Lando Norris dominated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to win and seal a Constructor’s title for his team McLaren, finishing ahead of some great recovery drives. Talking of recovery, our 2024 Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix Result Summary is here and will cure most modern day worries and the cost of living.
This 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Result, Laps that Matter summary, Review & Ratings which gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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Latest 2024 F1 Driver Rankings – from Qatar GP
2024 Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – The final race of F1’s longest season is finally here, a Grand Prix in December seems like madness, but here we are. As for this final race, McLaren are in the box seat locking out the front row with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri, and the swirl of papaya rules aka McLaren team order hanging over the team and race to make it interesting. There’s the constructor’s title to be won between McLaren and Ferrari, and McLaren have the advantage with Charles Leclerc starting 19th due to penalties. Some outstanding performances in other cars saw Nico Hulkenberg qualify 4th, although he dropped to 7th due to a penalty for overtaking in the pit lane tunnel. Pierre Gasly continues his late season surge with 6th, and Valtteri Bottas in what is probably his last race hauled the Sauber into 9th. Bottas will be leaving F1 along with Kevin Magnussen, and likely Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez. Jack Doohan, making his debut for Alpine after they flicked Ocon for the final race qualified last but will start from 17th. Lewis Hamilton in his last race for Mercedes after multiple title and many multiple wins starts from 16th.
GRID (Starting Order) – NOR PIA SAI VER GAS RUS HUL ALO BOT PER
Lap 1 – Lando Norris gets away well, but so does Max Verstappen from 4th and he pulls alongside Oscar Piastri going into the first corner and they touch and both cars spin but thankfully avoid further contact, this shakes up the order behind Norris with Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly taking advantage. Sergio Perez spins off later in the lap and suffers race and career ending damage, looked to be hit by Valtteri Bottas who is also in his final race. Another driver to farewell F1 Kevin Magnussen has made a great start and is 7th. Charles Leclerc has wasted no time from the back of the grid and is up to 8th on the second lap. Oscar Piastri lands 19th after lap one shenanigans and Max Verstappen 11th. So, sort-of advantage Ferrari for team title, but also McLaren who just need Lando Norris to win and nothing else matters. Like Metallica say. Verstappen is just ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and perhaps they could crash for old time’s sake.
ORDER – NOR SAI GAS RUS HUL ALO MAG LEC STR LAW
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Lap 3 – Race resumes with George Russell harassing Pierre Gasly. Further back Oscar Piastri hits Franco Colapinto up the rear without damage to the McLaren. Added to his woes is the investigation into his lap one crash with Verstappen. It looked 50-50, so good luck to stewards blaming Verstappen for that one. Maybe if George Russell was the steward.
Lap 5 – Oscar Piastri changes tyres just as Max Verstappen is announced as the culprit of the turn one clash with Oscar Piastri and receives a ten second penalty, which will make him happy. On further replays, Verstappen could probably grab himself more than 50% of that blame. Note: this website is not English. Valtteri Bottas gets a ten second penalty for clipping Perez too. Won’t be long before Piastri gets one for the Colapinto tap as well.
Lap 7 – Charles Leclerc is up to 7th as he passes Kevin Magnussen. George Russell is unable to do the same to Pierre Gasly despite similarly following the car in front closely. Meanwhile the top two are cruising with three seconds gap between them and the cars behind.
ORDER – NOR SAI GAS RUS HUL ALO LEC MAG VER STR
Lap 9 – Oscar Piastri gets his own ten second penalty for hitting Colapinto. McLaren still have a hand on the team title, as long as Lando Norris leads. Which he is doing easily.
Lap 10 – Charles Leclerc reduces the McLaren lead of the team title to 21 points after passing Fernando Alonso for 6th, with Alonso possibly surprised to be as high, after bagging his car earlier in the weekend.
Lap 13 – Charles Leclerc gains a place at the expense of Nico Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen follows suit on Fernando Alonso. This leaves Leclerc 5th and Verstappen 7th. Meanwhile Lando Norris is 3.5 second ahead of Carlos Sainz who is nearly eight second in front of Gasly.
