It speaks volumes for McLaren’s dramatic improvement this year that Lando Norris left the mixed zone after qualifying in Abu Dhabi on Saturday absolutely furious with himself, bemoaning a “stupid mistake” on his final lap which left him fifth on the grid for Sunday’s season-ending grand prix.
“I’m just doing a s--- job on a Saturday,” Norris fumed as he stalked off. “It was a terrible day for me today.”
What Norris and McLaren would have done for such a ‘terrible’ day at the start of this season. Eight months ago, Norris qualified 11th and finished 17th at the season-opener in Bahrain, two laps down on winner Max Verstappen.
His team-mate Oscar Piastri, in his first ever Formula One grand prix, qualified 18th and retired after 13 laps with an electrical failure.
The Australian rookie, who bounced back from that ignominious debut to emerge as one of the best stories of the season, will start third on the grid in Abu Dhabi after managing to put together a slightly cleaner final lap than Norris, albeit still not a perfect one.
It has been one hell of a recovery from McLaren. Regardless of what happens in Sunday’s race – and no one really knows what to expect as practice has been so stop-start – they will head into the winter buoyant.
New team principal Andrea Stella appears to have galvanised the workforce at Woking, the new wind tunnel and simulator are about to give the team a further shot in the arm, Rob Marshall will arrive in the new year as the technical director armed with a dossier full of Red Bull IP, and chief executive Zak Brown reckons he has “the strongest driver line-up on the grid”.
At an informal brunch with the media in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, the American was full of the joys of spring, praising his drivers, praising Stella (who he described as “The Swan... a nice guy cruising above the water, but underneath he’s paddling fast”) and looking ahead with optimism to 2024.
“It’s pretty hard to say ‘We’re going to be better than Ferrari or Mercedes or whoever’,” Brown replied when asked whether he felt McLaren could be ‘best of the rest’ next year. “But I would be disappointed if we’re not at the sharp end of the field challenging for race wins. I would be disappointed if we’re not as competitive as we are now. And more.”
Compare and contrast with the mood over at Mercedes. The Brackley team are fighting Ferrari for second in the constructors’ championship out here in Abu Dhabi, while McLaren are fighting Aston Martin for fourth. But you would never guess it from the respective body language.
Like Norris, Lewis Hamilton was also thoroughly fed up post-qualifying. But for totally different reasons. His 11th on the grid was the best he could manage and the seven-time world champion admitted afterwards he could not wait to be shot of the W14.
“It is just a very unpredictable car and it has been all year,” Hamilton said. “I am definitely happy it is nearly over. It is more inconsistent than ever. It is up and down from the moment you hit the brakes, the moment you turn, the moment you hit the apex, it is massively out of balance and hard to predict what is going to happen.”
That Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell was able to put his car fourth on the grid only left the older driver even more perplexed. “We set our cars up the same, but they don’t read the same so there is something not right on our side,” Hamilton said. “I am sure we will have a deep dive into it but I have been off all weekend and struggled. Eleventh… it takes some going for me not to get into Q3.”
There were no prizes for guessing who took pole, of course. It was Verstappen’s fourth pole in a row in Abu Dhabi and the reigning world champion will be aiming to complete his 19th win in 22 races on Sunday.
Despite a messy build-up, which had convinced Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko to bet team principal Christian Horner €500 that the Dutchman would not make the front row, this one was never really in doubt. “I think Helmut learnt his lesson – never bet against me!” Verstappen chuckled afterwards.
It has been an extraordinary, record-breaking season for the Dutch driver and for Red Bull. But behind them, there are encouraging signs. The top nine drivers in Q2 in Abu Dhabi were all within four tenths of a second of each other. There were eight different constructors in the top 10 shootout. Mercedes will finally move to their new car concept. And perhaps most encouraging of all, Norris was furious with himself for taking P5 in qualifying. Was he being too harsh on himself given where McLaren started this year, he was asked. “Not at all,” he shot back. “I was fighting for P2 and I end up P5 because of a stupid mistake. I’m too soft on myself.” It bodes well.