Besides the drivers, the mechanics and engineers also dream of facilitating a world championship-winning campaign in F1. Unfortunately, with the cutthroat pecking order in the sport — only two to three top teams fighting at the front — not all of them can fulfill their dream of becoming champions. So, McLaren’s Frazer ‘Bert’ Burchell is grateful that he got his chance with the Woking outfit’s historic Constructors’ title triumph.
At the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Lando Norris needed to come out ahead of Carlos Sainz after his pit stop, to keep McLaren in the running for the 2024 Constructors’ championship. That’s when Bert along with Norris‘ pit crew delivered a pit lane masterclass. With a 2.08-second stop — the fastest of the season — they ensured that the Briton retained the lead.
He came onto his X (formerly Twitter) account later to post a heartwarming tribute to his season. “This pitstop will probably be the pinnacle of my F1 career. This stop had to be under 4s to win the championship. With that in mind we perform the fastest stop of the race, not even a flinch,” he wrote.
This pitstop will probably be the pinnacle of my F1 career. This stop had to be under 4s to win the championship.
With that in mind we perform the fastest stop of the race, not even a flinch.
“The score takes care of itself” https://t.co/gfpt5aKlty
— Bert (@FrazerBurchell) December 11, 2024
With a superlative effort by the entire team on that pitstop, Norris then went on to win the Grand Prix. And with that, the Woking-based team wrapped up their first Constructors’ win since 1998.
Nico Rosberg’s ode to unsung McLaren heroes after championship win
It is often that drivers and team principals get all the glory in F1. And Nico Rosberg wasn’t having any of that whilst putting things into perspective for McLaren‘s historic title triumph in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, the former Mercedes driver said, “We underestimate often. You always say, oh, how much pressure was Lando on? But we underestimate the pressure that the team was under to do that pit stop because they know and it’s hard to do [a] pit stop, it’s really hard to get that gun on and not make a mistake.”
Going into the 2025 season, the McLaren crew will be motivated to repeat their heroics from this last season. 2024 was the first time since 2009 that a team other than Mercedes or Red Bull won the title. And with Ferrari hungry to win their first title since 2008, McLaren will want to spoil their party by reclaiming the title.
