In the 24th and final grand prix of the 2024 season, McLaren has an opportunity to do something many fans of theirs have never seen them do before – win the constructors’ championship.
Fittingly, the team they must defeat for that honour is their oldest and fiercest traditional rival: Ferrari.
After showing promising pace across the first two days of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured one of the most important front row lockouts the team has ever taken, right ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr in third
“I think we’ve both been driving well this weekend and we knew the pressure was on, from ourselves,” Norris said after taking his eighth pole of 2024. “So we’ve both performed well. We’ve both got everything out of the car. But this is a long race, and many things can happen, so we’re definitely not going to get ahead of ourselves.”
Ferrari’s day was bittersweet to say the least. At a track he struggled severely last year, Sainz showed that Ferrari were by no means far off McLaren for performance by being the closest to them in qualifying two tenths away from Norris’s pole. But not only was team mate Charles Leclerc hit by a 10-place grid penalty on Friday, a brutal Q2 elimination after exceeding track limits means that Ferrari’s second car will start down in 19th.
“I think it was already extremely difficult,” Sainz admitted. “It was a bit of a ‘mission impossible’ already before the weekend started.
“Then we arrived in FP1 and Charles’ battery died before running and the grid penalty obviously was a huge shock, a huge blow. On top of that, you get the Q2 situation for Charles. It just makes things obviously a lot more difficult.
But in his final race for Ferrari, Sainz is in no way going to give up the fight. If Ferrari are to lose this title, Sainz is determined to push both McLarens to the bitter end.
“Until the chequered flag comes down tomorrow, anything can happen,” he said. “I’m going to keep fighting for whatever comes. And I’m sure Charles from the back will push flat out to get every single point available and see what happens with the McLarens.”
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To the surprise of no one, the Abu Dhabi Grand prix will be a dry race. There is not even the slightest chance of rain hitting the Yas Marina circuit, meaning the constructors’ championship…
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