McLaren win their first constructors title since 1998 in season finale.

Lando Norris drove to victory in the Abu-Dhabi season finale, helping secure McLaren’s first constructors title in 26 years.

They didn’t have it all their own way. Qualifying P1 and P2, with Sainz P3 and Leclerc P19 for Ferrari, the odds were (initially) in their favour. But at turn 1, an optimistic dive from Max Verstappen resulted in contact between the Red Bull and the McLaren of Piastri, dropping him to the back of the field. His progress was further hampered by a 10 second time penalty for making contact with Colapinto, forcing the Argentine to pit with a puncture.

Verstappen didn’t reap the rewards either, as he also received a 10 second time penalty for the contact with Piastri, finishing P6, 50 seconds behind Norris. He was unsurprisingly upset by the penalty, calling the stewards “stupid idiots”.

Elsewhere, his best friend George Russell ended up in a last lap scrap against his departing teammate Lewis Hamilton. Starting down in P18, Hamilton ran long on the hard tyres, before switching to the mediums later on in the race. The more extreme degradation of the hards, coupled with the fresh mediums meant he was able to close down the 14 second gap to Russell. This resulted in a last lap overtake at turn 9, meaning Hamilton outscored Russell by 2 points in the 3 years they were teammates.

Ferrari had a weekend of extreme highs and lows. During FP1 Leclerc had an issue with his battery, forcing it to be replaced, resulting in a 10-place grid drop. To compound the matter, his laps in Q2 were deleted for track limits, meaning he was knocked out and was forced to start at the back. He and Sainz both capitalised at the start, with the Spaniard moving his way to P2, with Leclerc P12 by the end of Lap 1. His superior pace enabled him to climb up to P3, but this was all he could manage. Sainz attempted an undercut on Norris and was able to close the gap to under 2 seconds, but by doing so over-stressed his tyres, allowing the McLaren to extend his advantage over the stint, finishing 5.8 ahead of the Ferrari driver.

The resurgence of Alpine and Pierre Gasly has been tremendous to watch. Another stellar qualifying performance saw him qualify P6, and later promoted to P5 after Hulkenberg’s 3 place grid drop. He vaulted his way to third off of the start and was able to hold off the Mercedes of Russell up until the first pit stop. He later finished the race in P7, securing P6 for Alpine in the Constructors Championship, an impressive feat after such a disappointing season for the Enstone outfit. Hulkenberg finished not far behind in P8, cementing P7 for Haas in his final race for the team. 2024 has been an impressive season for Hulkenberg and he’ll be looking to carry the forward momentum into 2025 with the Stake Team.

For the departing drivers, it wasn’t the fairytale ending for any of them. Zhou finished in P13, Magnussen in P16 a lap down (but with fastest lap!) with Bottas and Colapinto not finishing. Bottas’ clumsy crash with Magnussen ended both of their chances at points, meaning his final race (for now) of his exciting career ends in the pits. As for Colapinto, an impressive second half of the season filling in for Logan Sargeant, means he has a lot to be proud of. Links with the Red Bull teams and Alpine have diminished in recent weeks, however some of his performances and consistency certainly captured everyone’s attention.

As for Jack Doohan, son of MotoGP legend Mick, he started his life in F1 well. With Ocon’s time with Alpine coming to end one race short, Jack did an excellent job of keeping the car clean. He has a steep learning curve ahead of him, but he’ll be joined by fellow rookies Kimi Antonelli, Ollie Bearman and newly crowned F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto in 2025.

Then finally, Sergio Perez. Where does this leave him?

His race came to a premature end after contact with Bottas on Lap 1. If all the rumours surrounding his future are true, this could’ve been his last race in F1. As a driver who was known for great consistency and achieving impressive results for Force India and its various guises, it’s a shame his career has potentially ended like this. All the signs are pointing towards Liam Lawson being promoted to partner Verstappen with Isak Hadgar earning the RB seat alongside Tsunoda, leaving Perez without a drive. But whether Red Bull, Horner and Marko decide to do this is still unknown.

So, was 2024 a great season? Yes, I think so.

Do I think 2025 will be better?

Absolutely.

McLaren have learnt how to win again. Clinching the constructors will be a huge morale boost for the whole team and give them the extra push and desire to win again next year. Ferrari have shown they’re making steady improvement and have the driver pairing to further push them forward. Red Bull and Mercedes are trying to reclaim their dominance of the last decade and will be trying their upmost to reassert their previous success.

Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc are all title favourites, but the ever-improving Piastri could cause a surprise and Russell will also think he can clinch the title.

It’s going to be exciting that’s for sure. The season opener in Melbourne can’t come soon enough!

Previous
Previous

Is Formula 2 Failing?

Next
Next

George Russell slots into Pole Position in Vegas.