Imagine watching a supercar roar past you, its engine growling like thunder. That’s what people in Udaipur experienced as global supercar brand McLaren organised a celebration drive to mark the milestone of 50 of its supercars in India. The event, which saw cars racing from Udaipur to Mount Abu, featured 11 McLaren owners, including actor Madhuri Dixit. It was flagged off by Dr Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, a member of the royal family of Mewar. As the supercars crossed sped past the iconic buildings and streets of Udaipur, the ground trembled due to the roar of the engine.

The drive featured a variety of McLaren’s iconic models, including the 720S, GT, Artura and the rare 750S 60th Anniversary Edition, which was produced in a limited run of just 60 units.

For those watching, it wasn’t just a race – it was a spectacle, a moment where luxury and adrenaline merged.

Social media users also posted enthusiastic reactions online. “Wow that’s wonderful,” commented one user.

Others posted heart emojis to show their love for McLaren supercars.

McLaren Automotive is a British-based New Zealand luxury automotive manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. The main products of the company are sports cars, which are produced in-house in designated production facilities. In July 2017, McLaren Automotive became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the wider McLaren Group, which is wholly owned by Mumtalakat Holding Company, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

In India, the price of McLaren cars start from Rs 4.5 crore for the GT, while the most expensive McLaren (the newest model 750S) is priced Rs 5.91 crore.

Lando Norris coolly claimed victory in a tense, emotional and incident-filled Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday to deliver McLaren’s first constructors’ championship in 26 years as Lewis Hamilton finished a remarkable fourth in his final race for Mercedes. The 25-year-old Norris came home 5.832 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz and his team-mate Charles Leclerc to end Ferrari’s title challenge on a night of accidents, penalties and tantrums under the floodlights at the Yas Marina Circuit. “Papaya on top!” said Norris on his slowdown lap after the season-closing race.

“Congrats to everyone. Incredible. So proud of you all. You all deserve this. It’s been a special one. Next year is going to be my year too.”

McLaren had not won the teams’ title since 1998, the year before Norris was born, and started the day with a lead of 21 points and a front row lockout, but saw Oscar Piastri sent spinning in a clash with newly-crowned four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull at the first corner.

This encouraged Ferrari, with Leclerc starting 19th on the grid, and they mounted a defiant if vain bid for glory, finishing second and third ahead of Hamilton, who passed team-mate George Russell on the final lap.

Russell came home fifth ahead of Verstappen, who was one of several drivers to be handed a 10 second penalty for his crash into Piastri, and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly with Nico Hulkenberg taking eighth for Haas.

Fernando Alonso was ninth for Aston Martin and Piastri, after a battling drive, 10th in the second McLaren.

‘Stupid idiots’

In hot, dry and clear conditions, Norris made a clean start from his eighth pole of the year to lead into Turn One where Verstappen attacked Piastri on the inside and made contact with his car to send both spinning.

Piastri waited to rejoin in 20th and last, but Verstappen squeezed back into 11th as team-mate Sergio Perez’s miserable season concluded with a spin out at Turn Six after contact with Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber.

Leclerc, with a scintillating surge on the opening lap, rose from 19th to eight.

Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty for his ‘dive bomb’ move on Piastri, who reported “yep, move of a world champion there” on McLaren team radio.

After a brief Safety Car intervention, Piastri hit the rear of Franco Colapinto’s Williams, forcing the Argentine to pit with a puncture. Piastri also pitted for fresh hards before being given a 10-second penalty, as was Bottas for his part in ending Perez’s race.

At the front, Norris led Sainz by 2.7 seconds ahead of Gasly and Russell as Leclerc climbed to sixth by lap 10 when Hamilton, having started 16th as the only man on hards, was up to 12th. For Norris, knowing a win was essential for McLaren, the pressure was on.

Haas began the pit stops on lap 12 with others following to lift Hamilton to fifth on lap 21.

Sainz pitted from second in 2.2 seconds after 26 laps, gifting Norris a lead of 26.2 before he pitted, ahead of Russell, and rejoined with a one second advantage on the Spaniard. Verstappen, yet to stop, was third before pitting, taking his penalty and emerging 11th.

“Could we ask for 20 seconds?” asked Verstappen with sarcastic venom. “Stupid idiots.”

