2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2024) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 8 December 2024 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was the twenty-fourth and final race of the 2024 Formula One World Championship.

Lando Norris of McLaren took pole position for the race, which he then proceeded to convert to a victory. Norris' victory helped his team take their ninth World Constructors' Championship title, and the first since . Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. came in second in his last race for Ferrari ahead of his teammate, Charles Leclerc. This was the final Formula One race for Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Sergio Pérez, and Kevin Magnussen. It was also Lewis Hamilton's last race start for Mercedes before moving to Ferrari in , ending the most successful driver-team partnership in Formula One history.

Background

The event was held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for the 16th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 6–8 December. The Grand Prix was the twenty-fourth and final race of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 16th running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen, who clinched the title at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, led the Drivers' Championship with 429 points, 80 points ahead of Lando Norris in second, and 88 ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. McLaren, holding 640 points, entered this round as the leader of the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, who were second and third with 619 and 581 points, respectively.

Championship permutations

McLaren and Ferrari had an opportunity to secure the World Constructors' Championship title at this event, the first since for McLaren, and the first since for Ferrari. Ferrari had to outscore McLaren by at least 22 points to win the title, or 21 points if Ferrari won the Grand Prix. Defending Constructors' Champions Red Bull Racing were eliminated from contention after the previous round in Qatar, and were 59 points behind McLaren, with a maximum of 44 points available.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with three exceptions: Franco Colapinto, who replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams from the Italian Grand Prix onwards, Liam Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB from the United States Grand Prix, and Jack Doohan, who replaced Esteban Ocon at Alpine for this event. Doohan made his Formula One debut ahead of his first full-time season for Alpine in .

During the first practice session, six teams fielded alternate drivers who had not raced in more than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One regulations:
*Luke Browning for Williams in place of Alexander Albon.
*Isack Hadjar for Red Bull Racing in place of Max Verstappen.
*Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin in place of Lance Stroll.
*Ryō Hirakawa for McLaren in place of Oscar Piastri.
*Ayumu Iwasa for RB in place of Yuki Tsunoda.
* Arthur Leclerc for Ferrari in place of Carlos Sainz Jr.

Browning, Hirakawa, and Leclerc made their Formula One practice debuts.

The Grand Prix marked Lewis Hamilton's final race as a Mercedes driver before moving to Ferrari in 2025, Carlos Sainz Jr.'s final race as a Ferrari driver before moving to Williams, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu's final races as Sauber teammates, before being replaced by Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, and the last career race of Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Pérez, driving for Haas and Red Bull Racing, respectively.

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the softest three in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 6 December 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+4), and was topped by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Norris ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Nico Hülkenberg of Haas. The third practice session was held on 7 December 2024, at 14:30 local time, and was topped by Piastri ahead of his teammate Norris and Hamilton.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 7 December 2024, at 18:00 local time (UTC+4).

Qualifying classification

Notes
* – Nico Hülkenberg received a three-place grid penalty for overtaking two cars in the tunnel section of the pit exit road during Q1.
* – Charles Leclerc received a ten-place grid penalty for a third energy store.
* – Alexander Albon received a five-place grid penalty for a sixth gearbox change.
* – Franco Colapinto received a five-place grid penalty for a seventh gearbox change.

Race

The race was held on 8 December 2024, at 17:00 local time (UTC+4), and was run for 58 laps.

Race report

Polesitter Lando Norris kept the lead, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was tagged into a spin by Red Bull's Max Verstappen into turn 1. Meanwhile, Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Pérez, was also spun by Valtteri Bottas. On lap 3, Piastri made contact with Franco Colapinto, but Piastri did not suffer any damage, causing Colapinto to slow down and suffering a puncture to let Piastri through. His race engineer reported the collision at the start and Verstappen was given a ten-second time penalty. Pérez, in his last Formula One race for Red Bull, retired from the collision from Bottas, despite Bottas receiving a penalty for causing the collision with Pérez, as he reported a loss of drive from hitting the kerb hardly before spinning.

Charles Leclerc, who started 19th due to serving a ten-place grid penalty, had a good start: by the end of lap 1, he moved up to eighth, and on lap 7, he overtook Nico Hülkenberg, then Fernando Alonso three laps later. Verstappen also made the move on Alonso two laps later, in which the Dutchman progressed to seventh, while the Spaniard dropped to eighth. During lap 24, Liam Lawson was called in for a pit stop on hard tyres, but his front-left tyres were not fitted properly as the jackman dropped Lawson's car. On the same lap, Leclerc progressed by overtaking Pierre Gasly, as did Russell on lap 27. However, on lap 31, Kevin Magnussen was spun by Bottas in the same corner, in a similar move what he did with Pérez, causing Bottas to lose half of his front wing and sustaining a puncture.

Verstappen overtook Alonso again and served his penalty in the past couple of laps, while progressing by overtaking his old Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly. Piastri, now running in twelfth, made a mistake while attempting to make a move on Yuki Tsunoda. Piastri made up a place on the Japanese driver on lap 49, and then five laps later, he took the last point position, tenth place, by overtaking Alexander Albon. Hamilton, on the final lap, was chasing his teammate George Russell. The race was won by polesitter Norris. Norris' victory allowed his team, McLaren, to win the Constructors' Championship for the first time in 26 years. The podium was completed by Carlos Sainz Jr. in second, his last podium finish for Ferrari, and Leclerc in third. Some time after Norris had taken the chequered flag to win the race, Hamilton and Russell battled for fourth place. The two almost made contact, but Hamilton passed Russell on the outside of turn 9 and got ahead, completing his final stint with Mercedes.

Race classification

Notes
* – Lance Stroll finished 12th, but received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
* – Liam Lawson was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Final championship standings

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
* Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk are the 2024 World Champions.

See also

* 2024 Yas Island Formula 2 round

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

Abu Dhabi
Grand Prix
2024
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix