The K question in Formula 1 has been answered, and convincingly: first place for Lando Norris at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, first place for his McLaren racing team after 24 races – although in the final the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz junior and Charles Leclerc had the majority on the podium. The overall score was 666:652 when the fireworks shot into the night sky at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Norris, who also secured his second place in the drivers’ championship with his fourth win of the season, could only think of the word “unbelievable”. Of course, the driver can’t remember 1998, when McLaren was at the top of the lucrative constructors’ or teams’ championships for the last time; he wasn’t born until a year later. His team boss Andrea Stella used the same word, what else could one think of in such moments, at the end of a season in which everything looked like another Red Bull triumph. But the Italian added after the victory over his compatriots: “I will forever be grateful for it.”
Ferrari, last champion in 2008, is now betting everything on the coming season. The man who is the great hope alongside Charles Leclerc has more title experience than any other Formula 1 driver: At the end of his 246th race for the Mercedes works team, Lewis Hamilton knelt next to his Silver Arrow. As an exception, he was allowed to park the car on the home straight, which is usually only allowed for podium finishers. He came fourth because his teammate George Russell let him pass shortly before the end. There was no need for the instruction from the command post (“George, do the obvious!”). It is a question of honor, of dignity.
Driving into the points from 16th on the grid – Lewis Hamilton also achieved another success
Hamilton had been rehearsing for this moment for days, but the Brit didn’t really believe that he would be able to finish in the points from 16th place on the grid in the last race. It was once again what his congenial partner, racing engineer Peter Bonnington, calls “hammer time” – and so his protégé had consistently worked his way forward. The climb to the top should silence all doubters. He also shared the emotional radio message: “Each of us dreamed alone, but together we believed in it.”
The end of the racing year is an exclamation point that once again sums up all the excitement, uncertainty and class of this longest season in history. This started shortly after the start of the 58 final laps. This time Norris kept his nerve when it mattered most. His teammate Oscar Piastri immediately came under pressure from Max Verstappen. The world champion wanted to overtake the Australian on the inside, with the result that both of them spun off the slope. Piastri lost any chance of protecting Norris and ended up in tenth place. “A world-class maneuver,” said Piastri. The race management immediately responded with a ten-second penalty for the Dutchman, but with that everything now focused on Norris: Will he hold out?
:The racing Mister Mercedes says goodbye
84 victories, six world titles: There has never been a longer and more successful relationship between a team and a driver in Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton drives his last race for Mercedes in Abu Dhabi. At Ferrari he wants to regain faith in himself.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez had it even worse. The Mexican has been fighting the assumption for weeks that his days at Red Bull Racing are numbered. The countdown is scheduled to end on Monday when the leadership meets in Abu Dhabi. If you look at the result from Sunday, everything should be clear: Pérez also spun straight after the start and didn’t even get into the race. The 34-year-old, who has always insisted on his two-year contract, appeared sheepish when he appeared in front of the cameras a little later: “I’m happy that everything is over.” The only question that seems to be left is the amount of the severance payment and whether he will be replaced by Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson from the Red Bull youth team. The Mexican’s winless season has deprived the champion racing team of any chance of earning additional millions in the team rankings.
The Ferraris bravely worked their way forward and held the chasing positions, but they already knew that it wouldn’t be quite enough. It was tactical maneuvers that shaped the finale and lacked dramatic moments like the debates that Mercedes driver George Russell and Max Verstappen had before the 24th round of the World Championship in order to come to terms with the previous race weekend. Accusing yourself of lying was the least of it. Verstappen is said to have even threatened to deliberately drive into him and “stuff him headfirst into the wall”.
Verstappen, who ended up sixth in Abu Dhabi, also showed via pit radio that he still has plenty of emotions left after a difficult technical year despite being a great sport. After serving his ten-second penalty in the pits, he cursed at the race management, with whom he has clashed more often than ever this season: “Why not 20 seconds? Stupid idiots.”
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