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Why McLaren can be a true force in F1 again

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History's second most successful Formula 1 team fell far, and fell hard at the start of the turbo hybrid era. But out of the doldrums of the Honda era, at last a revitalised empire is preparing to strike back with Mercedes power and a reinforced driver lineup

As frustrated as he was with his own third-place finish, Lewis Hamilton spoke with real heart and pride about the performance of his former team, McLaren, in qualifying for the 2020 Formula 1 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Lando Norris had qualified fourth at Yas Marina. On face value, it was a decent but hardly extraordinary result, and not even the team's best Saturday of the season. But the gap of 0.251 seconds to pole was minimal by any metric and, while skewed a bit by the fresh power unit in Norris's car, it was proof of how far McLaren has come.

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