The Brit came in 3rd place in the Abu Dhabi GP, at the Yas Marina circuit, a result enough to leave him at the top of the classification table after the 24 stages of the World Championship.
won this Sunday (7), in Abu Dhabi, his first world title in crowning a season marked by consistent performance and precise decisions.
The British driver from McLaren beat his direct competition by two points and closed the cycle of this regulation, breaking the Max’s hegemony.
Max Verstappen finished the championship as runner-up, while Oscar Piastri secured third place, consolidating the team’s strength in the final stretch of the year.
The Brit made good on the advantage built up in the last races – triumphs in Mexico and São Paulo, which earned him the lead – and ended the season with 423 points, just two more than Max Verstappen, winner of the race, 421, and 13 points behind. (410), second place, his competitors for the trophy until the last stage of the season.
“I hadn’t cried in a long time, I thought I wouldn’t cry, but I cried. It’s a long journey, I want to say a big thank you to the entire McLaren team. My mother, my father… they are the people who supported me from the beginning”, said an emotional Norris shortly after the race.
who had started in seventh place, finished the race in 12th after an intense fight in the intermediate field. The Brazilian was in 10th place until two laps to go, but was overtaken by Lance Stroll and Nico Hülkenberg, leaving him out of the points zone and ending the season with 19 points, in 19th place.
After coming out in second place on the starting grid, alongside pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who was fighting for his fifth title in a row and was 12 points behind in the table, Norris was overtaken by his teammate, Oscar Piastri, the third contender for the trophy, on the first lap.
Bortoleto managed to hold seventh place until he went to the pits to change tires, returning in 15th. Norris also made his pit stop and returned in ninth place – he overtook Verstappen’s squire, Yuki Tsunoda, on the 23rd lap to take third place, which guaranteed him the title.
Verstappen pitted and Piastri took the lead of the race on the 24th lap. Bortoleto gained positions with his opponents’ tire changes and came in 11th. With the wear on his McLaren’s tires, Piastri saw the difference of more than 16s drop to less than 4s after 38 laps, with 20 to go.
The Australian lost the lead to Verstappen on the 41st lap and then went to the pits, returning ahead of his teammate. The Dutchman opened a 26 second advantage over Piastri, who, in turn, was 5 seconds ahead of Norris. In the fight for the points zone, Bortoleto was in tenth place – he lost two places in the last laps and finished in 12th.
With ten laps to go, Norris was running safely and protecting himself from the approaching Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was 4 seconds behind, and was not putting pressure on Piastri. With a wide lead in the lead, Verstappen calmly walked to his eighth victory of the season, his third in a row, but he didn’t count on his luck and saw Norris come in third to celebrate his unprecedented victory in the Drivers’ World Championship, McLaren’s first since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
Check out the results of the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi GP:
1º – Max Verstappen (HOL/Red Bull), em 1h26min07s469
2nd – Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren), at 12s594
3º – Lando Norris (ING/McLaren), a 16s572
4º – Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari), a 23s279
5º – George Russell (ING/Mercedes), a 48s563
6º – Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin), a 1min07s562
7o – Esteban Ocon (Fra/Alpine), which is 1min09s876
8º – Lewis Hamilton (ING/Ferrari), a 1min12s670
9º – Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin), a 1min14s523
10th – Oliver Bearman (ING/Haas), 1min16s166
11º – Nico Hülkenberg (ALE/Sauber), and 1min19s014
12th – Gabriel Bortoleto (BRA/Sauber), 1min21s043
13º – Carlos Sainz Jr. (ESP/Williams), em 1min23s042
14º – Yuki Tsunoda (JAP/Red Bull), a 1min23s794
15th – Andrea Kimi Antonelli (ITA/Mercedes), at 1min24s399
16th – Alexander Albon (TAI/Williams), at 1min30s327
17th – Isack Hadjar (FRA/RB), 1 lap away
18th – Liam Lawson (NZL/RB), 1 lap away
19th – Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine), 1 lap away
20th – Franco Colapinto (ARG/Alpine), 1 time
*With Estadão Content
