McLaren clinches constructors’ title as Norris wins race

Lando Norris won Formula 1’s 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to secure McLaren’s first constructors’ championship since 1998, with Carlos Sainz second for defeated Ferrari after Max Verstappen collided into Oscar Piastri.

That incident aided Charles Leclerc’s progress from the back row to finish third in the other SF-24, meaning the Scuderia finished 14 points behind in the teams’ title battle.

In his final race for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton beat team-mate George Russell to fourth, with Verstappen ending up sixth after serving a penalty.

At the start, Norris easily led away from pole, with any concerns of intra-McLaren contact at the first corner wiped away – replaced by the drama of Verstappen’s dive on Piastri at Turn 1.

As Piastri came across with the Red Bull committed on the inside, they collided just past the apex as Verstappen understeered in the McLaren’s side and both spun – Verstappen deep into the pack and Piastri at the back.

That elevated Sainz to second – getting back the place he had lost to Verstappen off the line – with Norris clear in the lead.

His advantage at the end of lap one of 58 was 1.8s, which was preserved for the second and third lap as the virtual safety car was activated for Sergio Perez stopping on the exit of Turn 9 due to contact sustained in another lap one clash – this with Valtteri Bottas at Turn 6.

By the time the VSC ended, Verstappen and Bottas received 10-second penalties for their clashes, with Norris then moving to increase his lead over Sainz to around three-seconds over laps four to nine.

It soon became a two-horse race for the win as Pierre Gasly held up Russell to the tune of nearly 10s by the time the Alpine stopped on lap 14 – by which point Norris was nearly four seconds clear of Sainz.

They were able to lap in the low 1m29s and high 1m28s for Norris, with Russell unable to match their pace even when unleashed from behind Gasly.

While lots of cars pitted from the pack behind, the leaders stayed out for the next phase of the race, with Sainz finally coming in to switch the mediums all the frontrunners had started on for hards on lap 25.

He had just squeezed Norris’s lead back under four seconds and when the McLaren was called in to cover the next lap, the chase for the lead…