Norris sails to victory ahead of Sainz and Leclerc in Abu Dhabi as McLaren seal constructors’ championship

Lando Norris has brought the 2024 season to a close in style by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in dominant form, the Briton putting in an assured drive to claim victory and also help McLaren to 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 a punishment of his own 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 team mate Carlos Sainz, which confirmed that the constructors’ crown had gone to the papaya squad.

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 team mates 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 with 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. Jack Doohan’s debut for Alpine, meanwhile, 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 went on to record a DNF amid continued speculation over whether he will return next season.

AS IT HAPPENED

After three practice sessions followed by an eventful qualifying hour – which saw Norris claim his eighth pole position of the year, with team mate Piastri joining him on the front row in a McLaren lockout – it was time to prepare for the 2024 season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

A number of alterations had been made to the starting order prior to the event after four drivers received penalties. Hulkenberg dropped from an impressive fourth to seventh due to overtaking cars in the pit lane in qualifying, while Leclerc found himself down in 19th thanks to a 10-place grid drop for taking on a new energy store.

Meanwhile the Williams duo of Albon and Colapinto were penalised for using additional gearbox components, putting them in P18 and P20 respectively. But of the many plotlines still to be tied up in this race, much focus was on the battle at the front between McLaren and Ferrari for the constructors’ championship, a prize that would be long-awaited for both sides.

When all of the cars had lined up on the grid and the tyre blankets were removed, it was confirmed that most of the field had opted to start on the medium tyres – with the exception of Hamilton, using the hard compound to begin his last race as a Mercedes driver from P16 on the grid.

As the lights went out for the season finale, Norris made a smooth start from pole but there was trouble for Piastri, the Australian suffering a spin after contact with Verstappen into Turn 1 which sent both cars down the field. Further back the other Red Bull of Perez also spun, leading to the Mexican stopping out on track.

The stricken RB20 led to a Virtual Safety Car being called as Perez stepped out of his car, bringing his challenging season to an end. This left Norris to lead from Sainz, Gasly, Russell and Hulkenberg, while Leclerc had gained a whopping 11 places to run in eighth. Had Ferrari now bolstered their chances of scoring a constructors’ win?

As the VSC ended on Lap 3, replays showed Piastri tagging the rear of Colapinto’s Williams – and there was further bad news for the Australian as the stewards confirmed they would investigate the incident between himself and Verstappen at the start. By the time he had emerged back on track after a pit stop, the world champion had been hit with a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.

When told of this news over the radio, Piastri responded: “Good.” Meanwhile further footage from the start also highlighted that contact between Bottas and Perez had caused the latter’s spin, leading the stewards to also penalise the Finn by handing out the same penalty.

By the time Lap 8 had ticked down, there was further work for the stewards who confirmed that they would next investigate the collision between Piastri and Colapinto. Elsewhere Leclerc was a man on a mission, the Monegasque having picked off Magnussen to take P7, while Verstappen was the next to overtake the Dane.

Piastri’s difficult afternoon took another turn when he was handed a 10-second penalty for hitting Colapinto, an incident that forced the Argentinian to pit after reporting a puncture. Team mate Norris was having a much better time of it, the Briton having built up a lead of 3.4s over Sainz by Lap 11.

Leclerc was making further moves after snatching fifth from Hulkenberg, while Verstappen had also progressed following an overtake on Alonso for eighth. Some early pit stops started to take place on Laps 13 and 14, with Magnussen making a slow stop to drop him down the order following a strong start, before team mate Hulkenberg enjoyed a much quicker visit to the pits.

Alpine, meanwhile, decided to pit Gasly from P3 after coming under pressure from a chasing Russell, bringing the Alpine back out in P9 ahead of new team mate Doohan on his F1 race debut. Meanwhile the stewards confirmed that Zhou had been given a five-second time penalty for a false start, marking further disappointing news for Kick Sauber.

Norris reported that his tyres were feeling okay as Lap 17 arrived, with the leader continuing to eke out his gap back to Sainz. Elsewhere Gasly got ahead of former team mate Tsunoda to claim P8 and, despite a brief fightback from the RB, managed to maintain the position.

With all eyes on when the frontrunners would pit, Leclerc became the first to do so on Lap 21, bringing the Ferrari back out in eighth following his fighting start to the race. The question was then whether Russell in third would follow suit to cover off Leclerc, but the Mercedes remained out on track.

“I can maintain this pace,” Russell reported to his engineer, before Leclerc continued his determined effort by moving up into seventh ahead of Lawson – with Gasly next in sights. By Lap 24 Norris continued to lead from Sainz, Russell, Verstappen and Hamilton, all of whom had yet to pit.

There was a problem for Lawson when the New Zealander emerged from his pit stop with a loose wheel, prompting RB to bring him back into the pits to fix the issue. Meanwhile there was further action in the pit lane as Norris smoothly made his stop before returning back into the lead, while Russell soon followed and dropped down to seventh.

