Twenty-six years after their final triumph in 1998, the constructors’ championship is as soon as once more painted in McLaren’s colours. A protracted-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 tougher 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 vital issue within the championship struggle, as a Ferrari triumph would have modified the standings, particularly after Oscar Piastri’s accident.
Within the vital second, with the strain of the consequence 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 path. Underpinning this victory and superiority had been selections 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 tug 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 as a consequence of Sainz reacting to the Piastri-Verstappen collision and partly to McLaren’s effectivity in shortly getting the tires into their optimum working window.
Wanting on the knowledge, nonetheless, that Digital Security Automobile modified the dynamics extra considerably than it’d seem. Throughout that neutralized lap, Lando Norris really 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, at the least till the tires started displaying 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 standard rear tire degradation, a vital consider Abu Dhabi.
It’s no secret that all through the 2024 Components 1 season, when rear tires overheated and confirmed indicators of wear and tear—particularly with softer compounds and fewer aerodynamically loaded setups—the MCL38 confronted some challenges. It was within the lodge part the place Norris started shedding 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 through the rookie session in FP1. The crew opted for the lower-downforce model, though Norris talked about after qualifying that this selection had compromised their qualifying efficiency as a consequence of a much less efficient DRS in comparison with rivals. This was confirmed by the information, displaying a big velocity distinction in single-lap efficiency.
Nonetheless, McLaren believed it was the perfect selection, balancing prime velocity with cornering grip. “We expect it’s the fitting wing, putting a stability between straight-line velocity and cornering grip. I imagine Lando is referring to the truth that we’re seeing a DRS velocity deficit, which we didn’t essentially anticipate and are investigating. In fact, DRS effectiveness isn’t the only design parameter, as aiming for increased DRS effectiveness may lead to a much less environment friendly wing,” defined Group Principal Andrea Stella.
Certainly, through the race, prime speeds with out DRS open leveled out. It’s evident McLaren needed to discover what they thought of the very best stability between these features, as they couldn’t afford the higher-downforce wing. Paradoxically, this turned one of many key components in McLaren’s victory, because the tire degradation through the second stint was extraordinarily managed, offsetting the grip deficit skilled on the finish of the primary stint.
Excellent pit cease and low degradation
Returning to the primary stint, one vital 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 concept was to use strain, hoping a pit cease concern may trigger Norris to emerge behind Russell, who had a marginal window on the time of Sainz’s cease. Nonetheless, not solely did Norris lengthen his lead throughout his in-lap, placing himself out of Russell’s attain—who additionally finally pitted—however McLaren additionally delivered the quickest pit cease of the race, taking simply over two seconds.
These two components ensured Norris rejoined forward of Sainz with a 1.5-second lead, permitting him to handle the state of affairs extra successfully. Had the hole been smaller, Ferrari might have utilized extra strain, however this small but vital margin enabled Norris to protect his entrance tires through the opening laps of the stint, notably in turns 3 and 9. This initially allowed Sainz to remain shut.
Nonetheless, as soon as Lando Norris was given the inexperienced gentle to push, his tempo improved considerably, extending his result in seven seconds. This conservative strategy, mixed with the mechanical resilience of the laborious 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 diminished 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 through the latter a part of the stint. Nonetheless, with diminished tire put on, this technique didn’t favor the Scuderia, which is usually light on tires: “We anticipated to strain Norris on the finish of the race, anticipating increased 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 the direction of the tip of the stint, nevertheless it simply wasn’t there.”
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