ORDER – NOR SAI GAS RUS LEC HUL VER ALO HAM LAW
Lap 15 – Pierre Gasly pits and rejoins 10th behind his rookie team mate Jack Doohan who duly hands him 9th. Two laps later Gasly is up to 8th. He is driving so well in this last part of the season.
Lap 17 – Lance Stroll is already on his last warning for track limits. Thankfully for him this track doesn’t appear to have gravel traps.
Lap 21 – Charles Leclerc pits from 4th place, yes 4th after starting 19th. He rejoins ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and behind Pierre Gasly in 8th. The cars that were in front of him are looking comfortable-ish. Norris has four second to Sainz, while Russell is a full 15 second behind Sainz.
ORDER – NOR SAI RUS VER HAM LAW GAS LEC HUL TSU
Lap 26 – Carlos Sainz is going for the undercut on Lando Norris and pits for new tyres. Liam Lawson had a much less successful pit stop aftermath and is seen cruising with something wrong with his car.
Lap 27 – McLaren respond with a pit stop of their own, and McLaren match the Ferrari effort and Lando Norris stays in the lead. But the gap is down to 1.5 seconds. Further back and less interesting is George Russell pitting and falling behind Pierre Gasly. Although don’t feel too bad for George Russell, he took the place half a lap later.
Lap 28 – Franco Colapinto retires, likely damage from Piastri the cause. He has gone backwards since Red Bull announced they were interested in him for next year. Those waiting for Piastri news will be whelmed by his current 10th place.
Lap 30 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres and a ten second stop. He rejoins in 11th behind Lance Stroll and will be seeking insurance policies. Max Verstappen announces over the team radio that the stewards should have given him 20 seconds and described them as idiots. The F1 bosses won’t like that, but he probably doesn’t care.
Lap 31 – Further back and talking about 20 seconds, Valtteri Bottas punts Kevin Magnussen into a big spin into the hairpin. His second collision of the race. Sadly he knocks himself out of the race and ruins whatever race Kevin Magnussen had going. Debris on the track could lead to a safety car. Although after last race’s mirror-work, maybe not. A Safety Car would help the currently pit-less Lewis Hamilton.
Lap 33 – Oscar Piastri pits for new tyres and a ten second penalty. He rejoins 15th, but could be one to watch for some midfield fun as the race winds down.
Lap 35 – No safety car for Lewis Hamilton, so he pits, and takes the faster medium tyres. He rejoins 7th and could be even more fun than Oscar Piastri. Not hard. Oscar doesn’t seem to be the fun type.
Lap 37 – With all the pit stops done, the end result up front is the same with Lando Norris three seconds up on Sainz. Charles Leclerc is third but 20 second behind. George Russell is four seconds or so behind that. The next two are the surprises of the race so far.
ORDER – NOR SAI LEC RUS GAS HUL HAM VER ALO ALB
Lap 43 – A charging Lewis Hamilton slides past Pierre Gasly for 5th having already dealt with Hulkenberg after his pit stop. This will hopefully give him a smile to end his Mercedes life with.
Lap 46 – Max Verstappen demotes Pierre Gasly back to the midfield as he passes him for 6th. But best of the rest is a deserved title for Gasly. Piastri has a big moment running wide while trying to steal 11th place from Yuki Tsunoda. Piastri might get a point if he is lucky. It won’t matter for the team title with Lando Norris still leading. Piastri does take 11th on Lap 48. As does Tsunoda on Piastri with DRS next straight. And Piastri settles it for good on lap 49. Piastri may be getting a move on as he can see his team mate in his mirrors to lap him.
Lap 54 – Oscar Piastri grabs the final point of the race by taking Alex Albon. His team mate Lando Norris is closing in to lap him, which will ruin his record as the only driver to complete every lap of the season.
Lap 56 – Lewis Hamilton is catching his team mate George Russell for 4th, but will probably fall short.
