McLaren Clinch First Constructor’s Championship Title Since 1998

Tonight, Abu Dhabi provided the perfect showcase for the end of the 2024 season in a race that had plenty of excitement from start to finish and even after the flag. Lando Norris took the win for McLaren, leading from lights out to the chequered flag, which was waved by the number one ranked tennis player in the world, Jannik Sinner. Also on the podium were the two Ferrari drivers, Carlos Sainz second ahead of Charles Leclerc, while the winner’s team-mate Oscar Piastri finished tenth. The result sees McLaren take the Constructors’ World Championship title, its ninth, which thus puts it second equal with Williams on the list of all time winners, behind Ferrari on 16. For the Woking-based squad it was their first title since 1998, even before Piastri and Norris were born!

For Norris it was career win number 4, while it is McLaren’s 189th from 970 Grands Prix entered. Piastri avoided being lapped by his team-mate and is thus the only driver this season to have completed 100% of the total laps (1444) and kilometres (7314) of the 24 Grands Prix this season.

Ferrari finished second in the Constructors’ championship, with the most podium finishes (22) of the season, ahead of McLaren and Red Bull with 21 apiece.

Kevin Magnussen, who drove his last Formula 1 race today, set the fastest lap, the third time he has done so, following on from Singapore 2018 and 2019, all at the wheel of a Haas.

Red Bull finished the season third in the Constructors’ standings. It is the first time since 1983 that the team that took the Drivers’ title finished outside the top two in the Constructors’: on that occasion, Nelson Piquet was champion and his Brabham team finished third.

On the starting grid, 19 of the 20 drivers were on the Medium with only Hamilton opting for the Hard. The one-stop strategy proved to be quickest: of the top ten finishers, only Fernando Alonso (eighth for Aston Martin) made a two-stop work. Piastri also pitted twice but that was as a result of a collision with Verstappen at the first corner on the opening lap.

The longest stint overall was delivered by two specialists in this field, namely Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg, who did 45 laps on a set of Hards. As for the Medium, the prize goes to Max Verstappen, who split his race exactly in two, doing 29 laps on the C4 followed by the same number on the C3.

The C5’s appearance in the race came courtesy of Magnussen, who clearly only fitted it in order to set the fastest race lap, which he did both on his first set, used for a total of 25 laps and then on the second, fitted just for the last two laps.

Lando Norris

“This feels incredible. The team have done an amazing job this season 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 with another race win is perfect. A big thank you goes to everyone at McLaren, everyone in papaya, everyone who supported us this year. It’s been tough, but for us to win the Constructors’ Championship after 26 years is pretty special. I’ve learned a lot from this year, from the team and from competitors around me. I’m excited to get next year going.”

Oscar Piastri

“We did it! I am so incredibly happy for the team. Whilst it was a tough race, we managed to seal the Constructors’ Championship and that means more than anything for everyone.

“I want to thank every single person at McLaren for what they’ve done for myself and Lando this year. We’ve had so many highs, and whilst there have also been lows, we kept pushing and it all culminated into today. I am so excited for the future with this team. We go again next year.”

Andrea Stella – McLaren Team Principal

“McLaren are the 2024 Constructors’ Championship winners. I’m incredibly proud of the entire team here, both trackside and back at the factory. It’s been 26 years since we’ve won the Championship. It’s a wonderful feeling this evening. Our work has paid off and we’ll be celebrating with everyone.

“I would like to give my thanks to each and everyone in the team for their hard work and dedication, and to our shareholders, partners and fans, for their unwavering support. I’d also like to thank our colleagues at HPP for the successful collaboration. It’s been a hard-fought Championship. Well done to Ferrari who drove a really good race today as well, and were great competitors. It won’t be long until we are head down into next year, but until then, we’ll make sure to take in every moment and celebrate our win.”

Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport

“First and foremost, congratulations to McLaren on winning the Constructors’ title and well done too to Ferrari for having pushed them all the way to the very end, which made for a very exciting finale, full of suspense to really entertain the fans.

“It was the best way possible to end a very busy season, the longest ever in Formula 1 history. For our part, we believe we met the expectations of the teams and the other major players in this sport, the FIA and Formula 1, who are our most important “customers”. We did it by providing a reliable and high-performance product, which also delivered the desired effect of unpredictable racing. In fact, it’s no coincidence that this season has been. Well balanced between races where a one-stop strategy worked best and those where a two-stop was more effective, thus meeting the objectives we had been set.

“As for today’s race, we saw less graining than during Friday free practice, and even then it had little impact on performance. Degradation was also very limited, so much so that the one-stop was clearly the most effective strategy, even with many different divisions of stint lengths. Verstappen for example stopped at exactly half-distance, while others like Gasly and Hulkenberg stopped very early and then managed to finish in the points. We still have one more task to complete this year. This coming Tuesday, we will be back on track here at Yas Marina for a very important collective test. All the teams will be able to evaluate five of the six compounds homologated for 2025, the exception being the C1 which is not suited to this track. Furthermore, we will be supplying 2024 tyres for the usual rookie end of season test.”