Norris Seals McLaren Title
Close but no Cigar for Ferrari
And so the 2024 F1 season draws to a close. It’s been one of the best of modern times, with varying form, multiple race winners from different teams, and team battles going to the final race. It also saw a surprisingly hard won title by Verstappen. The final race in Abu Dhabi had a small chance of Ferrari overhauling McLaren’s lead for the title. In the end, they got tantalisingly close but could not quite manage it.
Norris’ Boringly Dominant Win
Norris has gotten some stick this year for a few things: bad starts, not being tough enough wheel-to-wheel, and (some say, I would disagree) cracking under the pressure. But there have been plenty of races when he’s driven flawlessly and the perfect example of that was Abu Dhabi.
He started well and never looked like losing the lead, even when facing the task of scoring enough points by himself to secure the title for McLaren. One place lower and Ferrari would have won both the race and title, yet he never put a foot wrong.
It was rather boring, to be honest. But impressive nonetheless.
Ferrari got the other spots on the podium in a nice last result with the team for Sainz. He was around a pit stop ahead of Leclerc and should have been pitted with 15 or so laps left for fresher tyres to try and charge down Norris.
Trundling around as they did relied on a safety car or Norris error, and neither appeared in the race. Still, Ferrari got very close and with Leclerc and Hamilton next year they must be optimistic about their title prospects in 2025.
Verstappen’s Clumsy Thrust
Lap 1, turn 1, Verstappen was a clumsy sod. His thrust up the inside against Piastri was poorly considered and executed, he was never fully alongside, and tagging the Aussie put them both well down the running order. Verstappen duly received a 10s penalty (which he complained about), and spent the race clambering back up to 6th. Not exactly a classic performance from the talented Dutchman.
This had major implications for the title race, as without Piastri and with Leclerc going like a bat out of hell Norris had to win to seal the deal. Luckily for McLaren, he did. But if Norris had finished 2nd and McLaren lost the title because of Verstappen’s clunky punt at turn 1 I can imagine there would have been more than a little bitterness.
Piastri ended up with his own 10s penalty for rear-ending Colapinto on a straight. The best he could do was 10th, which is a far cry from the middle of the season when he had a run of eight races finishing no lower than 4th (including two wins). he’s a very good driver but needs to sharpen up a bit to challenge Norris over the course of a season.
Leclerc and Hamilton’s Astonishing Fightbacks
I remember back when Alonso failed to win a third title due in large part to being unable to pass Petrov around this very circuit. Thankfully, things have changed. While not a classic, passing is now possible, as both Leclerc and Hamilton proved.
The Monegasque had a poor qualifying, with his fastest lap being deleted and a 10 place penalty conspiring to land him in 19th. Hamilton had atrocious luck, with a stray bollard lodging under his car and seeing him end up 16th after penalties for other drivers.
Leclerc in particular had a good start, evading the trouble of others and making up an amazing 11 places in the first lap. He continued on his merry way and ended up on the podium. Yes, he was a long way off Sainz, but given where they started it’s still fantastic. Right behind him (well, 4.5s) was Hamilton, who was flying in the latter stages and passed Russell on the final lap.
After some poor form (more in qualifying than races) and a car that’s sometimes good and sometimes on a knife edge it was a pretty good way for him to say goodbye to Mercedes and hello to Ferrari.
Alpine Retain 6th in the Constructors’
The title battle was not the only Constructors’ fight to be settled. Alpine, Haas, and RB were all in contention for 6th, ever since Alpine’s bizarre yet awesome double podium result in Brazil. Following that Gasly has been very swift indeed, as he benefited from an updated car, unlike Ocon, who was dropped for this race in favour of Doohan.
Before his (perhaps harsh) penalty Hulkenberg was 4th to Gasly’s 6th but dropping 3 places handed the advantage back to Alpine. Only a few seconds separated the men on track come the chequered flag but it was the Frenchman who beat the German to cement Alpine’s 6th. For almost the entire season their car has been far behind the Haas, and for much of that time the Alpine was an absolute dog.
Recent performances by Gasly and Ocon, aided by very solid upgrades for the former, enabled them to make the most of a remarkable result at Interlagos and hang onto 6th, despite how consistent Haas have been. In the end, Alpine had 65 points to Haas’ 58.
RB, early on, seemed like they might be the fastest behind Aston Martin. But they went off the boil in the latter half of the season. Lawson scored a handful of points and Tsunoda did ok (he had 30 points come the end of the season), while Ricciardo wasn’t quite on the Japanese driver’s level.
It’s possible Lawson or Tsunoda may replace Perez, who seems to be on the way out, but RB might have a stiff challenge next year when it comes to trying to lead the midfield.
Overall, Abu Dhabi provided a slightly sedate end to an exciting F1 year. The competitiveness at both the top and midfield is hopefully a good omen for 2025.
Richard
