December 07, (THEWILL) — Lando Norris has claimed his first Formula 1 world championship after finishing third at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The McLaren driver entered the decisive race needing only a top-three finish to guarantee the title, ultimately prevailing by a margin of two points over Max Verstappen.
The 26-year-old’s path to glory proved far from straightforward. By late August, following the Dutch Grand Prix, Norris trailed teammate Oscar Piastri by 34 points due to reliability problems and his own inconsistency.
However, he mounted a remarkable recovery over the final nine rounds, winning six consecutive races whilst Piastri’s form wavered, allowing him to take the championship lead in Mexico.
Late-season setbacks threatened to derail his campaign. A disqualification in Las Vegas, caused by a technical infringement affecting both McLaren drivers, handed victory to Verstappen and reignited the title fight.
Strategic errors in Qatar further tightened the contest, leaving Norris just 12 points clear heading into Abu Dhabi.
Despite Verstappen taking pole position for the final race and Piastri overtaking him at the start, Norris maintained composure under pressure from Charles Leclerc to secure the necessary third place.
The result ended McLaren’s 17-year wait for a driver’s champion, with Norris becoming the team’s eighth title winner after Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
Norris joins an elite group including Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and Mika Hakkinen in McLaren’s championship roll of honour.
He becomes the 11th British driver to win the title and the first since Jenson Button in 2009 not named Hamilton.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
