Written by Marcus Woodhouse
Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the final race of a tremendous 2024 season of Formula 1. We arrive in Abu Dhabi with the Drivers’ Championship already wrapped up, but all to play for in the Constructors’. We will see new drivers entering the fray, departing drivers making their final remarks, and legendary drivers moving on to pastures new. So strap yourselves in one final time for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Last Race Recap
In the penultimate round of the 2024 season, Qatar played host to the final Sprint weekend of the year and it was one to remember. The Grand Prix started on Friday with Sprint Qualifying, which Lando Norris dominated ahead of George Russell, while Max Verstappen was only sixth. Sergio Perez qualified 16th, only for the team to replace some parts of his car and put him in the pit lane for lights out, alongside Franco Colapinto.
On Saturday, the 19-lap race commenced with delight for McLaren as Oscar Piastri passed Russell at the start, while there was more despair at Red Bull as Verstappen lost places and Colapinto managed to overtake a slow-moving Perez from their pit lane start. The theme of the Sprint race revealed itself on Lap 4, as Russell began his onslaught of Piastri but was unable to find a way past for the moment.
Verstappen blasted past Pierre Gasly to return to the points in P8, while it took Charles Leclerc half a lap of fierce wheel-to-wheel racing with his soon-to-be teammate Lewis Hamilton to get up to P5. The Russell vs Piastri affair came to the fore on Lap 14, when it seemed to all the world that Russell would have the inside line and make the overtake stick heading into Turn 1, but aggressive defending from Piastri kept the Brit behind him.
Credit: LAT Images / Mercedes-Benz Archive
The margins remained narrow until the end, but there was no way through for Russell and it was looking like Norris was going to lead home his teammate for a McLaren 1-2. However, despite the call from McLaren to hold position, he let Piastri by right before the chequered flag to repay him for his compliance with team orders in Brazil a few weeks before. It wasn’t without risk as Russell was waiting to pounce behind, but no harm was done and Piastri took the victory.
Qualifying was next, and Verstappen looked to have bounced back perfectly from his Sprint struggles to take pole position ahead of Russell. The stewards had other ideas though, and the Dutchman was penalised with a rare one-place grid drop for impeding Russell when both drivers were on a slowdown lap. With Verstappen now P2 on the grid behind Russell, Norris and Piastri filled out the second row, ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton, and Sainz.
Verstappen was out for blood come race day, and he breezed past Russell into Turn 1, and despite Norris following him through and pulling up alongside him, he had enough pace to maintain the lead from the start. Behind them, Hamilton dropped places after a false start which soon earned him a five second time penalty as well. The safety car had to be deployed when Nico Hulkenberg locked up and drifted into the side of Esteban Ocon, who in turn smashed into Colapinto. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll was given a ten second time penalty for understeering into Alex Albon.
On the restart, Liam Lawson couldn’t turn his car and earned himself a ten second time penalty for colliding with Valtteri Bottas, but the order at the front remained fairly unchanging. Yuki Tsunoda lost three places in quick succession after three spectacular overtakes from Kevin Magnussen, Gasly, and Fernando Alonso respectively. Then, a slow stop for Russell on Lap 24 fed him into traffic and jeopardised his race strategy.
The real drama of the race came when Albon’s mirror came off and eventually settled in the middle of the main straight. In response, the martials flew the double waved yellow flags, but there was some confusion in Norris’ mind and he failed to lift off on one particular lap. Verstappen ahead made sure to lift off into the next corner, then promptly reported his rival to the stewards via his race engineer.
Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
It wasn’t deemed necessary to remove the mirror, but it caused problems when Bottas drove into it and shattered it all over the race track. Both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz suffered punctures after running over the debris, so the safety car was eventually called out. It took them through the pit lane to allow the debris to be picked up, but Hamilton was caught out and overshot his speed going into the pit lane speed limit, then braking heavily and forcing Norris to lock both his front tyres. The Mercedes man was then handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
The safety car peeled in again and Norris was all over Verstappen going into Turn 1, but found no way past the world champion. Further down the order, Perez spun his Red Bull on cold tyres and suffered a clutch failure as a result, putting him out of the race. In similar fashion, Hulkenberg spun off and into the gravel, ending a disappointing day for the German. The news then came through of a ten second stop-go penalty for Norris for failing to slow under yellow flags.
Norris was forced to serve the penalty imminently, and so he emerged all the way down in P14. Entertainment came next from Magnussen, who was forced into the gravel by Albon on his first attempt at an overtake, but swept past on the second attempt and let off some fruity language on the team radio to voice his triumph. That overtake put Albon out of the points as well, as Norris sliced through the field to take P10 and claim an extra point for the fastest lap.
With Norris way down the order, no one could come close to Verstappen who took victory, leading home Leclerc with Piastri breathing down his neck. Russell could only convert pole to fourth on race day, ahead of Gasly who took home a vital haul of points for Alpine in their fight for P6 in the Constructors’ Championship. Sainz and Alonso were next, while Zhou Guanyu was given Driver of the Day for his P8 finish, ahead of Magnussen and Norris.
Circuit Guide
Credit: Formula 1
It’s a short run down to Turn 1 at the Yas Marina Circuit, and overtaking is less of a priority through Turns 2, 3, and 4 than simply keeping the car on the track. Maintaining track position is even an advantage, as the DRS (Drag Reduction System) detection point comes right after, and the upcoming straight is one where DRS is crucial.
