Under the glittering lights of Abu Dhabi, one of the longest F1 seasons in history came to a dramatic close. One final showdown to decide who ended the year on a high and who trudged into the winter break wishing it had gone differently.
Because in F1, you’re only ever as good as your last race. With the paddock now on pause until March, some will head into the break buoyed by success, while others will be haunted by their results at Yas Marina.
So, who emerged victorious, and who will spend the off-season replaying what went wrong? Let’s dive into the winners and losers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Top of the class:
Mclaren
McLaren went into Abu Dhabi with a solid but not unassailable 21-point lead over Ferrari in the fight for the constructors’ championship—a fight that, let’s face it, they really should have wrapped up in Qatar. Still, with a front-row lockout at Yas Marina, it looked like the papaya army had this in the bag.
Cue the collective gasp when Piastri got spun around by Verstappen at Turn 1. For a brief moment, McLaren fans everywhere must have thought; are we seriously about to blow this in the final race?
But fear not! Lando Norris was cool as ever up front, delivering a flawless drive to take his fourth win of the season, cementing McLaren’s first constructors’ title since 1998. As for Piastri? Despite being punted in the first corner by Verstappen, and later penalised for rear-ending Colapinto, he clawed his way back to 10th to grab an extra point. Not that they needed it in the end, but hey, every bit counts.
This victory ended McLaren’s 25-year drought for a constructors’ championship, the longest gap for any team in F1 history.
Pierre Gasly—Qualifying: 6th (started 5th) | Race: 7th
Pierre Gasly capped off his season with another impressive performance, solidifying his status as the backbone of Alpine’s late-season surge. He defended fiercely from George Russell’s much faster Mercedes in the opening stint, eventually finishing seventh. That result was just enough to secure P6 for Alpine in the constructors’ standings.
In fact, Gasly has been on a tear in recent races, with his three best results of the season all coming in the final four rounds. While Esteban Ocon’s Interlagos heroics shouldn’t be forgotten, it’s Gasly’s consistency and pace that have been instrumental in locking down this position. From regular Q3 appearances to consistent points finishes, the Frenchman ended his season on a high.
Charles Leclerc—Qualifying: 14th (started 19th) | Race: 3rd
Charles Leclerc’s weekend started with a bad case of food poisoning, and honestly, it was downhill from there—for a minute, anyway. A 10-place grid penalty for an engine change meant he was starting way down the order in 19th after a costly track limit enforced lap deletion in Q2.
But on Sunday Leclerc put on an absolute masterclass, storming through the field to finish P3 and give Ferrari fans a glimmer of hope for the constructors’ championship. Gaining 16 places in one race, including a whopping 11 on lap 1, is no small feat, and it marked the best recovery drive of his career.
To sweeten the deal, Ferrari ended the race with both drivers on the podium for the third time in six races. Talk about finishing strong. It might not be the championship they wanted, but this was the closest they’ve been in years!
Honourable mention of the weekend goes to Lewis Hamilton…
With his Mercedes chapter closing and Ferrari on the horizon, Lewis Hamilton decided to give his soon-to-be-ex team a parting gift: a reminder of exactly what they’ll be missing.
Qualifying wasn’t much to write home about, thanks to a rogue bollard ruining his lap. But come race day? Hamilton was back. He carved through the field to break into the top 10, capping it all off with a last-lap pass on George Russell for P4.
It wasn’t a podium, but it sure felt like a mic drop. Bravo, Sir Lewis.
The struggle bus:
Valtteri Bottas—Qualifying: 9th | Race: DNF
After teammate Zhou Guanyu’s success in Qatar, we were manifesting some points for Valtteri, and it started off pretty well. The Finn dragged his Stake machinery into Q3 for the first time this season, even beating a Red Bull to start on row 5.
His race, however, unravelled from there. Clumping the kerb at turn six and tagging Sergio Pérez into a spin. Collecting a 10-second time penalty, Bottas then went on to lock up in the same corner on lap 30 and T-boned fellow 2024 departee Kevin Magnussen.
The contact caused terminal damage to the suspension, meaning Valtteri endured his first pointless season in F1 and will also carry a five-place grid penalty should he partake in a future Grand Prix.
It was a send-off at Yas Marina that rather reflected a disastrous 2024. While he is expected to be still around the paddock with a Mercedes reserve role, all eyes could be on a Cadillac seat for 2026.
Max Verstappen—Qualifying: 5th (started 4th) | Race: 6th
Max will be happy to walk away from this season as a four-time Champion and never having to drive the RB20 again, his send-off in 2024 was certainly not fitting of what has been a testing but successful season.
Having been briefly set to start on row 3, Max was moved up following Hülkenberg’s penalty, but the microscope was on him following a clumsy T1 move that tagged McLaren’s Oscar Piastri into a spin.
Copping a 10-second time penalty, Verstappen recovered to finish P6. However, the Dutchman walks into 2025 with eight penalty points and a team on the back foot with development and rumours swirling of another new teammate. Hardly ideal circumstances to secure a record fifth-consecutive World Championship.
Oscar Piastri—Qualifying: 2nd | Race: 10th
Oscar helped set up McLaren for title glory by rounding off a 1-2 in Saturday’s qualifying, however, Sunday’s race didn’t entirely go to plan. Whilst the Aussie was blameless for the lap 1 contact with Max, rear-ending the Williams of Franco Colapinto on the VSC restart very much was his doing.
Taking a 10-second penalty for that, Oscar ultimately would grasp the final Championship Point with a spirited fight back to the points, having ran 18th. He does owe Lando and McLaren’s bulletproof reliability some gratitude for securing the Constructors’ Championship because he was in no position to assist, and some of that was self-inflicted.
Dishonourable mention goes to VCARB, both Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson suffered with reliability gremlins and pit stop dramas that meant they were consigned to P8 in the standings.
Yuki had a clutch issue at the start that saw him drop from 11th to the back of the field before turn 1, whilst Liam was released from his pit stop with a loose while. Then he had to stop on the penultimate lap due to a brake failure.
Well, that closes out F1’s record-breaking 2024 season. Some highlights include; an impressive seven drivers who scored more than one win, home wins for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, and that sensational drive from Max in Brazil. As well as tense fights up and down the grid as finishing positions were not settled until the Chequered Flag at Yas Marina.
Race 1 of 2025 will see the paddock head down to Melbourne, Australia on 14th-16th March. Ensure those alarms are set to see if McLaren can transform their momentum into more titles, how Lewis fares in his first race for Ferrari and who will come out on top of the rookies.
