He expressed his disappointment by saying that he was disappointed by “what could have been” and a potential triumph that he believed had been “unfairly” denied to him due to certain unfortunate qualifying circumstances.
But joy that his teammate Oscar Piastri had won the race, that Norris had contributed significantly to that triumph, and that McLaren had finished the day ahead of Red Bull in the manufacturers’ title.
With McLaren’s recent success and Red Bull’s dramatic fall from grace, this may seem like a long time coming, but it’s a seismic development nonetheless.
Since the opening race of 2014, McLaren has not led the constructors’ championship for more over ten years. Even that was an exception. At the beginning of that season, their car wasn’t competitive; they only did well enough in a race where faster cars broke down for various reasons.
Although McLaren scored more points than any other team in 2007, they were disqualified due to the’spy-gate’ issue. McLaren last won the constructors’ title in 1998.
Returning here has been a lengthy journey. Team Principal Andrea Stella provided a succinct summary of the accomplishment.