Bottas and Magnussen, a duo in their likely final F1 races, then collided on lap 31.

“Isn’t that just great?” said the Dane. He pitted and rejoined on softs while the Finn retired.

‘Lewis, it’s hammer time’

On lap 34, Hamilton, dreaming of a podium, finally pitted from third for his mediums, taking seventh ahead of Alonso and Verstappen, a trio of 13 title wins. Norris led Sainz by 3.2 seconds with Leclerc third.

With 20 laps to go, Hamilton’s race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, for the final time, told his driver “Lewis, it’s hammer time”. Hamilton asked for the gap time and was told 14 seconds. “You can do it,” chimed in his team chief Wolff before he took Gasly for fifth.

At the front, Norris was the embodiment of cool, 5.9 clear of Sainz and managing his race with detached precision despite struggling in ‘dirty air’ as he lapped most of the field, including Piastri in the final laps, when Hamilton closed within a second of Russell before snatching fourth.

Lando Norris hailed “a perfect day” after securing pole ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri to move McLaren within reach of a first constructors’ title since 1998 at Sunday’s decisive season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In an eventful Saturday qualifying session where seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was unluckily eliminated in Q1 in his final weekend with Mercedes, Norris topped the times in one minute and 22.595 seconds to outpace Piastri by three-tenths of a second. Carlos Sainz, in his final weekend with Ferrari before leaving to join Williams, was third, 0.020 seconds behind Piastri as McLaren reeled off their third front row lockout of the season.

Ferrari need to overhaul a 21-point deficit to take the constructors’ title ahead of McLaren, but suffered a blow when Charles Leclerc was eliminated in Q2 and, with a 10-place grid penalty, he will start from the back of the grid on Sunday.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified fourth for Haas – before being hit with a three-place penalty – ahead of newly-crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, Pierre Gasly of Alpine and Mercedes’ George Russell.

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, 24 hours after describing his car as “the worst ever”, ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Sauber and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

“A perfect day for us,” said Norris who secured his eighth pole of the season.

“Probably a little tougher than before as we’ve been strong all weekend. My lap was strong too so it was just what we wanted from today.”

Lance Stroll was first out for Q1 in his Aston Martin as the sun set over the Yas Marina Circuit in clear conditions and temperatures of 25 (air) and (30) track, near perfect for the unprecedented 24th and final qualifying of the year.

Hamilton ‘messed up’

After scrubbed laps for exceeding track limits by Perez and Franco Colapinto, Sainz went top as the Mexican’s lap was reinstated and Bottas took command shortly before Hamilton, on a desperate late lap, failed to make it.

He was eliminated in Q1 for the third time in his final six races before leaving Mercedes for Ferrari and in his 246th and final outing for the ‘Silver Arrows’.

“I messed that up big time guys,” a crestfallen Hamilton conceded on the team radio. “That was bad,” he added.

Hamilton’s demise came after he picked up a bollard – flicked into his path by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas – that was stuck under his car, creating imbalance and loss of pace.

After a record 104 pole positions, 78 with Mercedes, it was a sad qualifying finale for the seven-time champion before his move to Ferrari – and on a circuit where he has taken a record five poles.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff blamed “an idiot’s mistake” that led to Hamilton being sent out late to ensure he reached the second qualifying session when an errant bollard lodged under his car and wrecked his performance and lap.

As a result, he will start towards the rear of the grid for his final race with Mercedes before joining Ferrari next season.

“I just need to apologise to Lewis,” said Wolff.

“We totally let him down. An idiotic mistake not to go earlier. Inexcusable, inexcusable! I’ve rarely been so down about what has happened.

In another incident, Russell was seen to run off track to avoid baulking Liam Lawson on a flying lap.

After much swearing on the RB radio channel, the stewards investigated and took no further action, a baffling decision a week after a similar issue had initiated Russell’s promotion to pole in Qatar where Verstappen was penalised.

Verstappen set the Q2 pace with an early lap in 1:22.998 and chose to relax as his rivals took second runs – Leclerc going top before his lap was deleted for track limits at Turn One.

This meant he qualified 14th but his penalty means he will start Sunday’s race at the back of the grid – a massive setback for Ferrari in their bid to overhaul McLaren.

