@LandoNorris takes dominant #AbuDhabiGP victory as @McLarenF1 wrap up Constructor’s title. #F1

Norris Abu Dhabi GP Victory – Lando Norris cruised to a dominant fourth victory of his career as he lead his McLaren team to it’s first World Constructor’s Championship crown since 1998 and ahead of the Ferrari duo with Carlos Sainz taking second in his final race with the Maranello squad before joining Williams in 2025 as Charles Leclerc completed the podium for the Scuderia.

 

 

Norris lead a flawless race from start-to-finish to complete a solid weekend for the Woking based-outfit as his team-mate Oscar Piastri finished down in 10^th and took the final point on offer after enduring a difficult race, which began on the opening lap after suffering a collision with four-time world champion Max Verstappen and then being hit with a ten-second timed-penalty for causing a tangle with Williams’ Franco Colapinto.

 

McLaren wrapped up their ninth World Constructor’s Championship by 14 points over Ferrari to break their 26 year drought.

 

When the 58 lap Abu Dhabi GP began, pole-sitter Norris made a getaway into turn one as behind him, Verstappen made a divebomb onto Piastri on the inside into turn one as both drivers spun and collided out at the exit of the corner.

 

Further down into turn six, the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez also spun out and stopped – becoming the first retiree of the race.

 

At the beginning of the second tour, Norris held a 1.232 second gap over Sainz with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly third, Mercedes’ George Russell fourth, Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg fifth, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso sixth, the other Haas VF-24 entry of Kevin Magnussen seventh, Leclerc recovered from 19^th all the way up to eighth, the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll ninth as RB’s Liam Lawson completed the top ten.

 

The Virtual Safety Car was out to recover Perez’s RB20 racer.

 

When the VSC ended on the third tour, third-placed Gasly had Russell for company as the latter had a look on the Alpine into turn nine, but the Frenchman covered the Mercedes driver to hold the place.

 

Piastri down at the rear suffered a lock-up and ran into the back of Williams’ Colapinto and damaged his front wing as the latter suffered a puncture.

 

Both drivers came in for a new front wing (Piastri) and fresh tyres for both drivers being the C3 harder compounds.

 

The fifth lap saw race leader Norris’s lead over Sainz at 2.7 seconds with Gasly third, Russell fourth, Hulkenberg fifth, Alonso sixth, Magnussen seventh, Leclerc eighth, Stroll ninth as now four-time world champion Verstappen completed the top ten runners.

 

Verstappen was hit with a ten-second timed-penalty by the race stewards for causing a collision with Piastri.

 

On the seventh lap, Leclerc continued his charge as with DRS assistance on the first back straight made a move on Magnussen’s VF-24 racer and passed the Dane before reaching the turns six and seven sequence to move up into seventh place.

 

The ninth tour saw Piastri also hit with a ten second timed penalty for causing a collision with Colapinto.

 

Verstappen in the battle for eighth overtook Magnussen on the inside into the turn left-hand hairpin.

 

Lap 10 saw Norris’s lead at 3.202 seconds over Sainz with Gasly third, Russell fourth, Hulkenberg fifth as Leclerc passed Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso on the back straight with DRS assistance on the inside towards the turns six and seven chicane.

 

Further back, Sauber’s 13^th-placed Zhou Guanyu was under investigation for a false start

 

On lap 12 in the fight for fifth place, Leclerc made a move around the inside of Hulkenberg at the turn nine left-hand hairpin to take the position.

 

Meanwhile on lap 13, ninth-placed Magnussen pitted from ninth for a fresh set of hards came out in 15^th place behind Piastri’s McLaren.

 

On the following tour, both Hulkenberg and Alonso pitted for their fresh sets of the white-marked C3’s and re-joined in 11^th and 12^th respectively.

 

The 15 lap saw Norris’s lead at 3.661 seconds over Sainz as third-placed Gasly stopped for his fresh set of hards and came out in tenth place. Russell moved up into third with Leclerc now fourth, Verstappen fifth, Hamilton sixth, the two RB’s of Lawson and Tsunoda in seventh and eighth as the two Alpine’s of Doohan and Gasly rounded out the top ten.

 

17^th-placed Sauber of Zhou was hit with a five-second timed penalty for his false start.

 

In the battle for eighth place Gasly made a move on the inside to take the place for Tsunoda on the rundown to the turns six and seven left and right as the latter made a charge to take the place back on the second back straight with DRS and made the overtake on the inside of the turn nine left-hand hairpin, but Gasly managed to nudge ahead and hold the place as they ran towards the turns 11, 12 and 13 sequence.

