2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | 9 talking points

Norris delivers for McLaren

The needless first-corner collision increased its tension, but McLaren needn’t have worried: Norris had it all in hand as he drove a perfect race to secure his team its ninth F1 constructors’ crown – pulling it level with Williams in the all-time ranking. The last time McLaren managed the feat, back in 1998, Norris had yet to be born.

At Yas Marina, Norris became the first driver in anything other than a Red Bull or Mercedes to win since Kimi Räikkönen’s triumph for Lotus (now Alpine) in 2012. While team-mate Oscar Piastri was left in recovery mode following Max Verstappen’s tap at Turn 1, the pole position winner kept Carlos Sainz Jr.’s Ferrari at arm’s length for the duration, easing away after his single pit stop for a textbook victory. As he said afterwards, he’s learnt so much from his breakthrough season. If he can cut out the errors that have pockmarked his 2024, just maybe he can deliver on that vow by the time we return to this point next year.

Ferrari falls short despite Leclerc wonder drive

The red team arrived in Abu Dhabi 21 points down on McLaren, so making up that deficit was already a tall order if it was to add to its record-leading tally of 16 teams’ titles. The task became so much tougher when Charles Leclerc landed a ten-place grid penalty for a battery change on Friday, and then Norris and Piastri locked out the front row in qualifying. But a solid effort from Sainz and a mega driver from Leclerc meant that Ferrari at least left it all out there as night closed in on the 2024 season.

From 19^th on the grid, Leclerc made up an amazing 11 places on a first lap that featured not only the Verstappen/Piastri collision, but also an unlucky clash between Valtteri Bottas and the hapless Sergio Pérez. Leclerc then got his head down, sliced his way into the top ten, used his pitstop to vault past Pierre Gasly and George Russell, then chased Sainz home for a Ferrari two-three. He fully earned his driver of the day award, but couldn’t be anything other than downcast as his team came up 14 points short in its hunt of McLaren. It just wasn’t enough.

Sainz subdued as he bids arrivederci to Ferrari

But it was surely worse for Sainz, in what was probably his last drive in a race-winning F1 car for some time. The Spaniard has been a brilliant servant to Ferrari, but has known since before the season began that his fate was sealed, no matter how he performed. Lewis Hamilton now takes his seat and he contemplates that move to lowly Williams, with admirable public optimism. Sainz deserves better.

Hamilton at his best in Mercedes swansong

The errant cone, dislodged by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, that then ruined his qualifying; a stirring charge from 16^th on the grid; then the last-lap outside pass on team-mate George Russell… Oh yes, this was vintage Lewis Hamilton. With hindsight, and in the context of all the ups and downs he has been through this season, it was actually the perfect sign-off from Mercedes after 11 glorious years.

Hamilton was characteristically classy in his response to the Saturday disappointment, rose magnificently to the challenge he now faced and left all at Mercedes with a lump in their throats as he finished his record-breaking stint at the Silver Arrows just off the podium. So, he’s lost it, has he? Not likely. Leclerc might be faster over one lap, but Charles knows the challenge he will likely face from his incoming new team-mate. Despite the high emotion, Hamilton’s timing for change is surely right.

A nod too to Russell, for racing hard but fair on that final lap, and for his generous acknowledgement of what it has meant to compete as Hamilton’s team-mate. Not an easy end to his season, all in all…

Verstappen ends on a sour note

The gap was there, so Verstappen had a right to stick his nose in at Turn 1. But the contact? It was poor form given how much McLaren had to lose and how little the four—time champion had to gain in what was, for him, a dead rubber. “Yep, move of a world champion, that one,” was Piastri’s desert-dry response on the radio. “Good,” he added, when told that Verstappen had picked up a ten-second stop-go penalty.

The “idiots” comment aimed at the stewards was a typically sour and unnecessary Verstappen response. All in a week in which his ugly spat with Russell following their stewards’ room bust-up in Qatar coloured what should have been a quietly satisfying end to his season. After all, Max has won his fourth crown in what is now officially only the third-best car, something that hasn’t been done since Nelson Piquet – the father of his newly pregnant girlfriend – pulled the feat in 1983. He’s an astounding talent.

But instead of acting with grace, Verstappen headed into the off-season with a scowl. He apologised to Piastri at least, but overall… what a pity.

Piastri recovers a point

Dead last after Turn 1, Piastri then picked up his own penalty by tail-ending Franco Colapinto’s Williams. He was lucky to avoid front wing damage, but then stuck to his task and demoted Alex Albon in the other Williams in the closing stages to at least contribute a point for tenth to the McLaren championship cause. Not that it made any difference thanks to Norris’s brilliance up front.

Piastri will relish the chance for a break and should return fully refreshed and with a clear intention to snatch the momentum from his team-mate in 2025.

Gasly’s Alpine climb

An excellent fifth on the grid and a highly respectable seventh behind Verstappen in the grand prix completed a decent close to a difficult 2024 for Pierre Gasly. The result eased Alpine seven points clear of Haas in their battle for sixth in the constructors’ table, with Nico Hülkenberg scoring in eighth at his final grand prix for the American-owned team before his switch to Audi-Sauber. Gasly will expect his team’s new-found momentum to increase in leaps into the new season. Meanwhile, rookie team-mate Jack Doohan made an unobtrusive and quiet F1 debut, finishing 15^th and one lap down.

Magnussen and Bottas end on a low note

It was sad to see Bottas’s Sauber wipe out Magnussen’s Haas at the end of the back straight mid-race. For Magnussen, that’s it for the Dane and F1 as he heads for a bright new start with BMW in sports car racing. As for Bottas, the Finn is holding out hope that his F1 tale is not yet done – although his route back to the grid looks murky at best.

New misery for Pérez

Final word to poor old Sergio Pérez. Caught up in that first-lap melee, the Mexican was out almost immediately from what is widely regarded as his final performance in a Red Bull. ‘Checo’ remains defiant, almost oddly so given how dreadful his season has turned out. But surely this is it for the six-time grand prix winner. Will we really see him when they line up to do it all again in Australia in March? It’s hard to imagine how…

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.