Sainz had also pitted in second, with Verstappen and Hamilton behind him in third and fourth yet to stop. And further back the race looked to be over for Colapinto, the Williams driver being called into the pits to retire the car.

Hamilton received a shot of motivation in fourth, having been informed that a potential podium could be on the cards. Elsewhere on Lap 30, Verstappen visited the pits for his stop where he also served his penalty, bringing him back out in P11.

There was drama just one lap later after a huge lock-up for Bottas resulted in the Finn running into Magnussen, the Kick Sauber subsequently suffering a puncture before limping back to the pits and retiring from the race.

Piastri headed into the pits on Lap 33, a lengthy stop given that the Australian also served his 10-second penalty. This brought him back out in P15 – but up ahead, Norris remained in P1 ahead of Sainz and Hamilton, the latter the only man in the field still to pit on those original hard tyres.

Hamilton’s pit stop finally came on Lap 35, with the Briton emerging back on track in seventh on the medium tyres. Behind him were two fellow world champions in the form of Alonso and Verstappen, the 2024 title holder trying to get past the Aston Martin for P8 – a move he subsequently pulled off on Lap 36.

It did not take long for Hamilton to start cutting the gap to Hulkenberg up ahead, with the deficit soon down to just 0.6s. By Lap 41 the seven-time world champion had made the move as he looked to end his Mercedes chapter on a high. Meanwhile Alonso had pitted again – would those embarking on a two-stop strategy see a pay-off?

Next on Hamilton’s radar was Gasly, the Silver Arrows quickly picking off the Alpine. After asking about the gap up ahead to team mate Russell in fourth, Hamilton seemed taken aback that the answer was “14 seconds” – only to then be told: “You can do that.”

Another man on the move was Verstappen, who took P7 from Hulkenberg. Up front, Norris held a four-second lead from Sainz, with Leclerc following in third ahead of Russell, Hamilton and Gasly.

Further back, Piastri narrowly avoided a big moment at Turn 12 after getting a snap, the McLaren man’s recovery drive having seen him climb up to 12th place. The #81 car had RB’s Tsunoda in his sights in the scrap for 11th – while Hamilton had closed the gap to Russell down to eight seconds. Would an intra-team fight unfold between the team mates in the closing stages?

Ferrari looked to be playing mind games after appearing in the pit lane on Lap 52, hinting at a stop for one of their drivers – only to go back into the garage. Meanwhile Sainz was reassured that all was okay after reporting that he may have run over something.

As the final laps ticked down, Leclerc quizzed his engineer on how far behind Sainz was from Norris – resulting in a sweary response from the Monegasque when he was given the information, with Ferrari’s chances of stealing the constructors’ crown seemingly diminished.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff took to the radio to request Russell keep any battling with Hamilton clean, the latter rapidly closing in on his team mate. But up front Norris had no such concerns, the Briton taking the chequered flag to clinch victory as well as confirming that McLaren had won their first constructors’ title since 1998.

Sainz was 5.8s down the road in second on his final outing for Ferrari, while Leclerc took third to mark a double Scuderia podium, perhaps some consolation on a day where the squad saw their bid for the teams’ championship fall short.

Behind them, the fight between the Mercedes drivers was heating up – and it was Hamilton who ultimately took the position, marking an impressive recovery from P16 on the grid. Russell had to settle for fifth, while Verstappen ended his championship-winning campaign in sixth.

Gasly took P7 for Alpine – which also confirmed that the Enstone squad had won the battle for sixth place in the constructors’ championship – with Hulkenberg, Alonso and Piastri rounding out the top 10.

Albon was the first of the non-points scorers in 11th, ahead of Tsunoda in 12th, Zhou in 13th on his last weekend for Kick Sauber and Stroll in 14th. Doohan, meanwhile, crossed the line in 15th on his debut for Alpine.

Magnussen ended his time with Haas down in P16, the Dane the last of the classified runners in Abu Dhabi. Lawson was a late retiree after being forced to pull his smoking RB off track in the final laps.

Bottas, Colapinto and Perez rounded out those who failed to finish the season finale, with the former pair not having found a seat on the grid in 2025 while the latter’s future remains unclear after a tough season.

Key quote

"It feels incredible, not for myself but for the whole team," said Norris. "The team have done an amazing job this year to come from where we were at the beginning. I’m so proud of everyone – it’s been a lovely journey, and to end the season like this is perfect, so just a congrats and big thank you to everyone in McLaren, everyone in papaya, everyone who supported us this year because it’s been a tough one. For us to win a constructors’ after 26 years is pretty special."

What's next

The race has brought the 2024 F1 season to a close, but cars will return to the Yas Marina Circuit next week for post-season testing on December 10. Looking ahead, 2025 pre-season testing takes place in Bahrain on February 26, 27 and 28, before the action begins again when the 2025 campaign kicks off in Australia on March 14-16.