Qualifying report
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi GP
F1 Abu Dhabi GP: Norris leads front-row lockout for McLaren, Verstappen P5
McLaren boosts its chances of winning the constructors' championship by taking a 1-2 in final qualifying of the year
Alex Kalinauckas
Edited: Dec 7, 2024, 3:40 PM
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Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris took pole position for Formula 1’s 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz, as long-time qualifying leader Max Verstappen ended up only fifth.
Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc lost his best lap in Q2 to a track limits violation for Ferrari, which boosts McLaren’s chances of netting the constructors’ title even further given its 1-2 result, while Lewis Hamilton’s final weekend for Mercedes included a shock Q1 exit.
Verstappen had looked in control through the opening segments, with the Dutchman the only driver to get through to Q3 with two sets of new softs remaining.
He used his first to lead with a 1m22.945s, albeit with a lurid slide out of the final corner, with Norris trailing by 0.004s at this stage.
On the final runs, Verstappen ran last of the pack, but did not improve, as the added grip punch of the new softs got McLaren back to the pacesetting position it had established in FP1 and FP2.
Piastri shot to a 1m22.804s, which shuffled outgoing Haas star Nico Hulkenberg back from the provisional pole he had snared with the opening effort on the final runs – the German eventually ending up behind Sainz in fourth.
Norris then came by to edge his team-mate by 0.21s with the quickest time in the final sector, with Piastri’s Q3 appearance starting with him temporarily losing his first run time as he flirted with the track limits exiting Turn 1.
Behind on the final fliers, Verstappen only set a personal best in the final sector and so did not go quicker overall – the Dutchman finishing ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and George Russell for Mercedes in fifth.
Then came Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, while Sergio Perez failed to beat Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber to ninth, with the Mexican driver rounding out the top 10 in what could be his final F1 race.
In Q2, Leclerc looked to have progressed as the fastest runner, with previous segment leader Verstappen even temporarily out of his car in the pits, but the Ferrari driver slipped fractionally beyond track limits at Turn 1 and so lost his 1m22.985s personal best.
Unlike Red Bull with Perez in Q1, Ferrari could not get Leclerc’s time reinstated as a patch of blue kerb paint was visible as he went deep through the left-hander and his fall to 14th means he will start from the last row of the grid with his battery-change grid penalty.
The other Q2 fallers were RB's Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson in 11th and 12th, with Lance Stroll 13th and Kevin Magnussen 15th.
In Q1, Hamilton was the big shock faller – the Mercedes driver down towards the drop zone after the intial runs and with a big track improvement factor evidenced from his former team-mate Bottas jumping from 16th to second in the segment eventually topped by Leclerc.
At the end of Hamilton’s final flier, where he was trailing Magnussen all around, the Haas of Magnussen cutting Turn 14 and knocking a green bollard into his path meant the seven-time world champion had to do the final corners with his car's handling compromised.
He failed to set a personal best at the line – ending up out being Alex Albon and Zhou Guanyu and along with Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan in 18th place.
Provisional starting grid:
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info
1
-
3
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Time km/h 1 L. Norris McLaren 4
McLaren Mercedes
1'22.595
230.178 2 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes
+0.209
1'22.804
229.597 3 C. Sainz Ferrari 55
Ferrari Ferrari
+0.229
1'22.824
229.542 4 N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27
Haas Ferrari
+0.291
1'22.886
229.370 5 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1
Red Bull Red Bull
+0.350
1'22.945
229.207 6 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Renault
+0.389
1'22.984
229.099 7 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes
+0.537
1'23.132
228.691 8 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Mercedes
+0.601
1'23.196
228.515 9 V. Bottas Sauber 77
Sauber Ferrari
+0.609
1'23.204
228.493 10 S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11
Red Bull Red Bull
+0.669
1'23.264
228.329 11 Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls 22
RB Red Bull
+0.824
1'23.419
227.904 12 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
RB Red Bull
+0.877
1'23.472
227.760 13 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Mercedes
+1.189
1'23.784
226.912 14 K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20
Haas Ferrari
+1.282
1'23.877
226.660 15 Z. Guanyu Sauber 24
Sauber Ferrari
+1.285
1'23.880
226.652 16 L. Hamilton Mercedes 44
Mercedes Mercedes
+1.292
1'23.887
226.633 17 J. Doohan Alpine 61
Alpine Renault
+1.510
1'24.105
226.046 18 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes
+1.226
1'23.821
226.811 19 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari
+1.238
1'23.833
226.779 20 F. Colapinto Williams 43
Williams Mercedes
+1.317
1'23.912
226.565 View full results
Photos from Abu Dhabi GP Practice & Qualifying
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday
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