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.