the points scoring positions.

Alongside Perez, Colapinto joined the Red Bull driver in retirement after a suspected power unit failure. Bottas’s time at Sauber and potentially in Formula 1 also came to an end when he hit Kevin Magnussen at turn six, leaving him with race-ending damage. Liam Lawson retired on the penultimate lap with a smoking RB.

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