McLaren secure front-row lockout for season finale

McLaren will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale from the front row, with Lando Norris leading the final papaya charge to secure pole position ahead of Oscar Piastri.

Qualifying 1: 

It was a slow start to the final qualifying session of the season, with last-minute adjustments leaving the Aston Martin duo as the only cars lapping the Yas Marina Circuit as the hour commenced.

Lance Stroll set the time to beat, a 1:24.366s, which was completed as his peers began rolling out of the pitlane.

In his first-ever Formula 1 Qualifying session, Jack Doohan continued to make progress in the A524, recording a primary lap time of 1:24.132s, leaving him down in the elimination zone after the first round of attempts.

When it came time for the field’s last-ditch attempts at securing a place in Q2, the Australian fell to the back of the grid and was unfortunately unable to promote himself beyond P20.

Doohan will, however, start this Formula 1 debut from 17th on the grid, inheriting three places due to Albon, Leclerc and Colapinto’s incoming penalties.

Starting his final qualifying campaign of the season, and potentially with RB, Liam Lawson launched off the line to set an opening time of 1:24.136s, six-tenths off the pace and ultimately, only worthy of the bottom five.

His second and final attempt saw Lawson pushing to improve from the very bottom of the order, a feat he managed to achieve when he jumped into P11, just two-tenths from Valtteri Bottas’ benchmark despite being blocked by George Russell.

Lawson remained in the safety zone through to the chequered flag, advancing to Q2 alongside his teammate in P13 and P14.

Completing two exploratory laps ahead of his first flying run, Oscar Piastri flew through the first sector, however, falling off in the two remaining sectors and failing to best his constructors’ championship rival Carlos Sainz’s benchmark in P4. 

His time of 1:23.640s left McLaren with enough confidence to call their driver in early, with the Australian advancing through to Q2 without any concerns.

Foreshadowing the later heartbreak of the session, lap deletions for track limits infringements at Turn 1 were a very common occurrence with the likes of Sergio Perez and Franco Colapinto having their first attempts scratched after running over the white line.

Coming within the closest of margins to a similar fate, the top three fastest drivers of Q1 were initially Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen and the flying Dane, Kevin Magnussen, with the McLaren duo saving their unmatched pace for the latter stages of Qualifying in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, at the backend of the field, the bottom five were occupied by Doohan, Lawson, Alex Albon and the two drivers with no lap times to their names. 

After a momentary lull, the drivers set off to complete their final flyers, with news coming in that Perez’s lap had been reinstated, boosting the Red Bull driver back into third fastest.

Colapinto also recovered out of the elimination zone, however, that was short-lived as his competitors rounded the 5.2km circuit for one final time in Q1.

The RB drivers succeeded in clearing the bottom five, as did Valtteri Bottas who skyrocketed to the very top of the order, however, the same couldn’t be said for his teammate.

With his parents nervously watching on from the garage, Pierre Gasly was the sole Alpine to improve beyond a Q1 exit, splitting the Red Bull duo as he moved into P5, while George Russell split the McLaren duo just four places back.

In his last qualifying outing for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a miracle drive to one final pole position came to a grinding halt in Q1, with the seven-time world champion forced to watch the rest of the session play out from his garage after a rouge bollard ruined his final run.

Despite improving through the middle sector, Hamilton’s first and final sectors left him down and out in P18, however, thanks to the three drivers who will be serving their grid penalties on Sunday, he will start his last race as a Mercedes driver from P16.

Joining Hamilton in the elimination zone were Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu, Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan, while Charles Leclerc topped the opening session.

Sir Lewis Hamilton during qualifying at the Abu Dhabi GP. Image: Steven Tee / LAT Images.

Qualifying 2: 

Having lost five contenders, it was again a quiet start to the middle stage of qualifying.

Hopeful of ending his season on a high with one last Q3 appearance, Lawson put his best foot forward on his initial lap, positioning himself as the eighth-fastest man on track while Tsunoda circulated in P4. 

The Kiwi returned to the pitlane, causing a minor fuss when he and his teammate tried to push into the busy queue with just three minutes on the clock.