 

On the 20^th lap, Norris’s lead was at 4.277 seconds over Sainz with Russell holding third, Leclerc right behind in fourth, Verstappen fifth as Hamilton sixth as Lawson completed the top seven as all drivers are yet-to-pit.

 

Meanwhile on the 21^st lap, fourth-placed Leclerc pitted for his fresh set of the C3 hards in an attempt to undercut third-placed Russell and returned in eighth place behind Gasly’s Alpine.

 

On the 23^rd lap both Tsunoda and Doohan pitted from 10^th and 11^th respectively for their fresh sets of the C3’s and came out in 16^th and 18^th respectively as Bottas split the duo in 17^th.

 

On the 24^th tour, both Gasly and Leclerc made short work of sixth-placed Lawson passing them both on the back straights to move up into sixth and seventh respectively as Lawson dived into the pits on the following tour.

 

Lawson pitted and suffered a front-left issue with the tyre not being tightened.

 

The Kiwi had to race back around with a loose wheel and return to the pits to get it tightened and was under investigation by the stewards for being released in an unsafe condition.

 

The 26^th lap saw second-placed Sainz pit for a fresh set of hards and emerged in clear air in third as race leader Norris was told to box on the next tour.

 

Norris came in and had a fast pit stop and emerged back 1.629 seconds ahead of Sainz as Russell also stopped from third and emerged in seventh place behind Gasly.

 

On the 28^th lap, in the short fight for sixth Russell made his way ahead of Gasly to take the place.

 

Sainz made up a second in his pit-stop by stopping earlier and was only 2.056 behind Norris with the Ferrari driver doing everything he can to chase down the McLaren in the fight for the Constructor’s Championship.

 

Third-placed Verstappen stopped on lap 30 for his fresh set of hards, served his 10-second penalty and re-joined down in 11^th place behind Stroll.

 

After Magnussen pitted – on the back straight, Bottas suffered a massive lock-up and went into the Dane sending the Haas into a spin as the Sauber picked up a front-right puncture and broken front wing.

 

The Finn came in to retire the car and became the third retiree of the race.

 

On the 33^rd tour, Piastri came in from ninth to serve his ten-second timed penalty and put on a fresh set of the hards and came out in 15^th place behind Stroll.

 

Out-front on lap 35, Norris’s lead over Sainz was a 2.426 seconds with Leclerc a further 20.170 seconds back in third as Hamilton pitted for a fresh set of C4 mediums, Russell fourth

 

In the battle for eighth place on lap 37, Verstappen breezed his way in-front of Alonso on the back straight with DRS assistance to snatch the position.

 

A lap later Alonso pitted from ninth for the C3 hards and emerged in 12^th place behind Tsunoda.

 

Up-front on lap 39, Norris’s lead over Sainz was at 3.544 seconds as the latter’s tyres were starting to wear thin. It’s enough for McLaren, but they could not afford for Norris to fall backwards or have any issues from here.

 

Further back, Norris’s team-mate Piastri past Stroll and then his fellow Australian-compatriot Doohan to move up into 12^th place.

 

On the 41^st tour, Hamilton on his fresher mediums flew past Hulkenberg to take sixth place with Gasly only a second up the road.

 

Lap 42 saw Hamilton breezed by Gasly’s Alpine with DRS assistance down the back straight before reaching the turns six and seven sequence to move up into fifth place.

 

On lap 44, Verstappen picked off Hulkenberg to move up in eighth place into turn six using DRS assistance.

 

The 45^th tour, Norris’s lead was at 4.616 seconds over Sainz with Leclerc third, Russell fourth, Hamilton fifth, Gasly sixth, Verstappen seventh, Hulkenberg eighth, Albon ninth as Tsunoda rounded out the top ten.

 

On the 46^th lap, Verstappen once again was on the move as he grabbed the place off Gasly to move up into sixth.

 

Leclerc’s tyres were going off – with his rubber 25 years old. Sainz’s 20 and Norris’s 19.

 

Further back Piastri suffered a snap of oversteer running behind Tsunoda.

 

With ten laps left, Norris’s lead was at 5.830 seconds over Sainz with Leclerc third, the two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton in fourth and fifth respectively as Verstappen completed the top six runners.

 

Meanwhile race leader Norris reported over the radio he was struggling a lot in the dirty air passing traffic.

