Twenty-six years after their final triumph in 1998, the constructors’ championship is as soon as once more painted in McLaren’s colours. An extended-awaited success rooted in additional than simply the previous two years, throughout which the Woking crew went from battling to keep away from the again rows to changing into the grid’s benchmark. Behind the group that introduced McLaren again to the highest are additionally investments made throughout more difficult occasions.
On this context, there was no higher option to seal the title than with a dominant victory, confirming the competitiveness already glimpsed on Friday and Saturday. Their superiority by no means really put Norris’s win in danger, a crucial issue within the championship combat, as a Ferrari triumph would have modified the standings, particularly after Oscar Piastri’s accident.
Within the crucial second, with the stress of the outcome on his shoulders, Lando Norris delivered. However maybe it’s extra correct to say the whole McLaren crew held agency, closing out a race that, at key moments, might have taken a unique course. Underpinning this victory and superiority had been decisions made even earlier than the race.
The 4 seconds within the first stint that modified the race
After sustaining the lead firstly, Norris instantly tried to drag away from Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, which had moved as much as second, constructing a roughly two-second benefit by the point the Digital Security Automobile was deployed. This hole was partly because of Sainz reacting to the Piastri-Verstappen collision and partly to McLaren’s effectivity in shortly getting the tires into their optimum working window.
Trying on the knowledge, nonetheless, that Digital Security Automobile modified the dynamics extra considerably than it’d seem. Throughout that neutralized lap, Lando Norris truly prolonged his lead by one other second, pushing it above three seconds—a security margin that proved essential within the first stint, arguably the race’s most crucial section.
Norris progressively widened the hole to 4 seconds by round lap 20, not less than till the tires started exhibiting indicators of graining and put on. Whereas Carlos Sainz maintained steadier lap occasions, Norris skilled a sharper decline, managing the stability between points on the entrance proper tire and the everyday rear tire degradation, a crucial consider Abu Dhabi.
It’s no secret that all through the 2024 Method 1 season, when rear tires overheated and confirmed indicators of damage—particularly with softer compounds and fewer aerodynamically loaded setups—the MCL38 confronted some challenges. It was within the lodge part the place Norris started dropping floor in comparison with earlier lap occasions, permitting Carlos Sainz to begin slowly closing the hole.
The selection of wings in the end paid off
For this occasion, McLaren chosen two completely different rear wings: a medium-downforce model and a a lot higher-downforce one, which was solely utilized by Hirakawa throughout the rookie session in FP1. The crew opted for the lower-downforce model, though Norris talked about after qualifying that this alternative had compromised their qualifying efficiency because of a much less efficient DRS in comparison with rivals. This was confirmed by the info, exhibiting a big pace distinction in single-lap efficiency.
Nevertheless, McLaren believed it was the perfect alternative, balancing prime pace with cornering grip. “We expect it’s the appropriate wing, hanging a stability between straight-line pace and cornering grip. I imagine Lando is referring to the truth that we’re seeing a DRS pace deficit, which we didn’t essentially anticipate and are investigating. After all, DRS effectiveness isn’t the only design parameter, as aiming for greater DRS effectiveness would possibly lead to a much less environment friendly wing,” defined Group Principal Andrea Stella.
Certainly, throughout the race, prime speeds with out DRS open leveled out. It’s evident McLaren needed to discover what they thought-about one of the best stability between these points, as they couldn’t afford the higher-downforce wing. Paradoxically, this grew to become one of many key components in McLaren’s victory, because the tire degradation throughout the second stint was extraordinarily managed, offsetting the grip deficit skilled on the finish of the primary stint.
Good pit cease and low degradation
Returning to the primary stint, one crucial second was the pit cease on the finish of lap 20. Regardless of gaining floor on the McLaren, it was Ferrari that made the primary transfer by pitting Sainz.
The probably thought was to use stress, hoping a pit cease situation would possibly trigger Norris to emerge behind Russell, who had a marginal window on the time of Sainz’s cease. Nevertheless, not solely did Norris prolong his lead throughout his in-lap, placing himself out of Russell’s attain—who additionally ultimately pitted—however McLaren additionally delivered the quickest pit cease of the race, taking simply over two seconds.
These two elements ensured Norris rejoined forward of Sainz with a 1.5-second lead, permitting him to handle the scenario extra successfully. Had the hole been smaller, Ferrari might have utilized extra stress, however this small but vital margin enabled Norris to protect his entrance tires throughout the opening laps of the stint, notably in turns 3 and 9. This initially allowed Sainz to remain shut.
Nevertheless, as soon as Lando Norris was given the inexperienced gentle to push, his tempo improved considerably, extending his result in seven seconds. This conservative method, mixed with the mechanical resilience of the arduous tires—exhibiting very low degradation—allowed Norris to push with out main limitations all through many of the second stint. This reversed the problems seen on the finish of the primary stint. The lowered rear tire put on allowed him to keep up tempo within the remaining sector, the place many of the hole was constructed.
As Frederic Vasseur defined, Ferrari had anticipated a higher-degradation race, hoping to shut in throughout the latter a part of the stint. Nevertheless, with lowered tire put on, this technique didn’t favor the Scuderia, which is often mild on tires: “We anticipated to stress Norris on the finish of the race, anticipating greater degradation, nevertheless it didn’t occur. We additionally knew the tempo delta between stints with McLaren was round a tenth, which wasn’t sufficient to overhaul. It got here right down to degradation in direction of the tip of the stint, nevertheless it simply wasn’t there.”
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