Lando Norris believes it was "a perfect way to end the season" as he finished in sixth place and claimed the fastest lap point at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris arrived in the Emirates with seventh place guaranteed in the Drivers’ Standings and if all went to plan, McLaren were still in with a chance of finishing fourth overall in the Constructors’ Championship, however, they weren’t able to do so.
The Somerset star claimed nine points, whilst his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, in their final race together, added two points in his final race for the team, but it wasn’t enough and the team conceded fourth overall to Alpine.
Norris ended the season on 122 points, finishing as ‘the best of the rest,’ with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes claiming the top six spots and Max Verstappen winning his second World Championship in a row.
This weekend was strong for Norris and a complete qualifying performance, saw him start from seventh of the grid, which soon turned into sixth thanks to a solid start from the grid.
Sadly, he was soon overtaken by his close friend and now-F1 race winner George Russell, but his pace meant that he was comfortably in seventh and had enough time on either side to choose his strategy and hold his position in the top 10.
The Brit’s first pitstop saw him switch from medium tyres to hard tyres on Lap 15, reacting to Ocon’s pit stop, and soon enough, he returned to his position at the start of the race and was comfortably holding on to it.
Not much else happened for the Brit or the rest of the grid and it became a battle of strategy all throughout the pack, another 2.3-second stop saw him switch back to mediums, which added even more pace for Norris.
Two laps later, the fastest lap of the race was set by Norris on Lap 44 with a lap time of 1:28.391, which, as aforementioned, no one was able to match for the remaining 14 laps.
As the race neared its end, a piece of fortune fell into the McLaren drivers’ hands as Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire from the race with three laps to go, due to damage sustained from the opening laps of the race, and Norris moved up into sixth place.
At the end of the race, Norris stated his happiness with the end to the season: “P6 and a fastest lap, the perfect way to end a season. It was a tough race, I wasn’t far away from getting overtaken at the end, but we timed it well.
"We’ve always struggled a bit more with degradation, especially on a circuit which is front-limited, comparing to other teams, so we knew this was going to be a tough one. I tried to build a good gap, knowing this was going to be the case and we ended with a P6 and a P9 for Daniel.”
He handed praise to the team by adding: “A good double-points finish and a perfect way to end the season, motivate the team and end with some good points. I’m very happy, the team did a great job.”
Norris will undoubtedly treat himself to a small break now after having a terrific season. Still, he will also be looking forward to next season, as he welcomes Oscar Piastri as his new McLaren teammate for the 2023 season.
