Caryss Green, 25
The final three races of the 2024 season brought excitement and lots of entertainment. Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi featured three different race winners, crashes, and lots of tension between drivers.
In Vegas, George Russell took home his second victory of the season, adding him to the list of multiple race winners for this season, including Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and Oscar Piastri. Hamilton finished behind his teammate in what would be Mercedes’ last 1-2 with him as he is set to leave the team for 2025. Additionally, Verstappen was able to guarantee his fourth consecutive WDC (World Driver’s Championship) when he finished P5 just ahead of Norris in P6. Although not quite as impressive as winning the championship, Pierre Gasly qualified P3 for the Alpine team’s highest race start of the season. Unfortunately for Gasly, an engine issue forced him to retire the car, losing out on a possible high points finish. Gasly wasn’t the only one with bad luck in Vegas. Franco Colapinto suffered a 50G crash in qualifying and had to start from the pit lane due to the repairs being made to the car under Parc Ferme conditions as well as the use of additional gearbox components.
The penultimate race weekend of the season was hosted in Doha, Qatar at the Lusail International Circuit. Norris took pole in the sixth and final sprint race of the year. Russell started alongside him on the front row and Piastri on the second row in third. Norris was able to hold on to first throughout the sprint and his teammate Piastri benefitted from DRS from Norris after getting past Russell. Then, on the final lap, Norris slowed down significantly, allowing Piastri to fly past him before swerving back to cover off Russell. Piastri had done the same for Norris in Sao Paulo in order to help him in the Drivers’ Championship, and Norris wanted to give Piastri the win he had given up. After the race, Norris admitted that the team had told him not to, but that he had intended to do so since Brazil anyway. The move was risky with one-tenth between Norris and Piastri and only three to Russell. Luckily for the McLarens, the move worked out, and the team celebrated yet another McLaren 1-2.
In the Saturday qualifying, Verstappen went fastest overall but was given a 1-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slow. Russell, who had fought for Verstappen to receive said penalty, then inherited pole position for Sunday. After receiving the penalty, Verstappen stated that he had “lost all respect” for Russell and that “[he’s] been in that meeting room many times in [his] life, in [his] career with people that have raced, and [he’s] never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard.” Then at the end of the season driver dinner, Russell arrived last and the only space available was next to Verstappen. Verstappen invited Russell to sit, and in response, Russell grabbed the chair and moved it to the other side of the table. After the dinner, Norris posted a photo of the group with the caption “2024 dinner! and yes, the two [you’re] thinking about were sat as far away from each other as possible 🤣😁.”
Verstappen wasn’t the only one starting lower than anticipated. Sergio Perez and Colapinto both started from the pit lane for making set-up changes under Parc Ferme Conditions.
At the start of the race, Verstappen angles his car right for Russell, meaning he was either going to take back first, or he was going to take them both out of the race. Luckily and unluckily for Russell, instead of crashing into him, Verstappen moved ahead of Russell to lead the race Verstappen claimed his final victory of the year, showing everyone why he was this season’s Champion.
Colapinto and Esteban Ocon crashed on the first lap of the race and Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, and Nico Hulkenberg all did not finish.
The real drama started when Alex Albon’s mirror fell onto the track on lap 30. While it landed off of the racing line, the mirror fell on the straight used for overtaking. The FIA stated that since it was off of the racing line there was no need for a safety car and under a VSC the cars would be too spread out that there would not be enough time for a marshal to grab the mirror and get back off the track between cars. The stewards decided that posting double yellow flags would be the best response. After Norris closed the gap between him and Verstappen ahead, Verstappen called out Norris for failing to slow for the double yellows. Norris received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for this infringement. Norris served his penalty and came out of the pits dead last. Norris then made his way back up the pack and finished the race in 10th.
Just four laps after Albon’s mirror fell off, Valtteri Bottas ran over it, sending debris across the track. Both Sainz and Hamilton received punctures from the debris, and finally, the safety car was deployed to clean up the track. George Russell received a penalty for falling more than 10 car lengths behind the safety car. He served his 5-second penalty but ended in 4th place, missing out on the podium. Zhou Guanyu had his highest-ever race finish, 8th, in F1 picking up 4 points for the very first time.
After Qatar Red Bull needed to outscore Ferrari by 31 points in Abu Dhabi, otherwise they would remain third in the Constructors’ Championship. Red Bull could not do so, meaning they are the first team since 1983 to have their driver win the Drivers’ Championship and only finish third in the Constructors’ Championship.
Red Bull finished 63 points behind Ferrari and 77 behind McLaren. McLaren’s Constructors’ Championship win is their first since 1998. They were at risk of losing this win throughout the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Their drivers, Norris and Piastri, qualified on the front row, and finishing in these positions would have guaranteed McLaren the Championship. However, right after the race start, Verstappen attempted to overtake Piastri and the two cars collided. They both spun out, and Piastri ended up rejoining the race at the very back of the pack. Sainz was able to gain a place, and his teammate Leclerc gained 11 places, moving from 19th all the way up to 8th. Eventually, Leclerc made his way all the way up to 3rd, meaning he moved up 16 places from where he qualified. Now, with Piastri running out of the points and the Ferraris in 2nd and 3rd, McLaren needed Norris to hold onto the lead or they could lose the championship. Norris was able to stay in 1st, winning the final race of the season, and Piastri was able to work his way back up to 10th, picking up one final point for the team. Sainz finished 2nd and Leclerc after him in Ferrari’s final double podium. Hamilton finished 4th in his last race with Mercedes.
What an end to the 2024 season Carlos Sainz in his last Ferrari double podium, Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth before leaving the team, and Zhou Guanyu scoring his first points in F1. After having no changes to the grid from the 2023 to 2024 season, there are so many changes to next year’s grid that it’s hard to keep track. This season truly is the end of an era. See you in 2025 for a whole new year of racing!