Max Verstappen’s hopes of clinching a fourth consecutive drivers’ world championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend took a dent on Friday when Red Bull revealed they brought the wrong rear wing. In an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, the team’s senior advisor Helmut Marko said Red Bull were losing up to six-tenths of a second on the main straight, the Las Vegas Boulevard leading to Caesars Palace, after a packing blunder.  “We don’t have another rear wing, a smaller rear wing, as we see on our competitors,” said Marko. “It would be more helpful, for sure.”

He added that it was too late for the team to arrange for a more appropriate trimmed rear wing to be flown out to Las Vegas before the race on Saturday night.

Verstappen leads McLaren’s Lando Norris by 62 points with three races remaining and needs simply to finish ahead of him in Las Vegas to become the sixth man to win four world championships. 

The Dutchman, however, struggled in second practice on Thursday night, finishing 17th in slippery conditions on the cold, dry and dusty circuit around the streets of ‘Sin City’ where the three-time champion won last year’s race. 

Verstappen tried to make light of the team’s error, in packing the wrong rear wing, and blamed his struggle on the slippery conditions and difficulty with tyre temperatures. 

“The issue for us is definitely tyre-related as we have no grip and it feels like driving on ice,” he said.

“We struggled to make the tyres work, especially over one lap and we were quite far off with the pace.”

Team-mate Sergio Perez was 19th in the session topped by Mercedes’ seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton ahead of Norris of McLaren, who said on Wednesday it is “probably too late” to stop Verstappen taking the title.

“There were flashes of speed,” said Marko. “We just have to get consistency into it. On the single lap we can improve but on the long run, the tyre wear is a problem at the moment.”

He added that conditions may change in favour of Red Bull before the race. 

“Tomorrow is a different day,” he said. “You see it a lot of times. People will be fastest on Friday, or Thursday, but it doesn’t mean that they are fast in the race. We will, for sure, make a reasonable step.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris said on Wednesday he has acquired the experience to challenge for a Formula One world championship but it is “probably too late” to stop Max Verstappen taking a fourth consecutive title this weekend. The British driver requires a minimum of three more points than Red Bull’s three-time champion at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix to keep his title hopes alive. Las Vegas is the first of a triple-header finale to the season which ends in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

“It’s been the first time that we’ve had a chance to fight at the front,” said Norris.

“We’ve not been able to do that for the past six years and this has been our and my first opportunity.

“I was definitely not at the level I needed to be at the beginning of the year, but since the summer break I feel I’ve done a very good job and performed very well, by far some of my best.

“I’m not completely happy with what I’ve done, but for the first time I feel I have got what it takes. I wasn’t outright ready to go up against Red Bull and Max. I think I am now, but it is probably too late,” the 25-year-old added.

After a salutary experience at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, where Verstappen ended a 10-race winless run, Norris conceded the “door is almost shut” on his title bid.

He goes into this weekend’s race 62 points adrift of Dutch driver Verstappen.

“Max is one of the best drivers ever in F1 and to go up against that person who is so good takes a bit more than I have done this season,” he said

“I am not completely happy with what I’ve done, but for the first time I feel I have got what it takes to fight for the championship.

“It doesn’t mean I’m complete and when you are competing against drivers like Max you have to be close to perfect. The main thing I can take away is I have faith I have what it takes to fight for a championship.”

Norris admitted he had experienced a “tough time” after finishing in sixth place in Brazil in early November.

“It was a defining moment for the championship. The doors are almost shut,” he said.

“For a week, I was pretty down because I had that realisation that things are pretty much out of my control and not within reach and that’s a tough thing.

“When your hopes are so high, to get it knocked down, that was pretty demoralising and not the best feeling.”

Max Verstappen played down his prospects of clinching a fourth consecutive drivers’ world championship at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver, who claimed a spectacular victory in the rain-hit Sao Paulo Grand Prix three weeks ago, said that triumph had not proved that all his problems were over after a winless 10-race run. Speaking to reporters in Las Vegas, he said it was not certain that he would win again to take the 2024 title.

“At the moment, it’s difficult to tell because if you look at the last few races in the dry of course we didn’t have the pace… It’s not that, because we won in the rain in Brazil, suddenly everything is fixed and everything is looking great again.