Turn 5 is a wide hairpin, where a sneaky overtake is possible such as Verstappen on Hamilton in 2021, but the passes tend to be made on the monstrous 1.2 km (0.75 mile) DRS straight that comes after. Eventually the drivers make it down to Turn 6, a heavy braking zone which can easily be overshot, before the quick right-hander over the curb of Turn 7 immediately after.
Another DRS zone follows, but it is less of a straight and more of a bend down to the high-speed hairpin of Turn 9. Turns 10 and 11 are taken flat out but 12 requires lower speeds, and can easily catch the drivers out on the approach. Turns 13 and 14 keep the speed relatively low until they can put their foot to the floor around Turn 15, before slingshotting round Turn 16 to head back onto the start-finish straight and complete the lap.
Major Talking Points
Who will win the Constructors’ Championship? - McLaren come to Abu Dhabi with a 21 point lead over Ferrari, with Red Bull a further 38 points behind and out of contention, so all the Papaya team need to do to secure the trophy is take 24 points on Sunday, or even less if Ferrari finish down the order.
Hamilton’s fond Mercedes farewell - The seven-time world champion has won six of those at Mercedes following a risky move there from McLaren in 2013, and he will be bidding an emotional farewell to all those at his team ahead of his switch to Ferrari for 2025.
Credit: Sebastian Kawka / Mercedes-Benz Archive
Will this be the final race in F1 for some? - Bottas, Zhou, Magnussen, and Colapinto are all driving this weekend without a drive for next season, while the driver pairings at Red Bull and RB for 2025 are yet to be confirmed, so it could be the last time we see some big names compete in Formula 1, or they may be back in the near future.
How will Doohan fare on debut? - After the shock announcement of Ocon being dropped for his last race at Alpine to give Jack Doohan a run out in Abu Dhabi, there will be a lot of eyes on the young rookie and how he performs ahead of his full debut season at the team next year.
What will be said about the Verstappen-Russell feud? - Tensions flared last weekend as Verstappen was left feeling attacked by Russell in front of the stewards when he received his one-place grid drop, and his post-race comments were nothing if not inflammatory, while Russell has yet to comment.
Weather Forecast
Sunny and dry are the watchwords for all three days of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with no rain on the radar and high track temperatures keeping the strategists on their toes.
Weekend Schedule (in GMT)
Practice 1 - Friday, 09:30
Practice 2 - Friday, 13:00
Practice 3 - Saturday, 10:30
Qualifying - Saturday, 14:00
Race - Sunday, 13:00
Broadcast Information
Region | Channel |
Africa | SuperSport |
Albania | Euronews Albania |
Armenia | FastSports |
Australia | Fox SportsFoxtelKayo |
Austria | Servus TVORF |
Azerbaijan | AzTVIdman Azerbaijan |
Belgium | RTBF Play Sports |
Bosnia | Sport Klub |
Brazil | TV BandeirantesBandsports |
Bulgaria | Nova Diema Sport |
Cambodia | beIN SPORTS |
Canada | RDS RDS 2 TSN Noovo |
Caribbean | Rush Sports |
China | CCTV Shanghai TV Guangdong Television Channel Tencent |
Chinese Taipei | Videoland ELTA |
Croatia | Sport Klub |
Cyprus | Cytavision |
Czech Republic & Slovakia | Nova |
Denmark | TV3 Viaplay |
Estonia | Viaplay Go3 Estonia |
Eurasia | Setanta Sports |
Finland | Viaplay V Sport 1 |
France | Canal+ |
Germany | Sky Deutschland |
Greece | ANT1 ANT1+ |
Hong Kong | beIN SPORTS Now Sports 1 & 2 |
Hungary | M4 (MTVA Sports Channel) |
Iceland | Viaplay |
India | FanCode/F1 TV |
Indonesia | beIN SPORTS |
In-ship & In-flight | Sport 24 Sport 24 Extra |
Israel | Sport 5 |
Italy | Sky Italia |
Japan | Fuji TV DAZN |
Kosovo | Sport Klub Artmotion Kosovo |
Laos | beIN SPORTS |
Latin America | ESPN |
Latvia | Viaplay GO3 Latvia |
Lithuania | Viaplay GO3 Lithuania |
Luxembourg | RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg |
Macedonia | Sport Klub |
Malaysia & Brunei | beIN SPORTS |
Malta | Go Sports |
Mexico | Fox Sports Mexico |
Montenegro | SportKlub |
Myanmar | Canal+ Sports Canal+ ACTION |
Netherlands | Viaplay |
New Zealand | Sky NZ |
Norway | V sport 1 Viaplay |
Papua New Guinea & Pacific Islands | TVWAN Sports |
Philippines | beIN SPORTS |
Poland | Viaplay |
Portugal | Sport TV |
Romania | Antena |
Serbia | SportKlub |
Singapore | beIN SPORTS |
Slovenia | SportKlub |
South Korea | Coupang Play |
Spain & Andorra | DAZN |
Sweden | Viaplay V sport motor TV10 |
Switzerland | SRF RSI RTS |
Thailand | beIN Sports |
Turkey | beIN Sports |
Ukraine | Setanta Ukraine |
United Kingdom | Sky Sports Channel 4 |
USA | ESPN ESPN Deportes |
Vietnam | K+ |
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