Lando Norris has brought the season to a close in style by winning the 2024 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in dominant form, the Briton putting in an assured drive to claim victory and helping McLaren clinch their first constructors’ championship since 1998.
It was a strong start to the race for pole-sitter Norris amid chaos behind him, with Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen making contact in a battle for second, which saw the latter receive a penalty and the former drop down the order. There was also further trouble for the Australian, who received his own punishment for a collision with the Williams of Franco Colapinto.
And while various other fights played out across the field – which saw a solid performance from McLaren’s title rivals Ferrari – Norris kept a cool head up front to triumph, taking the chequered flag by five seconds from former teammate Carlos Sainz, which confirmed that the constructors’ crown had gone to the papaya squad.
Click here to subscribe to our print edition!
Charles Leclerc put in a fighting performance for the Scuderia to climb back up to third, having started back in P19 on the grid. Behind him, a late duel played out between Mercedes teammates George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, with the seven-time world champion snatching fourth in the final moments to bring his chapter with the squad to an emotional close.
Verstappen was sixth, the Red Bull man having bounced back from his earlier penalty, with Pierre Gasly following in seventh as Alpine sealed P6 in the constructors’ championship, while Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Haas ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in ninth. Piastri’s recovery drive ended in 10th place, a disappointing outcome for the Australian despite his team’s success.
Alex Albon missed out on points for Williams in P11, as did RB’s Yuki Tsunoda in P12, while Zhou Guanyu ended his last race for Kick Sauber in P13 ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in P14. Meanwhile, Jack Doohan’s debut for Alpine ended with a P15 result ahead of his first full season in the sport next year.
Kevin Magnussen was the final classified runner for Haas in 16th, perhaps not the ending that the Dane was hoping for in his last outing for the squad, while Liam Lawson’s season came to a dramatic end after he was forced to pull his smoking RB off the track in the last laps.
Valtteri Bottas’s chapter with Kick Sauber ended prematurely, having retired the car earlier in the race following a puncture. There was also a similar finish to Colapinto’s stint with Williams, which came to a close on Lap 26.
The final retiree was Sergio Perez, who suffered a Lap 1 spin following contact with Bottas and recorded a DNF amid continued speculation over whether he will return next season.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
First and foremost, congratulations to McLaren on winning the constructors’ title, and well done to Ferrari for pushing them all the way to the very end, which made for an exhilarating finale that was full of suspense to entertain the fans.
It was the best way possible to end a hectic season, the longest ever in Formula 1 history. We believe we met the expectations of the teams and the other major players in this sport, the FIA and Formula 1, who are our most important “customers”. We did it by providing a reliable, high-performance product, delivering the desired effect of unpredictable racing. It’s no coincidence that this season has been. Well balanced between races where a one-stop strategy worked best and those where a two-stop was more effective, thus meeting the objectives we had set.
As for today’s race, we saw less graining than during Friday’s free practice, and even then, it had little impact on performance. Degradation was also minimal, so much so that the one-stop was the most effective strategy, even with many different divisions of stint lengths. Verstappen, for example, stopped at exactly half-distance, while others like Gasly and Hulkenberg stopped very early and then managed to finish in the points. We still have one more task to complete this year. This coming Tuesday, we will be back on track at Yas Marina for a very important collective test. All the teams will be able to evaluate five of the six compounds homologated for 2025, except the C1, which is unsuited to this track. Furthermore, we will supply 2024 tyres for the usual rookie end-of-season test.
The day on the track:
On the starting grid, 19 of the 20 drivers were on the Medium, with only Hamilton opting for the Hard. The one-stop strategy proved to be quickest: of the top ten finishers, only Fernando Alonso (eighth for Aston Martin) made a two-stop work. Piastri also pitted twice but that was as a result of a collision with Verstappen at the first corner on the opening lap.
The longest stint overall was delivered by two specialists in this field, namely Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg, who did 45 laps on a set of Hards. As for the Medium, the prize goes to Max Verstappen, who split his race exactly in two, doing 29 laps on the C4 followed by the same number on the C3.
The C5’s appearance in the race came courtesy of Magnussen, who clearly only fitted it in order to set the fastest race lap, which he did both on his first set, used for a total of 25 laps and then on the second, fitted just for the last two laps.
2024 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | 1:31:05.323 | 25 | 429 |
| 2. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +6.031s | 18 | 341 |
| 3. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | +6.819s | 15 | 291 |
| 4. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +14.104s | 12 | 235 |
| 5. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | +16.782s | 10 | 36 |
| 6. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | +17.476s | 8 | 272 |
| 7. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | +19.867s | 6 | 68 |
| 8. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +25.360s | 4 | 4 |
| 9. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Denmark | Haas F1 Team | +32.177s | 2 | 14 |
| 10. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +35.762s | 2 | 349 |
| 11. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +50.243s | 0 | 0 |
| 12. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +56.122s | 0 | 211 |
| 13. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +61.100s | 0 | 30 |
| 14. | 30 | Liam Lawson | New Zealand | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +62.656s | 0 | 4 |
| 15. | 23 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | +1 lap | 0 | 12 |
| 16. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 37 |
| 17. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | DNF | 0 | 152 |
| 18. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 24 |
| 19. | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Argentina | Williams Racing | DNF | 0 | 5 |
| 20. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 23 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | McLaren Racing | 666 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 652 |
| 3. | Red Bull Racing | 589 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 468 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 94 |
| 6. | Alpine F1 Team | 65 |
| 7. | Haas F1 Team | 58 |
| 8. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 46 |
| 9. | Williams Racing | 17 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 4 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