Having fallen into the elimination zone, Lawson was tasked with moving himself beyond P12, and while successfully managing to do so, his time of 1:23.472s was not quite quick enough for a place in the top 10.

Lawson was demoted an additional position by the flying Fin, Valtteri Bottas, condemning the #30 to start the season finale for P12 on the grid, one place behind his teammate.

Piastri was the final driver to record a time in Q2, lighting up the timing sheets with the aid of a slipstream from his teammate and slotting into P3 with a time of 1:23.199s.

After resetting in the pitlane, Piastri joined the slow-moving queue of cars looking to secure a place in the top ten shootout, however, his time in P6 was more than enough to advance to the all-important final round.

The four-time world champion was the first driver to make the jump, winding out of the pit tunnel on a fresh set of soft compound tyres before the pitlane burst to life. 

Recording three purple sectors on his run to the line, Verstappen was the first driver to break into the 1m22s, with no one able to match his lap during the first haul of Q2 attempts.

Coming close but not quite close enough, the McLaren duo completed the provisional top three, with the trio separated by just two-tenths, with Verstappen declaring himself safe when he got out of the car to watch his competitors round out the session.

Needing to improve to lessen the pain of his 10-place grid penalty, Charles Leclerc sat as the driver at risk before leaving the hectic pitlane one final time.

The cars all left their garages in synchronicity causing a pile-up of impatient drivers in the fast lane, with Leclerc sitting at the very back of the slow-moving queue.

There were improvements across the board, however, none more so than Leclerc who shot to the very top of the order with a time of 1:23.985s before heartbreak hit the Scuderia.

Leclerc’s time was deleted for exceeding track limits by the slimmest of margins at Turn 1, dropping him to P13 which becomes P19 for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Joining the second shock exit of the night were Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen whose teammate stunned within the top three behind Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc during qualifying at the Abu Dhabi GP. Image: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images.

Qualifying 3: 

Unlike the earlier stages, there was no time wasted for the remaining 10 drivers when the light went green to start Q3.

Turning up his engine for the final qualifying session of the year, Piastri avoided the pitlane chaos as he exited his garage, leaving enough of a gap to allow the chaos to settle ahead of him.

The Australian stole the fastest opening sector from Verstappen, losing out in the middle sector before rounding out his first Q3 attempt with a time of 1:22.985s on used tyres, however, the lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 1.

Driving out of the pitlane for his final run, the news came through that Piastri’s lap had been reinstated to P3, easing the #81’s nerves as he completed his final out-lap.

Piastri failed to improve in the opening sector and was over a tenth down through Sector 2.

When he crossed the line, the Australian momentarily secured provisional pole with a time of 1:22.804s, however, he was outpaced by his teammate just seconds later.

As a result, Piastri finished the final qualifying session of the year in second place, rounding out the McLaren front-row lockout in Abu Dhabi.

As for the rest of the field, it was Verstappen who initially set the sector times to beat, nearly losing his RB20 in the pit wall despite still setting the provisional pole time, a 1:22.945s.

The McLaren duo were the only cars able to come within striking distance of the world champion, with Norris just four milliseconds behind the lead position and his teammate, following his lap being reinstated, sitting four-hundredths back in P3.

As the final attempts came through, Nico Hulkenberg had something to say about that order, shooting to the very top of the table with a time of 1:22.886s, demoting the entire field in his final race weekend as a Haas driver.

The joy was short-lived, however, when the #81 McLaren demoted Hulkenberg, the first of three drivers to drop him out of the top three.

Carlos Sainz clawed his way into second place, provisionally sharing the front row with Piastri before Lando Norris charged to pole position.

The McLaren driver crossed the line with a time of 1:22.595s, putting two-tenths between himself and his teammate as the chequered flag waved on the final qualifying session of the season.

Image: Steven Tee / LAT Images

Qualifying Results:

2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Schedule: 

Friday, December 6:

FP1: 20:30 – 21:30

Saturday, December 7:

FP2: 00:00 – 01:00

FP3: 21:30 – 22:30

Sunday, December 8:

Qualifying: 01:00 – 02:00

Monday, December 9:

Race: 00:00

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