F1 | Abu Dhabi GP | Lando Norris: ‘’A perfect day for us’’
A strong weekend for Norris and McLaren as they sealed third in the Constructors’ Championship.
Lando Norris paid tribute to departing teammate Carlos Sainz as the McLaren duo delivered today to lead McLaren to third in the Constructors’ Championship. The Brit believes the close relationship with his Spanish teammate was a key factor in achieving this result.
“One of most important things in achieving P3 this year was the combination of good mates and good friendship but also how much we are competitive and how much we want to beat each other,” said Norris. “When you put both of them together, it’s the perfect combination to get P3.
“There have been a lot of races this year where we have executed things well as a team. Between us, we have scored much better results because of that. That’s because I respect Carlos, he respects me and we wanted to do the best job for the team. Today demonstrated that perfectly.
“Of course I’ll miss him. We have had a lot of good moments together and fun times and a pleasure to learn from him.”
Norris started 4th after an excellent qualifying performance. He managed to hold off Alex Albon in the first few laps before the superior pace of the Red Bull told on lap six.
From there, it was a pretty comfortable day for the Brit as he ran in P6, but that was always going to be 5th when Daniel Ricciardo made his only stop. He cruised home in P5 as McLaren took 3rd in the teams’ standings.
The 21-year-old finished 9th in the championship, a single point behind Charles Leclerc.
“It was a perfect day for us, everything went to plan,” said Norris. “We were maybe a little bit lucky with one of the Racing Points not finishing but in terms of our result with P5 and P6 we did everything we could – we couldn’t have done anymore.
“I’m happy, I’m proud of the team. We kept working very hard. I don’t know, was a perfect race and gives us a much better opportunity going into the future to do even better, so very happy.”
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P3 in the 2020 Constructors’ World Championship. 🤝
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 13, 2020
Enjoy this one, team. 🧡#AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/XaxG9RE6vW
Good results always feel even better when you're celebrating with an awesome team around you. 🧡#AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/GAsbWfoPOB
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 13, 2020
WHEEEEEEEYYYYYY! 🥳#AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/yN0STOHDeg
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 13, 2020
