Abu Dhabi GP Race Report

All the attention was on Lewis Hamilton and his last race with Mercedes in Abu Dhabi.  It was the last race of their career for Zhou, Bottas and Magnussen (and possibly Colapinto), who received less attention.  A fair deal of attention was on Brad Pitt's film, it was their last race too.

There seemed to be some extra penalties applied over night but because of the nostalgia-fest if was very hard to see what they were.  We were also treated to Will.I.Am and Jackie Stewart DJing.  Hulkenberg was given a penalty for something during Qualifying and his team mate Magnussen did a practice start before the race somewhere he shouldn't have and would be investigated and penalised after the race.  Surely the stewards could have found time before the race started.

Ferrari were on the back foot vis-a-vis the championship with LeClerc starting at the back of the grid.  Initially it looked like a clean start when the lights went out but Piasti and Verstappen touched unnecessarily and both spun, each to one side of the track.  This put Norris out front, with Sainz behind, then Gasly.  LeClerc was up to 12th then Perez spun and a couple more cars came together.  There was a high chance of a Safety Car at this track.  It was the McLaren of Piasti now at the back.  Perez came together with Bottas and was left stranded on the track, a Virtual Safety Car was set.

Then Piastri drove into the back of Colapinto, giving him a puncture.  The McLaren came in but did not get a new wing just tyres, possibly to see him through to the end of the race.

Verstappen was given a 10 second penalty for his early incident, which was fairly clear from the overhead shot.  Piastri's radio as he spun was replayed: "Move of a world champion, that one."  Bottas was also given 10 seconds for taking Perez out.  Then...10 seconds for Piastri for hitting Colapinto.

Magnussen had a very slow stop to continue his unfortunate last race.  Zhou also got a last race penalty, for a false start.  Clearly, everyone was tired and not operating at full potential.  Racing Bulls did not put Lawson's tyres on properly at his first pit stop.  Williams ended an awful season retiring Colapinto.

Verstappen made an annoyed comment to his team after taking his 10 second penalty during his stop.  I felt it was unclear whether he was criticising the time it took his team or the stewards but it wasn't necessary.  It really confirmed all the comments Russell reported.

Bottas locked up and went into Magnussen, ruining both their final races and leaving a lot of debris.  Bottas was out but Magnussen limped on although he went on to set the fastest lap but wouldn't get the point for it because he didn't finish in the top 10.  It said, "What next?" on the top of Valteri's helmet.

Rookie Doohan had a good race; he didn't crash into anyone or worse.

With 11 laps to go, Piastri had a big off to avoid crashing, he was looking ragged too.

It looked like it was going to end Norris, Sainz, LeClerc.  Could Ferrari do anything to take the championship by getting Norris to drop back even one place?  The panicking started: LeClerc thought his tyres were graining too much and then Sainz thought he had run over debris and got a puncture.

With 3 laps to go, Albon had fallen out of the points unfortunately.  Let's hope next year sees better results for the team with the arrival of Sainz and Vowles being deeper embedded.  On the last lap, Lawson stopped somewhere on track with an engine fire.  His car was rolling downhill.  Hamilton was hoping to overtake his team mate on this lap but the Yellow Flags were hindering him.

The fireworks heralded Norris the race winner, he drove cleanly and triumphantly.  The Ferraris of Sainz and LeClerc were behind him; they could not have done more to try and win it (well, not needed to change LeClerc's battery).  The mechanics of both teams congratulated each other in the pit lane.  Hamilton snatched 4th place from Russell in the last couple of corners.  Rounding out the top ten was Verstappen, Gasly, Hulkenberg for his last race for Haas, Alonso (who it feels should be going somewhere or retiring but ploughs on) and Piastri.

Hamilton did doughnuts on the pit straight.  It was a long wait for the interviews and the podium, in fact it seemed very poorly planned.  We head into 2025 with some intrigue and I wonder what Drive to Survive will make of it all?

Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Report

There was old news and new news going into the final race event of the 2024 season.  It would Hamilton's last race for Mercedes before he heads to Ferrari.  I assume that Ocon, Bottas, Magnussen, Colapinto and Zhou will be getting similar coverage in their nation's output as they leave F1.  This weekend will also decide the Constructors' Championship between Ferrari and McLaren.  The new news is that Ocon was told his services would not be required by Alpine this weekend and they would prefer to run their new driver Jack Doohan in the car instead.  LeClerc would be taking a 10 place grid penalty and both Williams would be moved back 5 places, all for changing parts.

The track improved so much that it came down to the last person over the line before the Chequered Flag came down in the first Qualifying session.  There was a big queue in the pit lane which hampered things too.  Extraordinarily, Bottas finished 2nd but out went Albon, Zhou, his old team mate Hamilton, Colapinto and Doohan in his first ever F1 Qualifying.  Magnussen had knocked a bollard down which Hamilton ran over and it was completely stuck under the chassis.

In the second session, all the drivers set a first time.  Verstappen was happy enough with his first place position that he got out of the car, whilst all the other drivers queued up in the pit lane.  He lost the place to LeClerc but the lap was deleted as he went off the track limits.  This was disastrous for Ferrari.  Bottas went 9th to get through to the final session for the first time this season.  Also notable was Hulkenberg in 3rd and Gasly in 4th.  Out went Tsunoda, Lawson, Stroll, LeClerc and Magnussen.  

From the excitement in the commentator's voice, you would have thought that the drivers' first set of fast laps was the main times set.  Verstappen won the first round, then got himself in the best position by being the last over the line so the last driver to set the last time.  With thirty seconds to go, Hulkenberg took pole.  He didn't hold it for long.  Norris took pole, with Piastri next to him, setting the McLarens up well for the Constructors' battle.  Sainz took third in his last Qualifying lap for Ferrari.  After that was Hulkenberg because Verstappen did not put anything near a good lap together when he needed to.  Completing the top ten was Gasly, Russell (hero to zero and right behind the man he's been exchanging fighting talk with all week), Alonso, Bottas and Perez.  I think we can all now expect an announcement from Red Bell as he couldn't out-qualify a Sauber.

Toto Wolff was very angry with the team's performance but everyone else seemed happy enough with where they were.  It seems likely that Verstappen will come through to win the race but it feels too close to call with the Constructors' Championship.  It's been such a long season but it feels unreal that it's over so soon.

Qatar GP Race Report

The drivers were cold in the desert at night, wearing extra layers on the grid and weaving furiously on the formation lap.

It was a good start by Russell but much better by others.  Vesrtappen took the lead and Norris nearly got it but had to settle for second place.  In the first corner, Ocon lost control and ran into both Hulkenberg and Colapinto.  The Haas spun and kept going with the tyre hanging off the rim.  Ocon and Colapinto were out, which was yet another crash Williams did not need, having borrowed parts from old Mercedes cars in order to be able to keep going this season.  Zhou watched Stroll collide into Albon ahead of him and made a comment on the safety of the Aston Martin boss's son continuing driving in F1.  The Safety Car was out.

At the restart there were some winners (Piastri) and losers (Alonso) but Lawson and Bottas had a coming together and both spun off before returning to the track.  Zhou watched this one too.

There were offs up and down the grid.  Hamilton was discovered to have had a false start.  Stroll retired, taking a ten second penalty in the pit lane as he did.  Lawson was also awarded a penalty.

Halfway through, drivers started coming in for a set of new tyres.  Russell was the first of the leaders and had a long stop waiting for a driver to come past in the lane.  He exited in 11th, much worse than Mercedes would have expected.  His team mate was also on the radio grumbling.

Albon's wing mirror came off on the straight and it took everyone a long time to decide what to do about it.  So long in fact that Bottas ran over it (perhaps signalling why he's out of a drive next year as everyone had managed to avoid it for several laps).  It shattered and then Sainz and Hamilton both got bad punctures on the debris.  As there was a mad rush to the pit lane, a Safety Car was called for.   The front runners were able to get a much more efficient stop than Russell had.

