McLaren left the Abu Dhabi GP as the ultimate winners as they were crowned Constructors’ Champions, thanks to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri behind the wheel.
After an intense battle with Ferrari for the title, McLaren ended the season with the trophy for the first time since 1998. They were thrown out of the 2007 standings due to Spygate.
Norris was the star of the weekend as he won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole, solidifying the team’s win.
However, it wasn’t the same story for his teammate Oscar Piastri who had a much tougher race in the McLaren.
Lap 1 contact with Verstappen
Piastri completed the front row in qualifying alongside McLaren teammate Norris and started P2 on the grid.
While Norris had a strong start, Piastri found himself in a battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The two made contact, resulting in both cars spinning and rejoining towards or at the back of the field. Verstappen was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision as his late lunge did not pay off.
The Dutchman apologised right after the race.
When asked whether he believed he left Verstappen enough space, Piastri says the penalty does all the talking.
“Yes, I think for me, there was no overlapping into the corner. Max had apologised and the penalty speaks for itself.”
As for his thought process after it happened?
“This sucks.
“Obviously, at that point, I knew I needed to try and get my way back through. I knew it was going to be tough.
“Once I had to come together with Colapinto, that was pretty much the nail in the coffin for my race.”
Difficult race
A few laps later, Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty of his own.
The driver from Melbourne had hit the back of Williams’ Franco Colapinto after the VSC period ended, resulting in a punctured tyre for the Argentine driver.
“Pretty miserable was the first few laps. Obviously, Turn 1 was what it was.
“I think on the restart with Franco, I need to look at it back. I think I misjudged where everyone was going to brake.
“There were a lot of moves going on towards the braking zone. I think I just got it wrong.
“That set me up for a pretty tough race and a tough evening.”
Celebrations for McLaren
Despite his difficult race where he ultimately finished in P10, Piastri said that he couldn’t be prouder about McLaren taking home the title.
“In the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t really matter at the moment. I’m just very proud of the whole team and what we’ve been able to achieve.
“Not the best way to end off the season for myself, but for the team, it couldn’t have obviously been any better.
“I’ll definitely ride the high of that and have a good off-season, like I’m sure the rest of the team will, and make sure we come out strong next year.”
Letting it sink in
Despite having won multiple Championships in his junior days, Piastri says the team’s victory will take some time to sink in.
For now, he plans on celebrating with the team and soaking it in when the team comes together at Woking.
He even joked about protecting himself from McLaren CEO Zak Brown’s excitement.
“I’m sure it will take a little bit to sink in, as my own personal victories often take time to sink in.
“I think the junior championships I won, they didn’t sink in until sometimes days or weeks later. I’m sure this is going to be a similar thing.
“I’ve not seen many people from the team.The three or four people I have seen have been very happy.
“My ribs are healed up now, but I might stay away from Zak in case he hugs me pretty tight. I’m sure once I go back and see everybody, it will really start to sink in.
“I’m sure once we see everybody in the factory and see the smile on everyone’s face, it will really start to sink in.
“As drivers, obviously we have our eyes very firmly set on becoming Drivers’ World Champions, but it’s also very clear how much the Constructors’ Championship means.
“I think when we get to celebrate that with the hundreds and thousands of people back at McLaren together with Mercedes-HPP, that’s when it will really sink in and the sense of pride will be there.”
Aiming to address qualifying
The 2-time race winner now has his eyes set on the Drivers’ Championship next season.
He pointed out that he faces the most problems in qualifying and consistently putting it together, although he feels he’s made progress in many areas this campaign, such as tyre management in Grands Prix.
On a Saturday in 2024, Piastri was beaten 4-20 by McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
A trend he needs to reverse in 2025 to have any chance of beating the Brit over a season.
“I think this season I feel like I’ve made some good steps forward. There’s still room to go.
“The biggest one has been leaving a few too many positions on the table in qualifying. I don’t think I’ve ever really made life easy for myself in the races in that aspect.
“So I think that’s definitely the big focus of the off-season, just trying to get those last hundredths, last tenths.
“Because I feel like in all the other areas I’ve been able to show what I’m capable of and also show that I’ve improved from my rookie season.
“So again, I feel like it’s now just putting everything together because I feel like the gaps now are very, very small or non-existent.
“It’s just that if I can get it all together then I’ll be on my way, I think.”
Knowing where to improve
The gap between Piastri and Norris tended to be close on the vast majority of weekends, usually ending up with the British driver ahead.
Piastri is confident he knows where he needs to make that last step in qualifying to properly put his teammate under the pump, starting in his home city of Melbourne next year.
“I think so, yes.
“The big thing for me is that there’s not been many occasions where it’s been hard for me to understand where the time’s gone.
“After qualifying yesterday I pretty much knew immediately where it had gone wrong.
“Again, it’s not a case of really needing to find that extra step, it’s being able to just be on top of my game every time, because I feel like when I have been on it, I’ve been good enough.
“That’s not to say there’s still room to go on top of that, but I think the encouraging thing is the potential been there.
“So the next step is realising that potential and realising it every weekend, and I think if I can do that then we’re in for a fun season.”
