As Lando carried out his post-race interviews in Abu Dhabi, he was interrupted by a familiar face, as McLaren’s last Drivers’ World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, stopped by to congratulate his successor.

It was a special moment for McLaren fans, but also for Lando, whose first Formula 1 memories are of Hamilton driving for McLaren, alongside Fernando Alonso in 2007 and then when winning his first title in ’08.

Just as they did when Lando won his first race 19 months ago in Miami, it felt as if the entirety of the F1 paddock had come together to congratulate the sport’s newest World Champion, Hamilton among them.

“I’m really, really happy for him,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “Winning your first World Championship is truly special. The UK continues to pump out great drivers. I know what the feeling is also when you’re coming into this race and fighting for your first Championship, it’s nerve-wracking. I’m just really proud of him.

“Before the weekend, I just told him what he’s been doing works, so don’t change anything. I guess that’s what he did.”

It had been an intense weekend for the British racer, who went into Abu Dhabi knowing that a podium would be enough to confirm him as the 35th F1 Drivers’ World Champion, but with Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri just 12 and 16 points behind him, respectively, there was massive pressure on him to deliver on the biggest stage.

The race wasn’t without its nervy moments, though Lando never outwardly displayed anything but pure calm. Verstappen won the race ahead of Oscar, but the Red Bull driver was powerless to prevent Lando from securing the third place he required to wrap up his first title. Lando was chased all evening by Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari had come alive in race trim, but the British racer defiantly kept the Monegasque at bay to secure the most important podium of his career.

Oscar, Leclerc, and Verstappen were all quick to congratulate Lando after the race, as were CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella, who would have spent the 58 laps turning every corner. Both have been on the journey every step of the way, with Zak joining McLaren in November 2016, just three months before the team signed Lando to their Driver Development Programme, while Andrea has been here since 2015.

Discussing the title decider, Zak told F1 TV afterwards: "Just amazing. That was an unbelievable race, edge-of-your-seat stuff.

"Charles was in our DRS, there was a close call with Yuki… Oscar drove brilliantly. Max is a machine, so to beat Max and an awesome team like Red Bull is such an accomplishment. Racing with Lando and Oscar, you couldn't ask for a better driver line-up. The pit stops and then having to cover Leclerc, there's just so many things that can go wrong and everything went right. It's a long season.

"I can tell you the stress and desire to win the Drivers' Championship was every bit as high [as the Constructors']. So rewarding, so happy for the team and both our drivers. I'm looking forward to coming back and racing next year.

“Unbelievably proud of the team, unbelievably proud of our two drivers.”

Speaking to Sky Sports, Andrea Stella, who had been a picture of calm during the race, said: “Being proud of my team is my main feeling at the moment.

"I am proud of how everyone responded to this season’s call to elevate our game compared to last year. The demand has been huge, we’ve had two drivers in the contest, and we’ve tried to do it the McLaren way: fair and respectful. It has been a lot of work, but the team has been so united.

“What makes me most proud is how we responded to the difficult times. We are proud of the success, and of our trajectory from last to double World Champion in three years, but deep inside, I think I am more proud of the way we responded in the difficult moments. We kept united and never pointed fingers and I think this makes so much of a difference when you want to keep building and getting better.

“I am just so happy that the team have been rewarded with this success that is Lando’s, but also a team success.”

Lando’s long-time Race Engineer Will Joseph, who has been working with the World Champion since his very first test, said: “You’re always tense, just in case something happens. But we talked a lot about the race and how to manage it and what we actually needed to achieve. So actually, we were pretty calm throughout the whole race.

“He’s been good, we talk a lot and there are so many people involved in getting the most from Lando, so to everyone who is listening who has helped Lando, inside and outside of the team, you know who you are, thank you so much, it is truly appreciated.”

No one will understand the sacrifices that have gone into this World Championship more than Lando’s parents, who were at the heart of the celebrations on Sunday. Lando dedicated his triumph to them, and spoke at length in the hours after the race about the importance of their support. “I wouldn’t be here without my parents,” he repeated through the evening, in each of his interviews.  

On the triumph, his father Adam said: “It has been really long, really hard - harder than you think, but lovely. It was going to come, he’s fast, isn’t he? He’s always been fast.

“His resilience, how he came back. I think he found comfort within himself, recalibrating, going forward and doing the job. I’ve done 400 races now. A lot of travelling around the world to go-kart tracks, to weird and wonderful places, at odd times, it was relentless every weekend, but a lot of fun, I have really loved the journey, and I love the destination. It has been a lot of hard work, but he loved it more than everybody else. It was never painful, but it was hard, it was tiring.

“Beautiful, it’s a nice feeling, a really good feeling, Champion of the world.”

His mother Cisca said: “Emotionally drained, but very happy. Very happy for the family, for the team, for McLaren, and for the fans, because they have always been there.

“This is amazing, this is fantastic. [After Qatar], we flew home back to England, I did a bit of washing, I worked in the garden, and on Wednesday I went to see the nativity play from my Grandchild. Then on Thursday we got back on the plane. It was a very confusing week, a very short week, and those last laps, they took ages… they took ages.

“You never know, until the race is done. They were calling us down with 10 laps to go, because Adam and I were sitting in a room separately, but there were 10 laps to go, the race is not over! But here we are.”

This was the first time since 2010 that three drivers went into the finale with a chance of winning the title, as Oscar and Verstappen ensured it went down to the wire. Oscar led the Championship for large parts of the season, while Verstappen chased both drivers down during a resurgent second half of the season. Both were quick to congratulate him following the race.

Oscar said: "I think a very deserving winner. I know that every weekend I go on track, it’s going to be tough. And I think we’ve pushed each other through the last three years. I think, especially this season, it has been tighter than ever.

“So, yeah, I think he’s had a great season. Probably all three of us, but obviously, myself and Lando in the same team, in the same car, have had our ups and downs at different moments. Ultimately, I think he’s had a good season and is a deserving Champion."

Verstappen said: "When you win your first title, this is very emotional. And, yeah, I hope for Lando as well. You know, I saw a lot of his family is here, so it’s important to enjoy this a lot as well tonight. Also, with his team.

"I think, again, that’s another story where it showed that even when you have tough years, when you keep working hard, you keep adding good people to the team, you can overcome all of those things, and you can become very successful again. And, yeah, they had an incredible season together, so it’s important that they enjoy it."

Fellow 2019 Formula 2 graduates George Russell and Alex Albon were amongst the drivers to also pay tribute to Lando, with the trio having come up through the ranks together. One fellow driver who had been openly willing Lando on was his first McLaren teammate, Carlos Sainz, now of Williams. The pair formed a strong bond during their two years together at McLaren, and Sainz said he was delighted to see his friend achieve his dream. 

He said: "I'm very happy for him as a driver because I think he's always been an extremely quick driver, quicker than people give him credit for, and extremely talented since I worked with him at McLaren. I saw a guy that had the speed to be a multiple World Champion if it was purely down to speed.

"I think along the way he's developed a lot of his skills and now he's World Champion. More than anything, I'm happy for him as a person because I think he's a driver that doesn't follow the typical stereotype of a World Champion.

"I think he's always stayed very true to himself, very honest, very open about his own struggles. He's just proven to everyone that you can also be World Champion being a good guy and that open. You don't need to be ruthless or badass to show to everyone that you can be World Champion so I'm happy for him."