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POWER RANKINGS: Who ended the season on a high note during the finale in Abu Dhabi?
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Lando Norris closed out the 2024 F1 season by taking victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on a weekend that saw McLaren seal their first constructors’ championship since 1998. Ferrari, meanwhile, missed out on the accolade but did still have something to celebrate after a strong comeback drive from Charles Leclerc to claim P3. But who else impressed our judges at the Yas Marina Circuit? Scroll down to check out the final Power Rankings leaderboard.
How it works
o Our five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and score them out of 10 according to their performance across the weekend – taking machinery out of the equation
o Our experts’ scores are then averaged out to produce a race score – with those scores then tallied up across the season on our overall Power Rankings Leaderboard (at the bottom of the page)
READ MORE: 5 Winners and 5 Losers from Abu Dhabi – Who signed off their season in style?
For our Power Rankings judges, Lando Norris delivered perfection on the final race weekend of the 2024 season – making a statement with pole position and victory to enter the winter break in style. His triumph was also crucial in terms of McLaren securing the constructors’ championship, given that the Ferraris were waiting to pounce on any issues in second and third.
Charles Leclerc started Sunday’s race all the way down in 19th position thanks to a 10-place power unit-related grid penalty and a surprise early exit from qualifying. However, the Monegasque lit up the track from the outset, picking off rival cars to work his way into the podium places and support team mate Carlos Sainz at the chequered flag.
There were all sorts of emotions for Sainz to deal with while he contested his final race weekend as a Ferrari driver. The Spaniard expertly put them to one side to qualify third behind McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and then lead Ferrari’s charge in the race. It was not quite a win, or enough to land the constructors’ title, but he finished the chapter in style.
READ MORE: Leclerc tops post-season test in Abu Dhabi as Sainz, Ocon and more debut for new teams
Pierre Gasly ended the campaign as one of the sport’s in-form drivers, adding to strong results in Brazil and Qatar with another run to Q3 and points at Yas Marina. Starting from P5, the Frenchman pounced on Max Verstappen and Piastri’s Turn 1 clash to run third and fend off George Russell for several laps. He dropped to seventh as the pit stops played out, but it was more than enough to clinch P6 in the constructors’.
After showing strong pace in practice, Lewis Hamilton’s farewell to Mercedes took a disastrous turn when he got knocked out in Q1 via a meeting with a loose bollard. It only set up a classic recovery drive, though, as the seven-time world champion surged forward to turn 16th on the grid into fourth – overtaking team mate George Russell on the final lap with a stunning move.
Nico Hulkenberg put up a valiant fight in a bid to help Haas beat Alpine to sixth in the championship standings, qualifying seventh and coming home eighth on race day. While it was not quite enough to achieve that goal, the German saw out his stint with the squad on a positive note and underlined the talent he will be taking to the Kick Sauber/Audi operation.
There’s no denying that Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin have experienced a challenging season, but the double champion rung the neck of his car in Abu Dhabi to make it into the pole position shoot-out and top up the team’s points tally with a P9 finish. In the Spaniard’s words, now it’s time for a “little reset”, but he already feels “ready to go” as driver and team look to rejoin the fight at the front in 2025.
THIS WEEK IN F1: 10 quiz questions on the season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Russell arrived at Yas Marina off the back of victory in Las Vegas and pole position in Qatar, but the Briton and Mercedes had no answer to McLaren and Ferrari’s raw pace. In the absence of his team mate he led the Silver Arrows’ charge in qualifying to grab a P6 grid slot, before progressing to fifth in the race. However, Hamilton’s later stop – and tyre offset – proved decisive in the intra-team battle.
Piastri shadowed team mate Norris in qualifying to put McLaren in the perfect position when it came to the constructors’ championship. His race was flipped on its head at the first corner, though, where Max Verstappen tipped him into a spin and was given a 10-second time penalty. Piastri then earned the same sanction for running into the back of Franco Colapinto’s Williams and ultimately crossed the line in 10th.
Piastri’s recovery to the points denied Alex Albon and Williams what would have been a morale-boosting result after their difficult run of incident-filled race weekends. The Thai driver climbed up the order from P18 to challenge for a reward, only to be overhauled by the Australian in the closing stages. Still, it marked a more encouraging race for the Grove squad as they head into the winter.
Missing out
It was departing F1 driver Kevin Magnussen who just failed to make the cut on what looks to be his final race weekend in the sport, the Dane showing impressive pace at times but having his race majorly undone after a crash with Valtteri Bottas.
He was narrowly ahead of 2024 champion Max Verstappen, who failed to impress this weekend despite capping off the year as the second-most feted driver in our Power Rankings, behind Norris.
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