For the Papaya Army, the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the culmination of years of loyalty and devotion, as McLaren Racing clinched the 2024 Formula 1 World Constructors’ Championship. A group of McLaren Plus competition winners visited the McLaren Technology Centre for the day to become part of the nervous countdown, watch the drama unfold from the Yas Marina Circuit, and revel in the festivities after a happy outcome in the quest for glory. We joined those who were here for the Watch Party as the action played out…

When Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took their places on the front row of the starting grid at the Yas Marina Circuit – with the colour of the day’s sunset sky mirroring their papaya machines – there was palpable tension, as the nervousness and excitement of an ambition being tantalisingly within reach bubbled to the fore. Across the following 58 laps, we had an opportunity to be crowned Constructors’ Champions for a ninth time and to break a 26-year drought.

From the factory in Woking to the pit garage and the pit wall in Abu Dhabi, there were accelerated heart rates, with nails being bitten, sweat dripping from the brow and feet being tapped at pace.

Our loyal fans around the world, too, were watching on with anticipation. Some of them even got a glimpse of their reactions being beamed to millions of people on Formula 1’s global television feed, as the cameras poked inside the auditorium at the McLaren Technology Centre.

A lucky group of McLaren Plus competition winners spent the day at the MTC, where the title-chasing MCL38 being raced by Lando and Oscar was designed, constructed, and built, to be part of a Watch Party for the season finale.

“I've been a McLaren fan for as long as I can remember,” says Andy. “I remember standing on the fence at Silverstone and seeing David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen sailing past. I was obsessed from that moment onwards, the speed, just everything about it, I absolutely loved.”

Richard, Alan, and Owen first met over a decade ago during a fan event held at the MTC and it was their shared passion for McLaren that led to friendships being developed.

“Every day, we’re always speaking to each other, seeing how everything’s going,” says Richard. “We’ll have a chat about how McLaren’s been doing, and how much the team has improved.”

“We’ve become friends ever since – going to races together, and meeting up away from the track,” explains Owen, while Alan chips in that “we were brought together as fans and we've now become such great friends. If it wasn't for McLaren, then I wouldn't know these guys. So, that's a huge privilege.”

Father-daughter duo John and Mia have been McLaren supporters for as long as they can remember.

“I followed it from a wee child with my dad,” John says. “And obviously, I dragged my daughter into it. She used to sit with me watching it on the telly when she was a baby!”

The majority of our fans in attendance at the MTC on race day flocked from various pockets of the UK – with former Surrey resident Fergal driving up from Cornwall and Andy coming across from Cambridge – but for Janice, her journey required a passport, and a fair bit of planning.

“I'm from Shanghai,” says Janice, who took a 12-hour flight from the city that hosts the Chinese Grand Prix, and where Lando took a podium finish back in April. “I've been a McLaren supporter for many, many years – it was love at first sight. I was so obsessed with McLaren, and that was the beginning of the passion!”

Lights out, mixed fortunes

After a tour of the MTC in the morning, along with activities, quizzes, photo opportunities and prizes, it was time to relocate to the auditorium, switch on the cinema screen and settle down to focus on the 24th and final Grand Prix of Formula 1’s longest-ever season.

When the five red lights went out, Lando made the perfect getaway from Pole position, stretching clear of the field into the first corner, and swiftly built a slender but healthy buffer to the chasing pack.

But Oscar’s prospects were dealt a blow after he was hit and spun by Max Verstappen at Turn 1. Oscar’s frustrating first lap and effective removal from front-running contention added a complicating factor to his and the team’s evening, taking away a safety net with 57 of the 58 laps still left to run.

“My heart was pounding out of my chest, and that first lap, my stomach dropped,” Poppy says – reflecting a mood that many fans would surely recognise. Poppy first got into Formula 1 a few years ago when the Hungarian Grand Prix was on during her cousin’s birthday gathering. Intrigued, she then went back and watched Lando and Daniel’s one-two finish at Monza in 2021, and thought “I actually really like this’. That’s where it began with McLaren.”

For Poppy, there was added tension during the title-deciding encounter as “my brother is a Ferrari fan – so it kind of brings the passion more for McLaren to do well!”

Watching on from the MTC. Team Papaya never fail to support us. 🧡#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/HhL8SlSENw

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 8, 2024

Our distinguished opponents, Ferrari, made it a fight to the wire, with our former colleague Carlos Sainz keeping Lando honest in second position, and Charles Leclerc holding third place – ready to pounce if anything went awry.

But with Lando out in front, the destiny of the title firmly remained in our hands – and he and the trackside team performed flawlessly to resist the Scuderia.

Lando didn’t put a wheel wrong across the entire evening. And when it came to his sole mandatory trip to the pit lane, our mechanics turned around the MCL38 in just 2.08 seconds. Under the pressure of knowing that one slight misstep risked undoing a lifetime’s goal, our crew not only completed the pit stop error-free but delivered the fastest of the race.

“It was the nerves until that last metre, before the finish line, no one was sure what was going to happen,” says Andy. “A DNF could have ruined it for us.”

