Formula 1: Bizarre McLaren statistic turns up in Abu Dhabi
By Asher Fair
With their third place-clinching performance in the 2020 Formula 1 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, McLaren saw quite a bizarre statistic turn up.
McLaren entered the 2020 Formula 1 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit trailing Racing Point by 10 points (194-184) in the battle for third place in the constructor standings behind seven-time reigning champions Mercedes and runners-up Red Bull.
Things went their way early on when Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was forced to retire with a mechanical issue for the second time in the last three races.
Racing Point were upset with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. for an incident in the pits with Lance Stroll which saw Sainz slow down more so than usual, but no further action was taken when the stewards investigated the matter after the race.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
After that pit stop, Stroll faded while Sainz and teammate Lando Norris excelled around the 21-turn, 3.451-mile (5.554-kilometer) road course on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. While Stroll only managed to salvage one point for Racing Point with a disappointing 10th place finish, both the McLaren teammates finished inside the top six.
Norris finished in fifth place to score 10 points and Sainz finished in sixth to score eight, delivering McLaren a 202-195 victory over the pink team for third place in the standings, their highest result since 2012.
But it was what Sainz did that brought to light quite a bizarre statistic for the team.
On the 55th and final lap of his final race driving the #55 Renault E-Tech 20 1.6 V6 t-powered McLaren MCL35 before his departure for Ferrari, Sainz brought McLaren’s all-time point total to 5,555.5.
It is worth noting that Formula 1 has never actually used a system which awards half-points. But points were halved for the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix at Circuit de Monaco as a result of the fact that the race was shortened due to poor conditions. By winning the race, McLaren’s Alain Prost scored just 4.5 points instead of 9 points.
That ended up costing him the world championship, as he finished the season with 71.5 points, second only to Niki Lauda’s 72. Lauda had not scored any points in Monaco and therefore did not have any points halved.
What would have been Prost’s first world title became Lauda’s third and final. Prost went on to win four of his own throughout the rest of his career.
Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of all-time. dark. Next
With Sainz set to join Ferrari as the replacement for Sebastian Vettel, who is set to join Racing Point (set to be rebranded as Aston Martin in 2021) as Perez’s replacement, Daniel Ricciardo is set to move to McLaren alongside Norris as his replacement. Ricciardo spent the last two seasons driving for Renault (set to be rebranded as Alpine in 2021).