It's been less than a week since the chequered flag was waved and the 2024 F1 season ended, but how about we relive it all over again? A thrilling season came down to a thrilling finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit, and here's how it played out...
The ending of the season is always bittersweet. It’s sad to say farewell to the grid as we know it, but many drivers have ended the season on a high. With the drivers championship trophy already spoken for coming into this weekend, the battle everyone was eager to see unfold was McLaren vs Ferrari for the constructors title. With Red Bull out of the running due to Sergio Perez falling behind in the drivers standings, it all came down to four drivers; Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Only one team could go home with the trophy, and it was sure to be a fight until the very end.
McLaren had put themselves in a very good position after qualifying – it was a papaya front-row lockout. Right behind them, Sainz was starting in P3, and at the other end of the grid, Leclerc was certainly unenthused about starting P19 due to using an additional power unit and taking a ten-place grid drop. But as we know, anything can happen in Abu Dhabi, so nothing was set in stone just yet.
Polesitter, Lando Norris. Credit: @McLarenF1 on X.
The lights went out to start the race, and Norris got off to a strong start, pulling away from the chaos that was about to ensue behind him. His teammate wasn’t so lucky, as Max Verstappen lurched forward, past Sainz, and tried to make it past Piastri before realising too late that he didn’t have enough room. Both Verstappen’s Red Bull and Piastri’s McLaren spun, losing them precious time – all the more precious for McLaren’s title fight. This left Norris all alone at the front, with Piastri now in P20.
But every cloud has a silver lining – at least Piastri was able to rejoin the race after his incident. The same couldn’t be said for Perez, who also stopped after a spin, and wasn’t able to fully get going again. This brought his race – and, potentially, his time at Red Bull if the rumours are to be believed – to an abrupt end, with the virtual safety car making an appearance so early on in the race. Meanwhile, whilst all this was happening, Leclerc was on a mission, climbing quickly to P8 and looking to rejoin his fellow Ferrari in the hunt for the team title.
Even without Piastri back up in the points yet, Norris leading the race kept the points advantage for McLaren, which was a good job, because Piastri’s misfortune wasn’t over yet. Lap 4 saw the young driver lock up and bump into the back of Franco Colapinto’s Williams, much to the dismay of both drivers (and the Williams mechanics no doubt). This meant that Piastri was now under investigation for this incident, much as Verstappen was also under investigation for the incident in the very first lap. Both Piastri and Colapinto pitted, with the hope that this would rectify whatever damage had been made.
Lap 6 was when the penalties started to be dished out – Verstappen received 10 seconds for clipping Piastri at the start of the race, Valtteri Bottas was given 10 seconds for being the one to cause Perez’ spin and eventual DNF, and on lap 9, Piastri was handed his very own 10 second penalty for making contact with Colapinto. Meanwhile, Norris’ lead had extended to over 3 seconds, the British driver giving it his all to bring home as many points as he could for his team.
A little further back in the field from the race leader was Lewis Hamilton, in what was his last race for Mercedes and thus marking the end of a long and glorious era. Hoping to grab some points for his team in their last outing together, lap 12 saw him battling Liam Lawson for a place in the points, and by lap 16, Hamilton was in P6 – but not long prior, he had complained on the team radio that he didn’t have any pace. The very same lap saw another penalty handed out; this time to Zhou Guanyu, being given a 5 second penalty for a false start.
Norris still comfortably led the race as the track began to cool down leading up to the sunset. Meanwhile, Piastri was inching closer and closer to the points, managing to get into P13 after dropping to the back of the field. There was still plenty of time for him to get back into the points and support his teammate in the title fight – but the pressure was certainly on.
As much as Norris was having a pretty calm race through to this point, things were looking like they were about to get way more interesting – Leclerc had clawed his way up to a very impressive P4, only two places behind Sainz now, who had comfortably maintained P2 but hadn’t caught up with the #4 McLaren just yet. Lap 22 saw Leclerc pit and rejoin the race in P8, but as he’d already proven, he was hungry for points, so climbing back up to the top four surely wasn’t going to be too difficult for him, especially not on fresher tyres. Both RB cars were also still in the points, however they hadn’t pitted yet – with Yuki Tsunoda ahead of Leclerc, this was going to advantageous for the Ferrari driver.
Yuki Tsunoda had a less eventful race than his teammate. Credit: Red Bull Content Pool.
Lap 24 saw Liam Lawson pit, and once again proved that anything can happen at this track. As Leclerc got past Pierre Gasly for P6 a little further ahead on track, a very surprised Lawson can be heard over the team radio informing his team that the wheels aren’t on his car properly, which set him up for a penalty due to being released from the pits with an unsafe car – if you’ve seen that clip from 2010’s Chinese Grand Prix, you’ll know why. Sainz pitted on lap 26 amongst all this, and made a much cleaner, quicker pit stop, returning to the race in P3 and only losing one place thanks to his speedy pit crew.
