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Lando Norris, Mclaren Mcl38

(Photo: McLaren Media)

Lando Norris Leads Lights-to-Flag to End 2024 at Abu Dhabi

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Lando Norris had perhaps the drive of his season with a comfortable lights-to-flag victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, leading all 58 laps from the pole.

Norris’ win was good enough to clinch the constructors championship for McLaren over Ferrari. Carlos Sainz was able to keep Norris within sight throughout the race, but wasn’t able to get more than a few seconds within his former teammate after the first few laps.

“It feels incredible not for myself but for the whole team,” Norris said in the post-race podium interview. “The team have done an amazing job this year to come from where we were in the beginning. I’m so proud of everyone. It’s been a lovely journey, and to end the season like this is perfect.

“Congrats and a big thank you to everyone at McLaren, everyone in papaya, everyone who supported us this year because it’s been a tough one. For us to win the constructors after 26 years is pretty special.”

Charles Leclerc drove up through the field to take third, doing everything for Ferrari to potentially take the championship but couldn’t get a Norris error or mechanical failure he needed.

The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have spent three seasons together as teammates and entered the night tied on combined points head-to-head at 685-685.

After a valiant charge through the field, Hamilton made a last-lap pass to take fourth from Russell and the head-to-head battle 697-695. The seven-time champion leaves Mercedes with the slight upper hand on Russell as he heads to Marinello to drive for the Scuderia.

On lap 1, turn 1, Max Verstappen made a lunge and collided with Oscar Piastri. Both cars went spinning off.

Piastri fell all the way to plum last while Verstappen came back on in 11th, before the Dutchman recieved a 10 second time penalty for the incident. He’d finish sixth on-track.

The battle for sixth in the constructor standings ended with Alpine taking the place and Pierre Gasly taking seventh on the track. Haas came up right behind them, both in constructors (seventh) and on-track (eighth with Nico Hulkenberg).

Fernando Alonso ended his 21st F1 season with a ninth-place finish.

Piastri was later given a 10-second time penalty of his own for making contact with Franco Colapinto. Colapinto received a puncture to start his final scheduled Grand Prix and later retired after 28 laps. Piastri finished the race in 10th.

A seperate turn 1 incident had Valtteri Bottas run into Sergio Perez. Perez had significant damage on his Red Bull and stalled out on track, requiring a lap 1 virtual safety car.

On lap 31, Bottas locked up into turn 6 and collided with Kevin Magnussen. Bottas’ front wing and tire were ruined, and he had to retire the car due to hub damage. Magnussen also had damage from the incident and could only finish 16th, but did take the fastest lap in what will likely be his final race in an F1 car.

Zhou Guanyu ended his F1 career for now in frustration, finishing 13th after serving a 10-second penalty for a false start.

Now that the F1 season has concluded, it’s time to take a few months off. Next up will be race one in mid-March 2025, when the cars roar once again in Melbourne to start the chase around the world once again.

About the author

Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.

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