McLaren clinched their first Constructors’ Championship in 26 years when Lando Norris crossed the line to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris, McLaren CEO Zak Brown, team principal Andrea Stella, and Oscar Piastri collected the trophy presented to them at the FIA Prize Giving Gala in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Constructors’ title has marked a turning point for McLaren and is quite a remarkable turnaround for the team, considering they started the 2023 season with car that was one of the slowest and unreliable.
A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to improve their fortunes, while McLaren has also poached the right people from rival teams such as Red Bull.
The 2024 season is their ninth F1 Constructors’ Championship, having last won it in 1998 when they had Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard driving for them. Taking to Instagram, a former F1 team boss has praised the team for the work they have done to get to this point.
Claire Williams congratulates McLaren on Constructors’ Championship
Former team principal Claire Williams has taken to social media to congratulate her ‘arch rivals’ McLaren on their achievement this year.
Williams was last involved in F1 as a team principal in 2020, before the sale of the team to US investment company Dorlton Captial midway through the season.
Both teams have a history of battling it out on track, notably throughout the 1990s when it was Ayrton Senna versus Alan Prost and Nigel Mansell. Williams praised McLaren for their turnaround in the last couple of years, having now become one of the fastest teams on the grid.
“A massive congratulations to @zbrownceo and everyone at @mclaren for their Constructors’ Championship victory,” said Williams.
“They may have been our arch rivals at Williams for many years, but I am so happy to see a team that was once in a difficult place rise up to lift the Constructors’ trophy once again. What Zak and everyone at Woking has achieved is nothing short of extraordinary, and it just goes to show hard work, passion and never giving up all pay off in the end!”
Lando Norris achieved something Lewis Hamilton could not at McLaren
McLaren was last close to winning a Constructors’ Championship in 2007, when they had both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso driving for them.
McLaren was in a tight battle with Ferrari, but their efforts would later be disqualified by the FIA over the Spygate scandal. The team had all of its 218 points wiped, which would have sealed them the title ahead of Ferrari, along with receiving a hefty fine of over £50 million.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration
It also denied Hamilton the chance to take a Constructors’ Championship with the team, something he would not go on to do over the next five years at the team.
Having achieved this feat, Norris has also managed to do something else Hamilton could not while at McLaren; achieving eight poles in a season.
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