Currently sitting 21 points clear of Ferrari in the standings, McLaren are on the hunt for their first team title since 1998 in Abu Dhabi and have converted their practice pace to a one-two finish in qualifying.

After the session, Lando Norris said McLaren’s aim is “to beat Ferrari” but he added that “we want to do it in style and we want to win. I want to win, so we know what we have to do.”

Despite taking one-twos in practice, Norris had been cautious not to exaggerate McLaren’s pace or their advantage over Ferrari and commented that confirming the one-two in qualifying was “probably a little bit tougher than we were hoping for.”

“…We’ve been very quick all weekend so we’re pleased with a one-two, but it was just a bit trickier than what we would have liked. My lap in the end was strong, and just how we wanted to end today.”

Piastri echoed this saying, “We took a while to find our feet in qualifying, but we got there in the end,” referring to uncertainty around track limits on his first Q3 run where his lap was deleted then reinstated.

Lando Norris’ time of 1:22.595 put him 0.209s clear of his teammate Piastri. The quickest Ferrari of Carlos Sainz joined them in the top 3 with a lap time just two hundredths off Piastri’s. Charles Leclerc had a tougher session with his Q2 time being deleted for track limits at turn 1, meaning with his 10 place grid drop penalty he’ll start in P19 tomorrow.

With both drivers starting on the front row, McLaren are in the ideal position for their title ambitions, but perhaps also face pressure on the team orders side which have been an achilles’ heel for them over the season. Even so, team principal Andrea Stella doesn’t foresee any issues despite the drivers’ natural instincts to win.

“They always think like that,” he said. “Then at some stage in their career, you tell them, oh no, here is not about you guys winning. Here is about the team winning.”

“This will be the same conversation tomorrow.”

McLaren’s attitude to this title has generally been to treat every weekend the same, regardless of the gravity of the potential results or the pressure on the team. Even with the title now closer than ever into tomorrow’s grand prix, Zak Brown said this will persist: “We’re going to just attack tomorrow like we’ve been attacking every weekend.”

This attitude carries into their drivers who are aware that the job is still far from complete, “We’re definitely not going to get ahead of ourselves”, said Norris, “We’ve both got everything out of the car. But this is a long race, and many things can happen.”

It’s easy to forget given their recent form on track that McLaren began this year hovering around the midfield until a pivotal upgrade package and first career victory for Norris in Miami, with even Zak Brown himself saying before the summer break that he thought the title challenge would come by 2025 rather than this season.

Given this turnaround, even maintaining a realistic attitude, Brown couldn’t deny how much claiming the title for the first time since 1998 would mean to the team, “[the WCC] would mean everything to all the men and women at McLaren that have done such an unbelievable job.

“So hats off to them, and hopefully we’ll be celebrating tomorrow night.”

There are just 58 laps between McLaren or Ferrari and the constructors’ trophy, and by the chequered flag tomorrow either a 26- or 16-year titleless streak will be broken…