McLaren seals F1 constructors’ title as Norris wins Abu Dhabi GP

The 2024 F1 season wrapped up with Lando Norris winning the Abu Dhabi GP in dominant fashion. Both Ferrari drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, joined him on the podium. However, McLaren scored enough points to win the constructors’ championship for the first time since 1998.

1. McLaren outscores Ferrari by 14 points to win title
2. Norris wins race, 5.832 secs ahead of Sainz
3. Leclerc goes from P19 to P3

Norris leads McLaren to F1 constructors’ title

Starting from pole position, Norris made a clean getaway to hold on to the lead. But his teammate, Oscar Piastri, dropped down the field after contact with Max Verstappen, who was handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident. Things went from bad to worse for Piastri as he, too, was handed a 10-second penalty for hitting Williams driver Franco Colapinto.

Amidst all of this chaos, Charles Leclerc (who started from P19 on the grid) managed to gain 11 places and was already running in eighth place. A strong recovery drive saw him eventually finish third. Sainz, in his last race for Ferrari, couldn’t really challenge Norris for victory and had to settle for second place. This left Norris to take a rather comfortable win, with a margin of 5.832 seconds.

Despite Piastri’s earlier incident, McLaren outscored Ferrari by 14 points to seal the constructors’ title. "It feels incredible, not for myself but for the whole team. The team have done an amazing job this year to come from where we were at the beginning. I’m so proud of everyone – it’s been a lovely journey, and to end the season like this is perfect,” said Norris.  

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

Hamilton defeats Russell

Lewis Hamilton made up for the disappointment of his early Q1 exit in qualifying and used the alternative strategy to go from P16 to P4 in his final race for Mercedes. In the closing laps, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff even got on the radio, requesting George Russell to keep any battle with Hamilton clean.

Hamilton sealed fourth place with a last-lap pass on Russell around the outside of Turn 9. “I just wanted to finish on as much as a high, and just give every ounce of me to the team as they’ve given to me all of these years,” he said after the race.

World Champion Verstappen crossed the line in sixth place, followed by Pierre Gasly, who helped Alpine seal sixth place in the constructors’ standings. Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, while Piastri recovered to finish P10, scoring a single point.

2024 F1 standings

With McLaren and Ferrari taking the top two spots in the constructors’ championship, Red Bull had to settle for third place overall – 77 points behind winning team McLaren.

Mercedes wraps up the season in fourth place, followed by Aston Martin, Alpine, Haas and RB. Williams is ninth overall with a total of 17 points, while Sauber is last in the standings with just four points.

The focus now turns to the 2025 F1 season, which kicks off with pre-season testing on February 26-28 in Bahrain.

2024 Abu Dhabi GP results

Also see:

Verstappen seals 2024 F1 title; Russell wins Las Vegas GP