Max Verstappen took his third straight win at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday evening, but even that dominant performance was not enough to stop Lando Norris from becoming Formula 1 World Champion for the first time and the 35th to do so in the whole history. Norris finished third, and that result allowed him to “steal the four-time World Champion’s crown by two points” after 24 demanding rounds. When he climbed out of the car in parc ferme, he was overwhelmed, admitting, “Oh god, I’ve not cried in a while.”

Norris spoke openly about what the moment meant to him, starting with a message for the team and his family. “I didn’t think I’d cry but I did. It’s a long journey; it’s a long journey. First of all, I want to say a big thanks to my guys, everyone at McLaren, my parents. I’m not crying. Yeah, my mom, my dad. You know, they’re the ones who supported me since the beginning, so. I look like a loser.”

He reflected on the long road that brought him here, from joining the McLaren young driver programme in 2017 to making his debut in 2019. “I mean, look, it’s been a long journey with me and McLaren. I’ve been with them for like nine years and we’ve been through plenty of crazy difficult times and plenty of good times.”

He said he was proud to finally bring a Drivers’ title back to the team, adding: “So, for me to feel like I can bring something back to them, you know, it’s their first Drivers’ [title] in many, many years. I feel like I did my part for the team this year and I’m very proud of myself for that but I’m even more proud for everyone that I’ve hopefully made cry.”

The title fight had been intense. Oscar Piastri led the championship for 15 consecutive rounds before Norris retook the lead in Mexico. Verstappen fought back with a relentless run after the summer break, cutting a 104-point deficit with wins in Monza, Baku, Austin, Las Vegas and Qatar.

Norris admitted the strength of his rivals pushed him harder than ever, saying: “I now know what Max feels like a little bit and I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors the whole season. It’s been a pleasure to race against both of them. It’s been an honour. I’ve learned a lot from both of them as well, so I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a long year but we did it. We did it and I’m so proud of everyone. It’s been an incredible season.”

Norris still had work to do in Abu Dhabi. He lost a place to Piastri at the start and had Charles Leclerc attacking him early on. Red Bull tried to help Verstappen by instructing Yuki Tsunoda to delay Norris, which led to Tsunoda weaving and pushing him off the track. Norris completed the move with all four wheels outside the white lines and was placed under investigation. Later, he said he had not been worried: “I had no idea. I didn’t care. I mean, I knew what I did was fine so I had nothing to worry about. I was just trying to enjoy the moment, you know.”

He then added how special the moment felt after so many years of effort. “There’s not many people in the world, not many people in Formula 1 ever get to experience what I’ve experienced this season and this year, so I’m happy for everyone. I’m happy for everyone more than me, but I’m just crazy happy.”

Even though third place was enough for the title, Norris explained he pushed until the closing laps because anything can happen. “I just knew it’s a long race. At the very end, you know, anything we see many times, anything can happen,” he said. “I just kept pushing until the last two or three laps. I could ease it off a bit but I still wanted to fight to the end and that’s what we did. That’s what we had to do this season, you know, for Max chasing us the whole way, for Oscar catching up again at the end. They certainly didn’t make my life easy this year, but yeah, I’m happy.”