“Of course, it gave me a good position in the championship, but also I have to be realistic that we are not the quickest.

“I hope that we can be competitive here. It’s still very unknown with the track temperatures, of course, and like last year very cold.”

The Dutchman leads McLaren’s Lando Norris by 62 points in the title race with three Grands Prix remaining – and 60 points available at the final two races.

This leaves Norris needing to beat Verstappen by three points in Las Vegas to keep his title challenge alive.

“For me, the pressure is from me because I want to do well always, every single weekend,” said Verstappen. “And it is not necessarily about the championship.

“I am just trying to enjoy the weekend as well and to see. How competitive we can be. It is not decided yet so there are still points that we need to be scored.

“Really, it is about how quick I am and how good the car is more than anything else.

“In the last few races, McLaren has been the quickest but last year, Ferrari was very fast here and it can be different every year.

“Other teams have upgrades compared to the last time here so it is difficult to say what can happen here at the moment.”

Drivers ‘bit fed up’ with FIA

Verstappen also expressed surprise at the sudden departure of race director Niels Wittich.

The FIA said on the eve of the Grand Prix that the German had left his role to “pursue new opportunities”, but Wittich said he had been dismissed with three races remaining this year.

Rui Marques has replaced him.

“I think everyone was very surprised to see that with three races to go,” said Verstappen who added his support to the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association”s demands for the FIA to treat them “like adults” with greater consultation and transparency.

The drivers also asked for president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to “consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them.”

“We just wanted to send a letter to make sure that everyone is aware of our concerns and what we want to work on and we’ll see what comes out of that,” said Verstappen.

“At the moment, nothing has happened. I think there was a lot going on with the FIA anyway that they had to deal with – now we’ll see in the coming races and we’ll keep engaging.”

Mercedes’ George Russell said the FIA had not responded to their open letter and admitted drivers, in general, were “a little bit fed up with the whole situation.

“Getting things to change, or promises upheld, seems slightly more challenging,” he said. “Maybe the FIA or the president did not recognise how seriously we all felt.”

Formula One drivers on Thursday blasted the “tone and language” used by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem amid a row over swearing at press conferences. In an open letter, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) also demanded that competitors be treated like adults. Several drivers, including three-time world champion Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Monaco’s Charles Leclerc, were recently sanctioned by the FIA for swearing at a press conference. 

And Ben Sulayem has spoken out in favour of measures to ensure drivers no longer use foul language. 

On Thursday, the GPDA hit back with a letter posted on social media regarding ‘Driver Misconduct’.

“There is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as an F1 car, or a driving situation,” the letter read.

“We urge the FIA president to consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise.

“Further, our members are adults. They do not need to be given instructions via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery or underpants.”

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has clashed with FIA bosses for wearing jewellery at races, with the governing body also reminding drivers of the need to wear flame-resistant underwear. 

The GPDA also stressed its opposition to financial sanctions against drivers and called on Ben Sulayem to clarify how they are imposed and how their proceeds are used.

Relations between Ben Sulayem, team bosses and drivers have deteriorated in recent months. 

The FIA president was accused at the start of the year of trying to derail the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix and influence the results of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix the same year. 

In both cases, the Emirati was cleared by the FIA Ethics Committee.

Lando Norris trimmed two points off Max Verstappen’s lead in Formula One’s drivers’ world championship on Saturday after claiming victory ahead of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The title-chasing Briton took the lead on lap 22 of the 24-lap race, when Piastri swapped positions with him before fending off the challenge of three-time champion Verstappen in his Red Bull.

Norris, 24, came home 0.593 seconds clear of Piastri who finished 1.5 seconds ahead of the Dutchman with Charles Leclerc finishing fourth.

Norris admitted he was fortunate to collect his first career sprint race win.

“I’m not proud of it, but it worked well and as a team we had a good day — and thanks to Oscar,” said Norris.

“He deserved to win, but it was good team work and we had great pace. And we executed it well.”

Verstappen leads Norris by 45 points with four races including Sunday’s to come — and one sprint — and it could get worse for the Dutch driver.

At the finish Verstappen — who will start with a five-place grid penalty — was noted for an infringement of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) rules.

