Lando Norris has beaten both Ferraris to clinch McLaren the constructor’s championship for the first time in twenty-six years with a five second victory at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Englishman drove a beautiful race to finish comfortably ahead despite his teammate Oscar Piastri was taken out of the battle for victory following a collision with Max Verstappen which dropped him to last.
Norris appeared unphased by the drama and the added pressure on his shoulders knowing that he now needed victory to seal the constructors, and soon started pulling away from the two Ferrari’s boldly throwing down a statement for 2025 to go after the drivers’ championship.
Norris made a great getaway as Piastri was hit from behind by Max Verstappen at the start, sending him into a spin and that dropped him down to last with Verstappen getting a ten-second penalty for causing a collision.
Verstappen made a great start from fourth and tried to go down the inside of the McLaren making contact with them both going into a spin. Piastri coming off worse facing backwards in the run-off as he dropped to last. He then had to stop for tyres and upon rejoining he hit Colapinto and gained a ten-second penalty.
Verstappen looked not to have the pace to challenge for the top five and the collision with Piastri took him out of the fight for victory as he dropped twenty-two second behind Russell. The four-time champion clearly once again disgruntled with the stewards over his penalty.
But that didn’t phase Norris who sealed the constructors with victory, his fifth in what has been a breakthrough season, and a vow to fight for the drivers in 2025. He will surely see 2024 as his breakthrough season and he will look to build on a champions drive with a cool and level-headed drive to have a challenge for a first championship in 2025.
Charles Leclerc had a brilliant race as he recovered from nineteenth to finish third after some brilliant overtakes early on trying to do his bit to try and help Ferrari claim the constructors. But Ferrari never looked to have the pace to challenge Norris and deny McLaren the constructors, as well as confirming Norris as runner-up in the championship and sealing the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy as the highest British or Commonwealth driver in the championship.
Norris said “It feels incredible. Not for myself but for the whole team. They have done an amazing job from where we were at the beginning. I’m so proud of everyone. It’s been a lovely journey. To end the season like this is perfect. For us to win the Constructors’ Championship after 26 years is pretty special.”
Leclerc, finished third: “I knew I had to be very aggressive, I knew in lap one I had to take all the risk possible in order to gain as many places as possible to then be in a good position for the end of the race which this was achieved but unfortunately we were starting too far back to do anything better than what we’ve done today”
Lewis Hamilton finished his final race for Mercedes with a “champions drive”, as team principal Toto Wolff said, from eighteenth to finish fourth four and a half seconds behind Leclerc. it was a champions drive after he was knocked out in Q1 on Saturday, before a long first stint brought he into play pitting with twenty-three laps remaining.
Hamilton then passed teammate George Russell in the closing laps to finish second ahead, the seven-time champion seeing his former team McLaren clinch to constructor and the end of one of the most successful partnerships in sport after sixteen years of being powered by Mercedes and six titles with the works team.
He said, “”The pleasures been mine. We dreamed alone, but together we believed and as a team we achieved things, thank you for all the courage, the determination and the passion for seeing me and supporting me.”
While his long farewell to the team wasn’t what he wanted, it begs the question of what could have been for Hamilton after he was knocked out in Q1. He ran a long opening stint on the durable but slowest hard tyre, which allowed him to make progress through the first half. The seven-time champion rejoined seventh only losing one place with twenty-three laps to go.
Pierre Gasly was seventh as he finished nearly three seconds ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, the Frenchman was passed by Verstappen on lap forty-seven as he slid pass using the tow into Turn Nine. Fernando Alonso was ninth the Aston Martin driver almost a second and a half behind Hulkenberg.
Following his collision on the opening lap and dropping to the back Piastri made a pit stop allowing him to go long, but a penalty for contact with Franco Colapinto earned him a ten-second penalty at his second stop. That only added pressure on Norris to deliver and he kept both Ferrari’s behind him.
Piastri passed and lapped Colapinto’s teammate Alex Albon, in the closing stages of the race. Albon finished the race three and a half seconds ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, while Guanyu Zhou was thirteenth. Lance Stroll was fourteenth and gained a five-second penalty for causing a collision.
Jack Doohan finished his first race ahead of his full-time drive for Alpine next year in fifteenth eight seconds ahead of Kevin Magnussen. Liam Lawson was classified seventeenth after stopping on track with three laps remaining as smoke poured out the rear of his RB.
Both Valtteri Bottas and Colapinto’s races ended with punchers and retirements on lap thirty and twenty-six respectively. But it wasn’t the race that Sergio Perez needed with him facing an uncertain future he retired following a spin on the opening lap.
F1 regroups in Bahrain at the end of February for testing before the opening three races in Melbourne and Asia before returning to the Gulf in April.
Related
- Abu Dhabi GP – Qualifying Result
- ABU DHABI GP – Lando Norris beats Oscar Piastri to pole by two-tenths as McLaren put in pole position to win constructors
- ABU DHABI GP – Oscar Piastri leads Lando Norris by three-tenths in third practice
- ABU DHABI GP – Lando Norris beats Oscar Piastri by two tenths to lead McLaren one-two in second practice
- ABU DHABIGP – Charles Leclerc fastest by two tenths from Lando Norris in FP1, but Ferrari suffers huge setback in championship fight
- Welcome to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – 2024
