Abu Dhabi GP 2024: Norris wins, McLaren end 26-year title wait
Norris led every lap from pole at Yas Marina to give McLaren their first constructors' title since 1998. Sainz beat Leclerc, Hamilton beat Russell.
Lando Norris won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position, leading from start to finish and crossing the line 5.8 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz at Yas Marina. The win settled the constructors' championship: McLaren took it by 14 points from Ferrari, their first title since 1998. Charles Leclerc made it a double podium for Ferrari after starting 19th.
How Norris won as Ferrari fell short
Norris got away cleanly. Behind him, the race came apart at Turn 1. Max Verstappen, fourth on the grid, went past Sainz and then dived down the inside of Oscar Piastri. They touched just past the apex, both spun, and Piastri dropped to the back. Sainz inherited second, and he never left it. The stewards gave Verstappen a 10-second penalty.
The opening lap claimed another Red Bull. Valtteri Bottas hit Sergio Pérez, whose car stopped out on track and brought out the virtual safety car. Bottas got the same 10-second penalty, and Piastri collected one too, for clipping the rear of Franco Colapinto's Williams at the restart.
The chaos helped Ferrari, but it never gave them the lead. Sainz switched to hard tyres on lap 25, McLaren brought Norris in to cover him, and the gap kept growing until Norris backed off in the final laps. Leclerc, who had taken a 10-place grid drop for a new energy store, was eighth by the end of lap one and stopped early for hards. He finished 31.9 seconds behind, the 16 places gained being the best comeback of his career.
Bottas later locked up and hit Kevin Magnussen, and the puncture ended his race. Colapinto retired on lap 26, and Liam Lawson pulled his smoking RB off in the closing laps.
The teammate duels that mattered
McLaren. Norris out-qualified Piastri for pole and won the race while his team-mate scraped the last point in tenth after two collisions. On F1 Duels, their 2024 head-to-head ends 20–4 to Norris in qualifying and 16–8 in races. Norris ends the championship second, Piastri fourth.
Ferrari. Sainz's last race in red brought his 25th podium for the team. He beat Leclerc on Saturday and, in our count, on Sunday too, since a grid penalty is no excuse in a same-car comparison. Leclerc still closes the year ahead in their duel, 14–9 in qualifying and 13–8 in races, and third in the championship.
Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton said goodbye to Mercedes from 16th on the grid. He started on hards, stayed out until after half distance, then used fresh mediums to pass Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly and finally George Russell for fourth in the closing laps. A fine last drive, and an outlier: Hamilton vs Russell ends 19–5 to Russell on Saturdays and 13–7 on Sundays in our count. Russell also finished ahead in the standings, 245 points to 223, making him the first team-mate to beat Hamilton over a season twice.
Red Bull. Pérez lasted less than a lap in what looked like his final race for the team. Verstappen served his penalty and climbed to sixth, about 12 seconds behind the two Mercedes. On F1 Duels, the Red Bull pairing closes 2024 at 23–1 in qualifying and 19–0 in races.
What it changes
McLaren end the season on 666 points, Ferrari on 652 and Red Bull on 589. In the drivers' standings, Verstappen finishes with 437 points, Norris with 374 and Leclerc with 356. Gasly's seventh place kept Alpine sixth among the constructors, seven points clear of Haas, on a day when Jack Doohan finished 15th on his debut. Every verdict from the finale is on the Abu Dhabi GP 2024 duels page.