“It was a tricky race,” said Verstappen.

“The pace was good and I’m quite pleased with that although it took quite a long time for me to pass Charles (Leclerc) — I had to wait for a mistake to pass him.”

He added he would be aiming to ‘limit the damage’ to his title defence in Sunday’s race.

McLaren’s one-two success lifted them 35 points clear of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship and ended Verstappen’s run of four consecutive sprint wins this year.

– ‘Dirty air’ –

Piastri said it had been a terrific day for the team.

“It was tricky and very bumpy out there and the racing line is very narrow, but it was a great day for the team to score a lot of points,” said the Australian.

“We showed we are in decent shape.”

George Russell came home sixth for Mercedes ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, who collected the final point in eighth.

The race began in hot conditions with an air temperature of 28 degrees Celsius and the track at 47, making it tough on tyres.

The two McLarens made a clean start, Piastri covering off the threat of Norris while Leclerc resisted Verstappen’s early attack for third at the Senna S.

Norris was clearly unhappy to be running a second adrift of his McLaren team-mate, asking his team to request Piastri to move aside, but without avail until lap 10 when he was asked to ‘give Lando DRS’ – a signal to switch places.

But Norris remained stuck in second in Piastri’s ‘dirty air’ as he attempted to make his move, the top four staying in place at half distance in the 24-lap sprint.

By lap 17, tyre-wear was affecting several cars and Norris remained six-tenths adrift.

The team told him “we’re happy to make the switch on the last lap,” shortly before Verstappen, with Drag Reduction System (DRS) and superior pace, swept past Leclerc on the straight.

McLaren finally made their swap on lap 22, leaving Piastri vulnerable in second to the charging Verstappen before a VSC was deployed with two laps to go.

Verstappen, who closed very near to Piastri, immediately complained that he was running too slowly before the race went ‘green’ again for a final flying lap.

Qualifying for the Grand Prix was scheduled to take place later on Saturday amid fears of rain.

File image of Max Verstappen.© AFP

McLaren’s Lando Norris beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pole position Saturday for the Singapore Grand Prix in a dramatic qualifying session red-flagged when Carlos Sainz crashed. Norris’s lap of 1min 30.002sec was 0.155sec quicker than Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton was third ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell. “It was good enough for pole and I’m happy with that, especially here in Singapore,” said Norris, who is aiming to close a 59-point deficit to Verstappen in the drivers’ championship. “A good feeling. I’ve felt good all weekend, I’ve felt confident, maybe not so much in qualy but we got the job done,” added the Englishman.

But it was a disastrous Q3 for Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Sainz, the winner in Singapore 12 months ago, who will start down in ninth and 10th on the grid.

Sainz’s back end snapped out on the final bend sending him spinning into the barriers and halting Q3 with just over eight minutes remaining, leaving most drivers just one shot at a qualifying lap.

Leclerc then had his only lap time deleted for breaching track limits at turn two.

Verstappen had only been 15th fastest in practice on Friday, so the Dutchman was pleased to be alongside his main title rival at the head of the grid.

“I’m happy to be on the front row if you look at where we came from yesterday,” said Verstappen.

“Tomorrow is a bit difficult to say, in Singapore a lot of things can happen, but at least we have a shot at it like this.”

Hamilton had also struggled in practice but managed to put a great lap together when it mattered.

“Qualifying has been a disaster for me all year long and I’ve been working, working and working trying to get myself back up there,” said seven-time world champion Hamilton.

“All of a sudden the car came alive for the first time in qualifying in a long time.

“I hope we’re in a good position to fight for the front tomorrow.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fifth fastest and Nico Hulkenberg of Haas will start alongside him on the third row.

Fernando Alonso was seventh in an Aston Martin, with Yuki Tsunoda eighth in the RB.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez failed to make it to the shootout for pole position and will start from 13th on the grid.

Along with Perez, the other drivers who failed to get out of Q2 were the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, Kevin Magnussen in a Haas and Esteban Ocon (Alpine).

Daniel Ricciardo — who is rumoured to be driving in F1 for the last time for RB — was in the bottom five who were earlier eliminated in Q1.

Also failing to make it to Q2 were Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, Pierre Gasly in an Alpine and the Sauber pair of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.