The “impressive” Sainz effort that had Norris doubting Abu Dhabi win was McLaren’s

It stank of champagne. The entrance to the McLaren pit garage, barely 20 minutes after Lando Norris had won the 2024 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi season finale. His fourth win sealed the orange team’s first constructors’ crown since 1998 and it fittingly smelled just as Norris himself had done as he’d bounced into the press conference after taking his maiden triumph back in May’s Miami Grand Prix.

So much had happened since. Both Norris and McLaren became title contenders – the former for the first time at this level, the latter for the first time in a generation. Both made mistakes, both learned and rebounded convincingly.