The long road to victory

The road was rocky, and rife with twists and turns, but it ultimately led Lando Norris to his desired destination in Abu Dhabi on Sunday — the summit of Formula One.

Norris' title heroics were as much down to his flair and fighting spirit as it was a tale of two teammates.

Throughout this long and draining 24-race campaign the pendulum of power swung between Norris and Oscar Piastri, his McLaren teammate.

Add in deposed four-time champion Max Verstappen's remarkable late fightback, and it produced a title skirmish for the ages.

A white-knuckle ride that kept F1 fans enthralled and tested the limits of the resurgent McLaren's 'papaya rules' of allowing their two gifted drivers to race unencumbered by team orders.

For much of the year, the calm and collected Piastri appeared to hold the upper hand.

Nothing seemed to faze the Australian, and a three-win streak in Bahrain, Jeddah and Miami suggested the title was his to lose.

For Norris, 26, this was a painful period.

Unlike Piastri, he wore his heart on his sleeve, publicly berating himself for the slightest error as he sought to achieve perfection.

By the time the F1 circus pitched up in Monaco, a cooler, more detached and less self-critical Norris nailed a track-record lap for pole and a first win in the Principality.

He shrugged off a DNF after crashing into Piastri in Canada with wins in Austria, Silverstone and Hungary.

An avid golfer, Norris' title ambitions looked lost in F1's long rough at Zandvoort, after a breakdown in the Dutch Grand Prix left him trailing Piastri by a massive 34 points.

The expectation as 'champion-in-waiting' then appeared to weigh heavy on Piastri.

He suffered an opening lap crash in Baku after a "silly error", as the air of invincibility appeared to desert the young Aussie.

McLaren wrapped up its second successive constructors' title in Singapore, but that feat was overshadowed as the friendly, but feisty, relationship between its two drivers boiled over, sparks flying on the streets of Singapore as the wheels of the dueling duo collided.

"So are we cool with Lando just barging me out of the way there?" Piastri complained.

For the first time since April, Norris regained the championship initiative by a single point in Mexico, followed by a perfect sprint/race performance from pole in Brazil.

McLaren's dramatic double disqualification in Las Vegas opened the title door for Verstappen, who won in Qatar in the penultimate round, before Norris sealed the deal by making the podium at Yas Marina, denying Verstappen by a mere two points.

AFP