Ferrari piled on the pressure as Charles Leclerc produced a stunning recovery drive to join Carlos Sainz on the podium, but Lando Norris' win was enough to secure glory for McLaren
Lando Norris banished the pain of his failed driver' title bid with a constructors' championship-clinching drive to victory at Yas Marina. Oscar Piastri had his race ruined by Max Verstappen at the first corner, leaving it all on Norris to get the job done for McLaren.
And their rivals Ferrari piled on the pressure with Carlos Sainz on his tail and Charles Leclerc racing from 19th on the grid to finish third. But McLaren nailed their pit stops and their driver took care of the rest, managing the pace superbly to ensure a first constructors' title for the team since 1998. George Russell finished fourth, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton who also did well to race from 16th on the grid up to fifth on his farewell appearance for Mercedes. Elsewhere, there was joy for Alpine as they secured sixth place in the standings with another impressive Pierre Gasly performance. The Frenchman finished seventh, one place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who drove superbly all weekend but it wasn't quite enough for Haas. A dramatic start saw Verstappen attempt to lunge up the inside of Piastri only to understeer into the side of the McLaren, spinning both cars around. They got going again but the Dutchman was slapped with a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. That was the punishment of choice when it came to the stewards' adjudication of the early stages of the race. It was what Valtteri Bottas received when he tagged the back of Sergio Perez, sending him out of what looks likely to be his final race as a Red Bull driver. And soon Piastri got on the wrong side of the stewards himself and was forced to wait in his pit box for 10 seconds on his visit to the pits after hitting into the back of Franco Colapinto's Williams under the virtual safety car. Also having a tough time was Hamilton who, shortly after being overtaken by the RB of Liam Lawson, reported over the radio: "I've got no pace mate, got no pace." The same was certainly not true for Leclerc, who was a man on a mission. A grid penalty meant he started 19th and he needed to make it to the podium for Ferrari to have any realistic chance of the title. He was driving like a man possessed and, by lap eight, was already up to seventh and chasing down those ahead. Sainz was also doing a good job of staying close to Norris but none of it mattered as long as the Brit was in the lead of the race. McLaren had suffered misfortune with Piastri being knocked down the order but knew that, as long as their other driver finished ahead of the Ferraris, they would win the title. Leclerc's remarkable recovery continued and he was third behind Sainz by lap 35 of 58, heaping the pressure on Norris. If he were to make a mistake, the two red cars were right there to make the most of it. And there was beginning to be more joy for Ferrari's next driver, too, after Hamilton switched from the hard tyres to the mediums. Cooling track temperatures helped them to be more effective than they had been earlier in the race and, having started 16th, he was up to sixth by lap 42 and all over the gearbox of Pierre Gasly's Alpine.
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