McLaren win their first Constructors’ Championship in 26 years, Piastri becomes the fourth driver to complete every Grand Prix lap in a single season and Magnussen signs off with a Lap Record. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
NORRIS WINS THE 2024 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
Lando Norris claimed his fourth victory of the season at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He became the 60th driver to have won as many as four Grands Prix.
Norris’ win made McLaren the first team to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix other than Red Bull or Mercedes since Kimi Raikkonen won for Lotus in 2012. His top three finish also made McLaren the first team other than Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari to finish on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix podium since Williams did so with both drivers in 2014.
This was the second race, after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, which Norris led from start to end. He is the 34th driver to have led multiple Grands Prix from start to finish.
The 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was Norris’ 100th points-scoring Grand Prix from his 128 starts to date. It was his 102nd points-scoring weekend, however, as he scored points in the Sprint at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix without scoring in the Grand Prix itself.
2024 is the tenth consecutive season in which the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix polesitter has won the race. It ties the record for the most consecutive wins from pole at a single circuit. The Spanish Grand Prix was won from pole at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for ten consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2010.
This was the sixth win for a British driver at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, extending the nation’s record of wins here to six. Norris is the first British driver other than Lewis Hamilton to win at the circuit.
Norris was the only driver who finished the race in the same position as where he started.
This was Norris’ first top four result at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
McLAREN ARE 2024 CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONS
In the first Constructors’ Championship to be decided at the final round since 2021, McLaren were crowned Constructors’ Champions at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This marks the first time McLaren have won the title since 1998 – before both of their current drivers were born. It’s the longest gap between title victories for a team in F1 history.
McLaren are the first constructor to win the Constructors’ Championship other than Mercedes and Red Bull since Brawn GP in 2009.
This was McLaren’s ninth Constructors’ Championship victory. They equal Williams for second on the list of most title wins for a team.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are the first driver line-up made up of drivers who have never won the Drivers’ Championship to win the Constructors’ Championship since Patrick Tambay and Rene Arnoux did so at Ferrari in 1983.
After contact with Max Verstappen on the first lap and a penalty for a collision later in the race, Oscar Piastri finished tenth in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Despite almost being lapped by his team-mate, Piastri completed every lap in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Having completed every lap in every other Grand Prix this season, Piastri becomes only the fourth driver in history to complete every lap of a Formula 1 season. He is the first driver to do so in a season that he did not win the title. Michael Schumacher achieved the feat in 2002, Lewis Hamilton did so in 2019 and Max Verstappen did so in 2023.
Finishing tenth, this was the first time Piastri finished outside of the top eight since finishing 13th at the Miami Grand Prix.
Piastri is the 11th driver to have completed every race in a Formula 1 season.
Norris and Piastri remain in a group of four drivers who’ve scored on every appearance at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Paul di Resta and Felipe Massa are the other two drivers to have done so.
ON THE PODIUM
Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc joined Lando Norris on the podium at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This was Ferrari’s first double podium result since the Mexico City Grand Prix and the first time that the team recorded a double podium result at Yas Marina Circuit.
On his final appearance with the team, Sainz became the ninth driver to have recorded as many as 25 podiums with the team.
Sainz recorded his second podium finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having finished in third place in 2021.
Charles Leclerc recorded the 43rd podium finish of his career at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, equalling Jackie Stewart for 20th on the all-time podium list.
This was Leclerc’s third consecutive podium finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Leclerc became the fourth driver to finish on the podium having started 19th on the grid in World Championship history. The other drivers to have done so are Bill Vukovich (at the 1954 Indianapolis 500), Alex Wurz (at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix) and Valtteri Bottas (at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix).
Leclerc gained 16 positions from where he started – the most places he has ever gained in a Grand Prix.
Leclerc’s podium marked the first time that the driver starting 19th has ever scored a point at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Leclerc was voted Driver Of The Day for the 17th time in his career.
For both Leclerc and Norris, this was their 13th podium finish of the year. Max Verstappen is the only driver to have recorded more top three finishes this year, with 14.
IN THE POINTS
On their final lap as Mercedes team-mates, Lewis Hamilton overtook George Russell for fourth place in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As the pair had scored exactly the same number of points during their three seasons as team-mates prior to the Yas Marina race, Hamilton’s overtake meant that he out-scored Russell over their shared tenure at Mercedes.
On Lap 40 of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton became the first driver to have raced 800 laps at Yas Marina Circuit.
This was Hamilton’s best result at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since finishing second in 2021.
Hamilton and Russell’s points made Mercedes the first team to have scored as many as 400 points at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s fourth place was the best result to date for the driver starting 16th at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. No one had ever previously finished above tenth place at Yas Marina Circuit having started 16th.
Max Verstappen finished in sixth place, equalling his worst result in the last 21 Grands Prix. This was Verstappen’s worst result at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since he finished 16th on his first appearance at the track in 2015.
This was the first time Verstappen finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a worse position than where he started since 2018.
With seventh place, Pierre Gasly scored points for the fourth time in the last five races.
Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, scoring points for the fifth time in the last seven Grands Prix.
This was the first time since 2017 that Hulkenberg scored a point at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and marked the first time a Haas driver finished in the points in Abu Dhabi since both drivers did so in 2018.
Coming home ninth in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso scored points at consecutive races for the first time since the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Finishing 11th in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alex Albon failed to score a point for a seventh consecutive race. It’s his longest point-less streak since the start of the season.
Albon gained seven positions during the race – the most places he has gained since gaining nine places in the 2022 Miami Grand Prix.
With Albon 11th and Franco Colapinto failing to score, this was the seventh consecutive year in which Williams have failed to score at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Zhou Guanyu finished 13th on his last outing with Sauber. It was his third consecutive top 13 result, having finished 14th or lower at all of the 11 previous races.
With 14th place, Lance Stroll failed to score a point for an 11th consecutive race.
On the final lap of his Formula 1 career, Kevin Magnussen set the fastest lap of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was the third fastest lap of his career, having set his other two at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2018 and 2019. Magnussen is now the Lap Record holder at Yas Marina Circuit.
THE RETIREES
Sergio Perez failed to finish for a second consecutive race. The 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked the first time he failed to finish consecutive races since the 2024 Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix.
This was Perez’s third retirement at Yas Marina Circuit in the last five seasons.
In the last eight Grands Prix, Perez has finished in the top eight only once, with seventh place at the United States Grand Prix.
Franco Colpainto failed to finish for a second consecutive race, recording successive retirements for the first time in his career.
Coming to a halt on the final lap, Liam Lawson recorded his first retirement in a Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas failed to finish on his farewell to Formula 1, recording his first DNF since the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
This was Bottas’s second retirement at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having last retired from the event in 2016.
