Norris 'Way More Happy' For His Team After Securing Constructors' Championship

Monday, 09 December 2024 at 12:35

Although Lando Norris won the fourth Grand Prix in his career in Abu Dhabi, he was way happier for the whole McLaren Racing F1 team, and he explained why.

The 24th (last) Grand Prix weekend was crucial for McLaren as the British F1 team was leading the Constructors Championship but was still in danger of losing it to Ferrari.

The Papaya team needed a clean race, and after locking out the front row in qualifying, it seemed nothing could stop them. However, things took a wild turn on the opening lap of the Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri, who started from second place, spun out after contact with Max Verstappen and fell to the last place, while Charles Leclerc on Ferrari had the best start of his F1 career and went from P19 to P8.

At that point, everything stood on the shoulders of Lando Norris, who was leading the race and needed to bring the victory home in order to secure the Championship title for his team.

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Although the two Ferrari drivers behind gave their best, the 24-year-old managed to keep them at bay and ultimately crossed the finish line in P1, which was all McLaren needed to win the title.

Speaking to the media after the Grand Prix, Norris admitted he got a little bit nervous when he realized everything that happened after the opening lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:

"I was watching the TV screens, and I saw Charles was P8 after lap one, so I was a little bit nervous! But I knew I just had to focus on myself, put my head down."

"Carlos was never far away. I think the biggest I got the gap to was, like, 4.2 seconds in the first stint, and that's not a very nice gap in my opinion. It's a bit too close to my comfort."

"So, it was still a tricky race, and I'm sure there was probably a lot more nervous people on the pitwall and in the garage, knowing what was at stake. I've got the adrenaline of the car and focused on that."

People on the pit wall were indeed more nervous. The CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, said after the race it was the 2 most stressful hours of his life and that he thought he might get a heart attack any second.

For them, they're just sitting and watching the screens, and they have a lot more time to think about what can go wrong and all of that."

"Of course, I'm happy I finished the season this way, but I'm way more happy for the team than I am for myself."

Norris missed the Drivers' Championship this year and finished second behind Verstappen. Although he would have been much happier with the Drivers' title, he said the race victory in the final weekend with the Constructors' Championship win was still incredible because his team deserved it.

"It feels incredible. It feels incredible, not for myself, but before the whole team, the team have done an amazing job this year to come from where we were at the beginning."

"I'm so proud of everyone. It's been a lovely journey, and to end the season like this is perfect."

"So just a congrats and a big thank you to everyone in McLaren, everyone in papaya, everyone who supported us this year, because it's been a tough one. But for us to win the constructors' after 26 years is pretty special."