Norris Wins as McLaren Crowned Constructors’ Champions
Despite an unideal start for the team, Lando Norris kept his calm to take a victory that crowned McLaren as World Constructors’ Champions! Whilst it wasn’t to be for Ferrari, they still gave it their all as Carlos Sainz finished second in his final Race for the Scuderia whilst Charles Leclerc went all the way from 19th to 3rd!
The Biggest Talking Points
The big moment in this Race happened at Turn 1 when Max Verstappen spun round Oscar Piastri to at least make the Constructors’ Championship fight a little more exciting! Max received a 10-second time penalty for this, and you can’t really have any complaints, the thing that makes me laugh is I expected something like this to happen! Anyway, there was another incident on the opening lap of the Grand Prix as Valtteri Bottas spun Sergio Perez which in turn saw Checo retire in what could be his final Race at Red Bull (and in Formula 1 in general)! All I’ll say on that is this kind of sucked! Charles Leclerc had amazingly found himself into P8 by the end of Lap 1, and he was continuing to make his way through the field with overtakes on both Haas’ and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso! Later in the Race, Franco Colapinto was unfortunately forced to retire from his final Grand Prix for a while, and it’s certainly been a wild ride for the young Argentine!
After the first round of pitstops, Lando Norris remained in the lead from Carlos Sainz whilst Charles Leclerc had made it all the way up to P3 after passing Pierre Gasly and undercutting George Russell! Bottas’ final Race then continued to unravel as he whacked into Kevin Magnussen which ruined K-Mag’s final F1 outing, but after that, things sort of died down as Norris pulled away from Sainz at the front whilst Leclerc was a long way back in third, Ferrari simply not having enough pace to overturn their points deficit! Elsewhere, Oscar Piastri managed to make his way back into the points despite his multiple incidents (he picked up a 10-second time penalty of his own for a collision with Franco Colapinto), Pierre Gasly was keeping Nico Hulkenberg at arms left to ensure Alpine finish 6th in the Constructors’ whilst, on the final lap of his Mercedes career, a charging Lewis Hamilton went around the outside of George Russell to go all the way from 16th to 4th!
The Standout Drives in the Race
I’ve given out a massive five 10’s for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the first one is obviously for Lando Norris! Lando did what he needed to do today, and it capped off what has been a great year for The Brit! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Carlos Sainz, and that’s simply because I don’t think Carlos could’ve done any more today, he was quicker than his teammate in the final stint, and I think Sainz has been a blessing for Ferrari these past 4 years! The third driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Charles Leclerc, I mean, Charles has had a great season, it’s been his best yet in my opinion, and to go from 19th to 3rd is pretty mega! I then gave a 10 to Lewis Hamilton because Lewis went from 16th to 4th, and I feel like that was pretty much the perfect last Race for Mercedes! And the final driver I’ve given a 10 to in 2024 is none other than Pierre Gasly, the in-form man right now, what a terrific effort from Pierre once again to help Alpine to 6th in the Constructors’ despite all their struggles for most of 2024! Nico Hulkenberg also deserves a ton of praise for capping off his great Haas stint in style whilst Fernando Alonso did well to score a couple of points for Aston Martin!
Drivers Who Had a Shocker
In total, I’ve only given out one 10 for the final Race of the year, and that is unfortunately for Valtteri Bottas! It absolutely sucks to do this because Valtteri has had a great and rather underrated career in Formula 1, but he caused two incidents that ruined both Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen’s Races, so I simply can’t give him anything else! Elsewhere, Jack Doohan didn’t have the best pace on debut, but he didn’t get involved in any incidents so I won’t be too harsh on him!
Overall Race Results and My Ratings
Lando Norris: 10
Carlos Sainz: 10
Charles Leclerc: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 10
George Russell: 7
Max Verstappen: 5
Pierre Gasly: 10
Nico Hulkenberg: 9
Fernando Alonso: 8
Oscar Piastri: 6
Alex Albon: 7
Yuki Tsunoda: 6
Zhou Guanyu: 6
Lance Stroll: 4
Jack Doohan: 3
Kevin Magnussen: 4
Liam Lawson: 4 (DNF)
Valtteri Bottas: 1 (DNF)
Franco Colapinto: - (DNF)
Sergio Perez: - (DNF)
Credit: DFA
thank you for everything you put out this season! you are absolutely incredible! 💚🧡