As well as being able to watch all of the action on a cinema screen via Formula 1’s world feed, our competition winners were able to listen in to Lando, Will Joseph, and the rest of the pit wall’s communications during those closing laps, via live team radio, providing them with in-depth insight as the team inched closer to destiny.

World Champions

After 58 laps, each one of them led by Lando, our #4 crossed the line for his fourth Grand Prix win of the year – and the sixth for the team – confirming that the Constructors’ Championship belonged to McLaren. Oscar’s resilience was also rewarded, as he valiantly recovered to 10th position, becoming only the fourth F1 driver to complete every racing lap in a season.

The race-long tension and nervousness was lifted in a heartbeat as the MTC erupted in a cacophonous euphoria – ending a wait of 9,353 days since Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard secured McLaren’s eighth Constructors’ Championship at Suzuka, in 1998.

“Being around so many people like you, who are here for the same reason, who have the same passion, it just brings it up 10 times more - it's great,” says Poppy. “I didn't know how to react. I just kind of looked at my mum, like, ‘Oh my goodness, this really, really happened!’ It's like we're united all together. It's really special.”

For lifelong McLaren fan Sarah, the emotions inside the MTC were similarly overwhelming.

“It's everything,” Sarah says, who brought gifts with her for her fellow members of the Papaya Army. “I didn't know whether to smile, jump up, hug people, cry. It was just an amazing feeling!”

For Janice it fully justified the arduous journey from the other side of the world.

“26 years ago, I was a kid,” she says. “Now I am an adult, and I get to witness the Championship again here in the MTC. It feels surreal and probably this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me from Shanghai!”

For many of the Papaya Army, it was the culmination of an emotional rollercoaster across the decades, having endured previous title losses, leaner seasons, and phases in which we struggled for performance and reliability.

“It's just been an epic journey,” says Alan. “From the mid-2010s, when we were struggling, to where we are now, it's been a hell of a journey and I'm privileged to be here to support the team. I didn't think this was possible 10 years ago.”

Twice in the mid-2010s, McLaren fell to ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, where even finishing in the points was regularly an impossible task. During that arduous period, an outcome such as Sunday night would have seemed fanciful.

Sarah says: “I was once told by someone when we were struggling, that if you're here with us during the tough times, you'll still be here with us again when we get back to the top. I'm so happy to be here experiencing this with other fans.”

Lando and Oscar combined to secure 666 points, 14 more than our great rivals Ferrari, having taken 46 points finishes from 48 starts.

Long-time supporter Lee adds: “It's 26 years – it is a very, very long time. And I think a lot of things in F1 go round in circles. You had the Mercedes years, the Red Bull years, and now hopefully we've got another team up there, McLaren, and long may it continue. It's good for the sport, it's fresh, it's brilliant. It's just absolutely fantastic.”

Boulevard of Dreams

After tears of joy, high-fives, hugs, cheers and smiles, the celebrations relocated a short distance to the Boulevard, alongside some of McLaren’s most iconic and successful machinery – an exclusive club that the MCL38 now joins. On the Boulevard, our fans were joined in the festivities with factory-based members of our team, amid the realisation that a dream had become reality. There was champagne and orange juice, and sweet and savoury treats, as the party well and truly began – and it was time to paint the town papaya.

“We're celebrating on the Boulevard and then the team members come down,” Andy says. “These are the people that have put in blood, sweat and tears every weekend, every day, every week. We got to say thank you first-hand, shake their hands and just say thank you for everything they've done for this team. As fans, being able to directly just say that to a team member is amazing.”

There were emotional scenes as everyone revelled in the moment together.

“It’s been a very long struggle, a hard struggle,” says John. “But we've got here. I know it has been a very long road. You can see how hard everyone has been working to achieve this and it's just great that we've finally done it, all of us together pushing.”

“I'm feeling so privileged to be here, especially to treasure this moment together with other McLaren fans and McLaren employees here,” Janice says.

The outcome is what everyone would have hoped for when they entered the MTC on Sunday morning – McLaren, World Champions – but the experience of it actually playing out in real-time transcended any expectations and left everyone on cloud nine.

“This day has been probably one of the best days, and will remain in my memory for an extremely long time,” says Lee. “It's just been absolutely fantastic. Everybody's been brilliant, the hosts, everybody. I think what's even more special is the fact that on the way up here we discussed the fact that if McLaren did win the Championship, it would just be an amazing day here. It's surpassed all our expectations.”

Richard adds: “It's been a fantastic day of celebrating with the team after everything that we've been through. All of the fans have stuck with them. And it's just been an epic day and the right result has reached its end.”

Mia jokes that “meeting Oscar would have made it even better because I love him so much! Just being here, knowing that I've supported them, is just an amazing experience. I'll never forget it.”

Perhaps Owen summed it up best – for the Papaya Army, and for everyone that has McLaren coursing through their veins.

“It's been an amazing day,” he says. “It's been a rollercoaster of emotions, but I wouldn't change any of it. It's been perfect.”

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