Abu Dhabi GP 2024 delivered a thrilling finale, breaking records and showcasing career-defining moments in an unforgettable season showdown.
As after every Grand Prix, it’s time to uncover the most notable statistics, the records broken, the remarkable streaks still alive, or those abruptly ended during the past weekend.
Qualifying
Norris claimed his eighth pole position of the season, a record for a McLaren driver in the 21st century, surpassing Lewis Hamilton’s seven poles in 2008 and 2012. However, there weren’t 24 GPs per year back then.
Norris matches Max Verstappen’s tally of eight poles in 2024.
It’s also McLaren F1’s third front-row lockout in qualifying this year.
McLaren ends an 11-year streak of pole positions exclusively held by Mercedes and Red Bull in Abu Dhabi.
Oscar Piastri qualifies on the front row for the fifth time this season… without securing a pole position.
He has been outqualified by Lando Norris 20 times this season.
Carlos Sainz, qualifying third, achieves his career-best performance at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Nico Hülkenberg, demoted to seventh due to a grid penalty, was just 0.082 seconds off the front row with his initial time.
He has reached Q3 in each of his last seven appearances at the Abu Dhabi circuit.
Max Verstappen records his worst qualifying result in Abu Dhabi since 2018.
George Russell ends a three-race streak of starting from the front row.
Valtteri Bottas secures Sauber’s best qualifying result of 2024 with ninth place.
Sergio Perez has been outqualified by Max Verstappen in 23 out of 24 sessions this season.
Yuki Tsunoda, qualifying 11th, maintains his perfect 6-0 record against Liam Lawson in internal RB F1 qualifying duels.
Alex Albon suffers his third consecutive Q1 elimination, a first since the early part of the 2022 season.
Lewis Hamilton ends his Mercedes journey with three Q1 eliminations in the last six races, compared to just three across his previous 170 Grands Prix with the team.
Franco Colapinto wraps up his season with five Q1 eliminations in the last six races.
After Ocon and now Doohan, Alpine records the slowest car in Q1 for two consecutive weekends.
The gap between first and last in Q1 was 0.803 seconds, close to the absolute record of 0.798 seconds set in Austria this year—on a much shorter track.
Race
In the last 12 races at Abu Dhabi, the pole-sitter has always won, marking the longest active streak on a Formula 1 circuit and just one shy of the all-time record set in Barcelona between 2001 and 2010.
McLaren claims the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 1998. At the time, Piastri wasn’t born, and Stella was still pursuing his doctorate.
The 26 years between Constructors’ titles is a record for the longest interval.
With this title, McLaren equals Williams’ tally of nine Constructors’ Championships. Ferrari leads with 16, followed by Mercedes with eight, Lotus with seven, and Red Bull already at six.
Lando Norris had never finished in the top four at Yas Marina before this victory. It marks his fourth win of the season and in Formula 1.
The Briton led the race from start to finish for the second time in his career, following Singapore 2024.
It’s the first time since 2009 that the Constructors’ Championship has been won by a team other than Red Bull or Mercedes F1.
Carlos Sainz finishes second, claiming his 25th podium with Ferrari in his final race for the team, placing him ninth among Ferrari’s most prolific drivers.
Ferrari remains winless at Yas Marina after 16 attempts. Fernando Alonso remembers it all too well…
Charles Leclerc finishes third, climbing 16 positions from his starting place—a career-best improvement, surpassing his previous record of 14 places gained in Canada 2022.
Ferrari places both cars on the podium for the third time in the last six Grands Prix of 2024.
George Russell, in fifth, becomes the first teammate to outscore Hamilton in the championship twice, in 2022 and 2024.
Max Verstappen finishes sixth, ending his streak of four consecutive victories at Yas Marina.
Pierre Gasly’s three best results of the season came in the last four races. He scored three-quarters of his points across these final Grands Prix.
Gasly finishes tenth in the Drivers’ Championship, his highest position this year, without incurring any damage costs to his Alpine—a source of pride at the season’s end.
Nico Hülkenberg finishes eighth but loses the tenth spot in the Drivers’ Championship to Gasly in the final race.
Oscar Piastri, in tenth, is the only driver to complete every lap of the 2024 season, though Lando Norris nearly lapped him at the end of the race!
The McLaren F1 driver becomes the fourth in history to complete every lap in a season, following Michael Schumacher in 2002, Lewis Hamilton in 2019, and Max Verstappen in 2023.
Liam Lawson suffered his first F1 retirement due to a power unit issue.
Valtteri Bottas also retired in his final race for Kick Sauber. Alongside Logan Sargeant, he is the only full-time driver from the start of the year not to score a point this season.
Franco Colapinto ends his season with three retirements in the last four races.
Sergio Perez retired on the opening lap for the sixth time in his career, and the second time this year after Monaco.
He scored as many points in the final 12 races of the season (34) as Verstappen did in the last two GPs, and half as many as Zhou (2 points vs. 4) in the last four GPs.
Drivers covered 7,314 kilometers in Grands Prix this season.
There are 97 days until the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
- Discover More>“You take a painkiller and go back to it”: Alonso’s tough season finale
- Follow us on >Facebook and >Twitter for F1 updates.
Abu Dhabi gp records fall in stunning 2024 showcase Abu Dhabi gp records fall in stunning 2024 showcase Abu Dhabi gp records fall in stunning 2024 showcase
