“Wow” – was initially all McLaren team boss Andrea Stella could muster when Autosport raised the subject of his squad’s bulletproof reliability in Formula 1 2024 ahead of the Abu Dhabi finale.
A discipline as scientific as motorsport does not really leave room for superstition, but the timing of our discussion was complex and so Stella’s brief incredulity was understandable. To be clear, Andrea, we weren’t trying to curse you…
Last Saturday, with McLaren having secured the front two spots on the grid for the race eventually won by Lando Norris – and with constructors’ championship rival Ferrari having one of its cars starting down in 19th thanks to Charles Leclerc’s various misfortunes in the Abu Dhabi event’s opening two days – the papaya team was heavy favourite to wrap up this year’s teams’ prize.
Stella was right to be wary. Not only had McLaren seen Norris slip from a possibly winning position to nowhere in Qatar a week earlier due to the Briton’s main race double yellow flag gaffe, but the subsequent Yas Marina Turn 1 contact between Oscar Piastri in the other MCL38 and Max Verstappen highlighted how precarious its position remained until the race ended.
Indeed, with Leclerc rising from 19th to eighth on the chaotic opening lap, if Norris fell behind chaser Carlos Sainz in the lead Ferrari over the rest of the event, the 14-point swing would have been enough for the Scuderia to steal the constructors’ title.
Also at play was how, at this stage, Piastri’s recovery to 10th place was not a given.
But in getting to the finish as its drivers did, McLaren capped its first F1 teams’ title in 26 years with a remarkable record in one critical area.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
This was how, of all the frontrunning four teams, it did not have a single reliability drama that cost it points in 2024.
At Red Bull, Verstappen retired in Australia with his brake fire and lost a likely Spa win due to his engine energy recovery system issue back in Montreal practice, meaning he had to suffer a grid penalty.
Also in Canada, Ferrari lost Leclerc to a power unit problem, while at Mercedes engine drama forced DNFs for Lewis Hamilton in Australia and George Russell at Silverstone.
Indeed, McLaren only failed to score points on two occasions this year – when Piastri was in the wars with Sainz in Miami and when Norris came off far worse from that crash…
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