ABU DHABI: One last race.
- pitwallstories
- Dec 9, 2024
- 5 min read
Everything has led to this moment. To the race in Abu Dhabi. The grand finale of the Formula One 2024 season. A season full of excitement and entertainment both for the public but also for the drivers themselves.
This year has truly shown us what it means to be a fan of this sport and how battles for championships should be fought for.
What an amazing season that could not have ended with a better race than the one we had this weekend.
Saturday of near misses
Starting off on a positive note, on the day of free practices we witnessed history as the Leclerc brothers, Charles and Arthur, became the first brother-teammates to appear on track next to each other. A very emotional moment for the monegasque family and for the Tifosi as well.
It then felt as though this moment of pure magic disappeared during qualifying when, after suffering from food poisoning, Leclerc found himself with a 10-place grid drop penalty for taking on a new energy store. A penalty that saw him forced to start from the back of the grid in 19th position. Definitely not the outcome he wished for given that he had a good pace throughout the session of qualifying and most of all Leclerc had the Constructors’ Championship in mind.
Similarly in terms of disappointment, Nico Hulkenberg had to drop to 7th position from 4th. Contrary to Leclerc, he had been given a penalty for overtaking cars in the pitlane.
On a more positive note, papaya prodigy Lando Norris topped the qualifying session on Saturday, obtaining pole position and therefore equaling the new WDC Max Verstappen with 8 pole positions gained during this season.
The other McLaren force Oscar Piastri was close behind Norris, starting P2 and followed by Carlos Sainz who was experiencing probably the most emotional weekend of his career.
A mixed qualifying result peppered the grid for the start on Sunday as following the top 3 we saw Verstappen, Gasly, Russell, Hulkenberg after the penalty and Alonso. After a wonderful quali lap Valtteri Bottas put his car in p9 and Sergio Perez was the driver who closed the top 10 starters for the race.
PAPAYA ON TOP
A lot of emotions reigned on the grid as preparations for the race were taking place. Last pictures with mechanics, team principals, race engineers were being taken in any corner of the grid as journalists and cameras filmed everything, trying to capture the raw feelings of the drivers.
When the tyre warmers eventually came off, the last race of the season started. And it did start with a boom when Verstappen had contact with Piastri, dropping the Aussie driver all the way down to the back of the grid where he had a moment with the Williams of Colapinto. As this unfolded on track, Perez spun out causing a VSC and ending his challenging season with a DNF. In the meantime, as if possessed by some sort of spell, Leclerc managed to gain more than 11 positions, finding himself in seventh place behind Alonso.
When the race resumed on lap 3, both Verstappen and Piastri were given a 10-second penalty that they were going to pay during their pitstops.
On a more positive note for McLaren, Norris was having a better time given his 3 second advantage on Sainz who was driving wonderfully, managing his race pace very well.
Not even 10 laps in and Leclerc had already passed Hulkenberg for fifth, was Ferrari bringing a fight they could actually win against McLaren for the Constructors’ Championship?
In the meantime, early pitstops started with Magnussen and Gasly, who had pitted from P3 and later came out behind his rookie teammate Jack Doohan, debuting in his first F1 race.
Once again, all the eyes were on the top of the grid, wanting to see who would pit first and eventually it was Leclerc who tried an undercut strategy against Russell that either way, decided to stay out.
By lap 24 Norris was still the leader, guiding Sainz, Russell, Verstappen and Hamilton all of those yet to pit were ahead of Leclerc. A problem emerged from the pits when Lawson came out but with a loose tyre on his car which eventually forced him to pit again.
After that the frontrunners started to box one after the other, following Norris who came out still leader of the race, meanwhile Russell came out in seventh. Verstappen pitted as well, serving his penalty which caused him to drop to eleventh place.
Before Piastri could pit for new tyres and serve his own penalty, there was a moment on track when Bottas suffered a lock-up that brought him to run into the Haas of Magnussen. The Danish driver managed to come out unharmed but Bottas’ Kick Sauber suffered a puncture that caused him to retire the car.
On lap 35 Hamilton finally pitted and came out in seventh place, quickly picking up the pace to reach his teammate as he looked to end the season and his time in Mercedes on a high. Verstappen did an amazing move as well in overtaking Hulkenberg for seventh as Norris was busy creating a larger gap from Sainz and Leclerc who were 4 seconds behind him.
Further back Piastri luckily managed to avoid contact with Tsunoda as the two of them came frighteningly close to one another.
But as lap 52 of this 58-lap race came to an end all the eyes were on the frontrunners. Leclerc hopingly asked his race engineer how large was the gap between him, Sainz and Norris and when he was given the answer a sweary response echoed in the Ferrari team radio as the fight for the Constructors’ Championship seemed to be fading away.
Toto Wolff then came on the radio to stop any kind of fight between the Mercedes drivers, right before Hamilton overtook his teammate, ending the race in 4th.
When Lando Norris crossed the finish line in Abu Dhabi, papaya colored fireworks erupted in the sky, marking the win of the Constructors’ Championship for McLaren.
Sainz and Leclerc gave their team one last podium together ahead of Hamilton and Russell.
And so it ended like this the FORMULA ONE 2024 SEASON with an exciting race and a lot of emotions for the drivers and their teams but most importantly, with a lot to be proud for.
"It feels incredible, not for myself but for the whole team," said Norris. "The team have done an amazing job this year to come from where we were at the beginning. I’m so proud of everyone – it’s been a lovely journey, and to end the season like this is perfect, so just a congrats and big thank you to everyone in McLaren, everyone in papaya, everyone who supported us this year because it’s been a tough one. For us to win a constructors’ after 26 years is pretty special."