FINAL LAP – Lando Norris reappears on the TV Coverage to cruise over the finish line and take the win and title for his team McLaren. A first since 1998. Ferrari tried their hardest, with Carlos Sainz solid in 2nd all race and Leclerc carving through the field early from 19th on the grid to end up 3rd. Lewis Hamilton’s soft tyres worked a treat and he passed George Russell on the last lap for fourth.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR SAI LEC HAM RUS VER GAS HUL ALO PIA
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – CHARLES LECLERC
A great drive from the back of the grid. Replays of his first lap look like someone driving an F1 game online with super powers. Made it as far as third
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LANDO NORRIS – Pretty hard to not win Driver of the Race after winning from pole but here we are. Got a good start and kept pole position for a change and avoiding incident unlike his team mate. Sealed second in the Championship, which is the least he deserved. So solid this weekend, needs to continue that into next season for a season long title battle.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Up to 4th from 16th and a nice show of his skill that has been rare in 2024.
PIERRE GASLY – Has been outstanding in recent qualifying and continues to back it up in race where allowed by machinery.
NICO HULKENBERG – Fourth on the gird is the qualifying magnificence you expect from the Hulk from time to time. He raced ok and got another swag of point.
CARLOS SAINZ – Solid second best showing in the race and third in qualifying.
VALTTERI BOTTAS – Forget the first lap clash with Perez, qualifying 9th in the Sauber was mighty enough. As is his hearty moustache.
THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ
Sergio Perez signs off his career in style with an unlucky DNF. Sure his spin and subsequent retirement weren’t his fault, but mediocrity in qualifying means you are closer to Saubers and Strolls than not, and therefore more likely to meet with trouble. Although his higher placed team mate also found lap one trouble. But his team mate also won’t lose his job.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
VALTTERI BOTTAS – In both categories as the dishonorable was deserved too. Ruined a brilliant 9th in qualifying with two separate accidents, the first gave him a ten second penalty, the second a career ending DNF.
OSCAR PIASTRI – Qualified second and was last not much after the first corner. Although the accident wasn’t his fault, ramming the rear of Franco Colapinto certainly was and he had to wear a ten second penalty anyway.
LANCE STROLL – A mediocre weekend without too much incident, but sad when you remember he is staying in F1 next season and will have an Adrian Newey car.
POTENTIAL RED BULL DRIVERS IN 2025 – It appears no one wants that Red Bull drive in 2025 based on this race. Maybe Red Bull can save money and enter just one car.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10
An exciting first lap which saw two front runners collide and ruin their races. Some great drives from the back of the field from Leclerc, Hamilton and the recovering Verstappen and Piastri. Some great midfield dicing and Leclerc’s 19th to 8th start was sensational. Thinned out a bit towards the end but still good enough.
ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5
First corner clash between Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri was a surprise enough, and then there were the great underdog performances in qualifying from Hulkenberg, Gasly and Bottas.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5
With the final race sorting out all the various driver and team placing, it doesn’t much more important.
ENDING 4 / 10
A Mercedes battle highlighted the final laps, a battle that few care about and presume Max Verstappen doesn’t care at all about. The front three were cruising and the midfield quiet.
OVERALL RATING 20 / 30
A first corner bingle shaking up the order, some great drives from the back, decent amount of overtaking. A few surprises. The race ticked a lot of boxes, and without the controversy that Abu Dhabi can provide in the past.
2024 F1 Race Rankings
R23 – Qatar Grand Prix.…19/30
R22 – Las Vegas Grand Prix.…23/30
R21 – Brazilian Grand Prix.…23/30
R20 – Mexican Grand Prix….24/30
R19 – US Grand Prix….23/30
R18 – Singapore Grand Prix…10/30
R17 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix…25/30
R16 – Italian Grand Prix…21/30
R15 – Dutch Grand Prix…15/30
R14 – Belgian Grand Prix…23/30
R13 – Hungarian Grand Prix…19/30
R12 – British Grand Prix…25/30
R11 – Austrian Grand Prix…27/30
R10 – Spanish Grand Prix…19/30
R09 – Canadian Grand Prix…22/30
R08 – Monaco Grand Prix…17/30
R07 – Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix…23/30
R06 – Miami Grand Prix…23/30
R05 – Chinese Grand Prix…15/30
R04 – Japanese Grand Prix…18/30
R03 – Australian Grand Prix…23/30
R02 – Saudi Arabia Grand Prix…9/30
R01 – Bahrain Grand Prix…13/30
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Why not check the latest race ratings – 2024 Qatar Grand Prix Ratings
Or our 2024 F1 Half Season Report.