It was fast and furious when the race restarted again.  Norris nearly took Verstappen, Sainz attacked Gasly and Piastri and LeClerc battled.  Perez lost drive and then got hit from behind and stopped.  A Virtual Safety Car was called and then Hulkenberg spun out.  A real Safety Car was called for and Mylander went straight back out.  It was the first DNF for Perez for a long time but it won't have made any kind of impact on his racing record this season.  Again some drivers chose to pit.

Another restart and Verstappen was away cleanly but Norris had to defend from LeClerc, who was chasing the Constructors' Championship.  There were cold tyres and five drivers already out, so no one took great risk.

It was then revealed that Norris hadn't lifted under Yellow Flags when the wing mirror was still on the track and was given a ten second stop go penalty.  He came out last.  Hamilton got another penalty for speeding in the pit lane and asked if he could just stop.

With three laps to go Albon was suddenly given a ten second penalty for causing a collision and no one knew why.  Magnussen also had a penalty.

In the end, it wasn't easy but it was easiest for Verstappen to take the win.  LeClerc took a much needed second and Piastri an unexpected third.  Russell will be disappointed with fourth, whilst Gasly should be elated with fifth.  Behind them was Sainz, Alonso, Zhou (finally points for Sauber), Magnussen and Norris.  The Sauber driver also got Driver of the Day.  

Verstappen's engineer made a particularly snide remark about winning whichever side of the grid he started on.  Russell was then awarded a five second penalty for some sort of infringement; he was ahead of Gasly by five seconds though so it meant nothing.

Despite the win, Red Bull were now out of contention for the Constructors' Championship but either McLaren or Ferrari could still win it at the final race of the season.

Qatar GP Qualifying Report

After McLaren's dominance in the Sprint Qualifying and Sprint, it would have seemed unlikely that anyone could challenge them for the front row of the grid.

In the first Qualifying session, Norris had a lap time deleted.  He made it safely through though.  Perez made it through too, which was much-needed.  With both Saubers through, some drivers had an early bath who weren't expecting it: Albon, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Colapinto and Ocon.  Norris was 4th and Piastri was 9th with Russell and then the Ferraris at the top.  Past performance is no guarantee of future success.

In the second session it looked like there might be a battle to get through to the final part but it never materialised.  Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda and Stroll went out.  It reinforces the gulf between old man Alonso's talents and the lack in his team mate Stroll.  Perez scraped through in 10th whilst his team mate Verstappen finally pulled the speed out of the Red Bull to go quickest ahead of Norris.

They were speeedy from the off in the final session, Alonso put in a quick lap on used tyres but had the time deleted.  In Fernando Fashion, he refuted it over the radio with charm.  Russell set the quickest lap of the weekend.  Norris was pushing hard and had a small off.  The Ferraris were not quite on it in the end, finishing 5th and 7th.  Verstappen did have the ability, after a long break from the front of the grid, to get pole, ahead of Russell.  The McLarens took the row behind them.  Hamilton split the prancing horses in 6th.  The tail of the top ten comprised Alonso, Perez and Magnussen.  The Dane is without a drive next year but benefited from a better tyre strategy than his team mate.  Will 9th be enough to save Perez's drive next year?  He always emphasises how much of a team effort any result is.

Russell had a dig at McLaren for enforcing team orders that morning and over the last couple of races but I don't think he'd be complaining if he was in that position.  I suppose he knew that Hamilton would never give him an inch.

As the grid was being outlined, viewers were treated to a shot of Verstappen heavily impeding Russell on track but not given the information as to whether that was on a hot lap or in/out laps.  It was hot lap and the top two positions were reversed by the stewards to penalise Verstappen for the move.

I would say all eight drivers from the top four teams would be in for the chance of a race win but that doesn't take into account Perez, who hasn't won a race this year.  It would take something awful to happen for him to score a victory.