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A crucial pit stop that won McLaren the constructors' world title

F1. McLaren was just seven tenths of a second away from losing the Formula 1 Constructors' Championship. Zak Brown looks back on the pit stop that won McLaren the constructors' world title.

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McLaren made a decisive stop during the Abu Dhabi race.
© Motors Inside / McLaren made a decisive stop during the Abu Dhabi race.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown claims that his team would have lost the F1 Constructors' Championship to Ferrari, without a lightning-fast pit stop.

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Lando Norris's victory at the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi offered McLaren its ninth constructors' title, the first since 1998.

Under immense pressure, Lando Norris managed to keep his cool, especially after his teammate Oscar Piastri was hit by Max Verstappen at the first corner. He withstood the attacks from both Ferrari drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, without making any mistakes.

With this fourth victory of the season, the Briton secured a final gap of 14 points that sealed the title in favor of McLaren, putting Ferrari out of reach.

The performance of the McLaren pit crew was also crucial, executing a critical two-second stop when Lando Norris pitted after Carlos Sainz, who was closing the gap with fresher tires. With only 5.8 seconds lead at the finish, the tight margins during the pit stops played a key role.

A crucial stop

Zak Brown praised the pit crew's achievement under pressure. "I wouldn't have wanted to be in the pit crew that had to deliver a two-second stop, and they did it," said the McLaren boss on the High Performance podcast.

« That's what you call handling the pressure. Of course, the season consists of 24 races, but you could say we were seven-tenths away from losing the championship. Because Lando came out with a 1.6 or 1.7-second lead over Carlos, who was fast. And with dirty air, even if Lando still had a bit of margin, if he had been in the DRS zone, I don't think we could have defended. The Ferrari is very fast on the straights, and Lando would have been penalized by the dirty air. Imagine: Carlos does a 2.2-second stop, and you know you have to do better. What pressure. They rose to the challenge, executed the best stop of the race, and that's what the team has done all year. It's incredible. »

Zak Brown insisted on the importance for McLaren to treat the season finale like any other race, despite the championship stakes. "It must remain a race like any other. It's easy to say, and of course, it's not entirely true: everyone knows it's not a race like the others," he explained.

« Many people have asked me, 'What are you going to do differently for this race or the past races?' I think you have to keep doing what got you to where you are. As soon as you start changing your approach, it's like you're questioning everything: wait a minute, we've had excellent stops all year, we hold the world record, we don't need to remind them what's at stake. I think they already knew that. »

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