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ABU DHABI: McLaren’s 26-year wait for a Formula 1 constructors’ title could soon be over. Lewis Hamilton’s time with Mercedes is set to end on a low.
Lando Norris took pole position for the last Formula 1 race of the season Saturday alongside teammate Oscar Piastri to put McLaren on the verge of winning the lucrative prize for teams for the first time since 1998.
While Norris couldn’t stop Max Verstappen retaining the drivers’ title, he said winning the constructors’ championship with McLaren means a lot.
“It was hard just to break that barrier of getting close to Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, because for such a long period of time they’ve been the guys who have dominated Formula 1,” he said.
Norris has been with McLaren since his F1 debut in 2019 and didn’t win a race until this year. He said Saturday that he’d had offers over that time from teams that could have given him a shot at winning races earlier, but he wanted to stay and turn around McLaren, one of F1’s most storied teams.
“I had those opportunities, but I believed and I wanted to simply do it with McLaren. I wanted to do it with the guys who gave me my opportunity in Formula 1,” he said.
Norris’ last lap made him .209 of a second faster than Piastri, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. .020 further back. Nico Hulkenberg was a surprise fourth for Haas — but later got a three-place grid penalty for overtaking in the pit exit tunnel — and champion Max Verstappen fifth.
Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc was 14th in the second part of qualifying and already has a 10-place grid penalty, likely ending Ferrari’s hopes of overhauling McLaren’s 21-point lead in the constructors’ standings.
It was always a “mission impossible” for Ferrari to win the title even before Leclerc hit problems, Sainz said, “but until the checkered flag comes down tomorrow, anything can happen and I’m going to keep fighting for whatever comes.”
The constructors’ title comes with a big financial reward for teams. The prize money varies but is typically worth around $140 million.
Hamilton’s misfortune
Seven-time F1 champion Hamilton is set to start his last race with Mercedes from 18th on the grid after a bizarre incident wrecked his final qualifying lap.
A plastic pole marking the inside of a corner was knocked loose by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Hamilton drove over it, leaving the object jammed under his Mercedes.
Hamilton was already among the slowest in the first part of qualifying and he was eliminated shortly after.
“I messed that up big time, guys,” Hamilton told the team over the radio.
Hamilton is moving to Ferrari for 2025 after 12 years with Mercedes, where he won six drivers’ titles.
His 246th and last race with Mercedes comes in a season in which Hamilton has won twice — including an emotional victory at his home British Grand Prix — but also been frustrated by a run of poor results. Hamilton has been largely outclassed by his teammate George Russell in recent races and struggled with penalties and a puncture last week in Qatar.
The newest driver on the grid in Abu Dhabi, Alpine’s Jack Doohan, qualified last on debut after replacing Esteban Ocon ahead of a full season with Alpine next year.