Instead, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the list of winners began on the scoreboards: first Lando Norris (McLaren), followed by Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
To complete the t The names of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, both Mercedes drivers, were then added.
These results also made the 2024 world rankings definitive.
Max Verstappen confirmed his title as world champion in the drivers' category, while in the constructors' standings, the McLaren team returned to the top of the world after 26 years and won the title with 666 points, beating Ferrari by just 14 points.
On the Yas Marina track, the ambitions of the Maranello drivers were hindered by the extraordinary race of Lando Norris, from whom many waited in vain for a mistake or a mechanical problem that would force him to stop in the pits.
Starting from pole position, the McLaren driver dominated the race, remaining in the lead from start to finish and ahead of his pursuer Carlos Sainz by five seconds.
During the race, the officials sanctioned a contact between Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Max Verstappen, inflicting a 10-second penalty on both. Norris, in turn, received a penalty for an incident with Franco Colapinto's Williams but, as already reported, nothing compromised his victory.
At Ferrari, Charles Leclerc was the protagonist of an extraordinary comeback, but unfortunately not decisive for the world standings: starting from 19th position, he managed to climb onto the third step of the podium and this also allows him to qualify as the third best driver in the world in the 2024 championship, behind Verstappen and Norris
At Mercedes, the final laps saw a battle between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton for fourth place, which was won by the latter, also motivated by personal pride.
Let us remember that it was on the Yas Marina track, four years ago, that Hamilton missed out on his eighth consecutive world title, snatched from him by a Max Verstappen who was then twenty-three years old but who from that moment on began to dominate the world rankings.
Among the drivers in the points zone at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix we find Max Verstappen, sixth at the finish line, ahead of Pierre Gasly (Alpine Renault).
Gasly's seventh place also contributed to Alpine's sixth place in the constructors' championship, and to the prestige of Flavio Briatore, its team manager.
Completing the top ten were Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), eighth and ninth respectively, followed by Oscar Piastri, tenth, who consolidated the McLaren team's world championship triumph.
Outside the top ten, Alex Albon (Williams) and Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) finished 11th and 12th.
Zhou Guanyu, in his final season with Kick Sauber, finished 13th, followed by Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).
Rookie Jack Doohan finished 15th for Alpine, while Kevin Magnussen, in his farewell race for Haas, finished 16th.
A day to forget for the drivers forced to retire.
Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) was stopped by an engine failure, while technical issues sidelined Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber) and Franco Colapinto (Williams).
Sergio Perez, involved in a first-lap incident with Bottas, abandoned the race shortly after the start, fuelling speculation over his future at Red Bull.
The circus of Formula 1 exhausts the appointments on the calendar for the current year with a test session on December 10, again in Abu Dhabi, while the 2025 season will start on March 16 in Melbourne, Australia.
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