 

On lap 52, the Ferrari pit-crew came out in-case Sainz had to box as the Spaniard reported that he ran over debris. The team checked and their second-placed driver continued on with the Maranello-marque telling him the SF-24 was fine.

 

With five tours remaining, Norris’s lead was at 7.724 seconds over Sainz with Leclerc third, Russell and Hamilton in fourth and fifth respectively for Mercedes as Verstappen rounded out the top six.

 

Third placed Leclerc upon learning that Norris’s lead was at 7.5 seconds over team-mate Sainz “****”.

 

Norris reached the chequered flag to clinch the Abu Dhabi victory by 5.832 seconds over Sainz and secured McLaren their first Constructor’s Championship since 1998 as Leclerc had a solid drive to finish third after starting 19^th on the grid.

 

 

Hamilton passed Mercedes team-mate Russell on the final lap to finish fourth after a sensational recovery from 16^th in his final race for the Silver Arrows following a phenomenal spell with the German/Brackley/Brixworth outfit before he moves to Ferrari in 2025.

 

Four-time world champion Verstappen finished in sixth place and in-front of Alpine’s Gasly who took seventh and Haas’s Hulkenberg who was eighth in his final race for the American team before he goes to Sauber.

 

Aston Martin’s Alonso and McLaren’s Piastri completed the final points places in ninth and tenth respectively.

 

Williams’ Albon ended the race outside the top ten in 11^th place and ahead of RB’s Tsunoda who took 12^th and Sauber’s Zhou who came 13^th in the classification.

 

The second Aston Martin and Alpine of Stroll and Doohan were the final runners in 14^th and 15^th respectively and a lap down on the leaders.

 

RB’s Lawson retired on the final lap in sector after smoke came shooting out of his VCARB01 racer.

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2024 Abu Dhabi GP – The Top Three

 

 

2024 Abu Dhabi GP Winner – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 25 Points:

“It feels incredible, not to myself but the whole team. I’m so proud of everyone. To end the season like this is perfect. We have to celebrate; this is an historic moment for the team. It’s going to be a good night. It’s my goal, we want to win the drivers’ next year.”

 

2^nd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – 18 Points:

“A bittersweet feeling in the end. P2 was the maximum we could do, given the pace of Lando in the McLaren. Congratulations to McLaren, they deserve this championship, they have been rock solid in the last two-thirds of the season. It’s been a tough year, but a year we can be proud of. Emotional in-lap, at the same time very grateful to have been part of this amazing team for four years. I won races, pole positions, podiums. I proved to everyone; I can fight for wins in the right car.”

 

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – 15 Points:

“I knew I had to be very aggressive, I knew I had to take all the risks. This was achieved, but we just started too far back. I think we’ve done the maximum, but this hurts. It was a hard hit on Friday, knowing we had the penalty. The first part of the year we were nowhere, the second part of the season was incredible. We ended strong, and next year hopefully we’ll start as strong as we ended.”

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Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2024 Race Results Classification (58 Laps)

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	58	1:26:33.291	25
2	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	58	+5.832s	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	58	+31.928s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	+36.483s	12
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	58	+37.538s	10
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	58	+49.847s	8
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	58	+72.560s	6
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari	58	+75.554s	4
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	58	+82.373s	2
10	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	58	+83.821s	1
11	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	57	+1 lap	0
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT	57	+1 lap	0
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari	57	+1 lap	0
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	57	+1 lap	0
15	61	Jack Doohan	Alpine Renault	57	+1 lap	0
16	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	57	+1 lap	0
17	30	Liam Lawson	RB Honda RBPT	55	DNF	0
NC	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari	30	DNF	0
NC	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams Mercedes	26	DNF	0
NC	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	0	DNF	0
* Provisional results. Note – Stroll received a five-second time penalty for track limits infringements.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1252/abu-dhabi/race-result

 

Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and World Constructor’s Championship Standings

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#F1 #AbuDhabiGP #Qualifying: @LandoNorris pips team-mate @OscarPiastri to pole.

#F1 #AbuDhabiGP #FP3: @OscarPiastri leads team-mate @LandoNorris in another @McLarenF1 one-two.

@LandoNorris heads @McLarenF1 one-two in #AbuDhabiGP FP2. #F1

#F1 #AbuDhabiGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc quickest ahead of @LandoNorris, @LewisHamilton.

#F1 Etihad Airways #AbuDhabiGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1