Norris finally came in for a pit stop on lap 27, with papaya fans holding their breath – it turned out to be a beautiful 2.0 pit stop and everyone could let out the breaths they’d been holding as he left the pits to maintain the lead of the race. Russell behind him also chose to pit, but returned to the race in P7. Meanwhile, just one lap later, Colapinto’s race – and F1 career, for now – comes to an end, as his team call him to the pits to retire his car. It’s perhaps been a season to forget for Williams, who’ve sustained a lot of damage costs, and only have 17 points to show for it.
Verstappen came into the pits on lap 30, serving his penalty whilst he was there, and rejoined the race in P11 – with the race only being a little over halfway done, he had plenty of time to regain positions and think about trying to catch up with Norris, who was still comfortably leading the race. Sainz still held on to p2 with Hamilton behind him in the final podium place – however the #44 Mercedes had not yet pitted, and it was likely he’d lose positions when he did so.
Just as it might have started to look like the drivers were settling down, disaster struck again. Bottas had locked up and made contact with Kevin Magnussen, leaving Bottas with a puncture and eventually, a DNF. Magnussen, however, managed to make it back out into the race after limping back to the pits. Magnussen’s teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, meanwhile, was in P7, trying to overtake Gasly, as they fought for not only points, but P6 overall in the constructors championship, and Piastri pitted on lap 33 amongst all this to serve his penalty.
Lap 35 saw Mercedes end their hope for a full safety car as Hamilton pitted for some fresh medium tyres, rejoining the race in P7 and in a very good position to be fighting for more points. Ahead of them, Leclerc was still in P4, potentially on track for a podium alongside Sainz – however, McLaren’s race win would still be enough for them to win the title itself, so a McLaren championship looked more and more likely as the Ferraris followed on from Norris’ strong lead. Piastri was still only in P15, but if Norris was able to hang onto the lead and the subsequent win, that alone would be enough.
Alonso made his second pit stop on lap 40, which dropped him out of the points on his return; meanwhile, the Williams of Alex Albon held onto p9, hoping to reward his team with some points after the immense efforts by them to keep the cars running this season. Piastri had closed in a little bit more towards the points, and by lap 46, he was in P12 – so close, yet so far. Ahead of him, the Ferraris were now in P2 and P3, but Norris led still, with the gap increasing to 5.8s. The gap between the two Ferraris was 21s by lap 49, however, so if one of them was going to catch up with Norris, it would surely have to be Sainz – unless there was a late-race incident that involved Norris dropping positions.
There was surely a stroke of panic in the Ferrari garage as on lap 52, Sainz appeared to run over some debris, but with the end of the race in sight, they decided he was okay to stay out and continue. Meanwhile, at the other end of the points, lap 54 saw Piastri finally creep up into P10 – his race was certainly one to forget thus far, but the point could have still been valuable in the title fight that would soon come to a close.
Two laps to go, and with Norris’ lead now at 7.6s, it was looking more likely that Ferrari would need a miracle if they were still to win the title. However, it was crucial that Norris kept pushing and trying his very best until that chequered flag was being waved for him, so nobody wearing papaya orange could relax just yet. Both Ferraris still occupied P2 and P3, and it looked as though Hamilton was about to gently fight his teammate for P4.
And just as we thought we could breathe a sigh of relief, one last yellow flag was hailed on the final lap as Lawson’s RB started smoking and rolling away as he clambered up and out of it. It was – thankfully, for McLaren – too late to scupper their race, however, and Norris crossed the line victorious. It may not have been the driver’s championship trophy he so desperately wanted, but it was still an incredible achievement that he and Piastri had brought home for their team after a fantastic season for them both. With that, McLaren’s constructor’s trophy drought since 1998 was ended – this years title being their first in both Norris and Piastri’s lifetimes.
The two Ferraris made up the rest of the podium, and although P2 in the team standings was bittersweet for them, neither of them could be faulted for their performances, least of all Leclerc, who’s podium was all the more rewarding after having started on the back row of the grid, and he was also given Driver of the Day as the icing on his race-shaped cake. Hamilton and Russell make up the top 5, and our drivers championship brings it home in P6. Gasly, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Piastri round off the points in what was a very stressful race; but what a wonderful outcome it was in the end.
Hamilton bids an emotional farewell to his Mercedes. Credit: @F1 on X.
So, as we say goodbye to Formula 1 for this year, Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg say goodbye to their current teams – and before we know it, we’ll be waving hello to our new rookies as the 2025 season commences next March.
It’s not as far away as you think. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.
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