McLaren in great position to take championship as Lando Norris takes pole for Abu Dhabi GP

Credit: Kym Illman

McLaren are in a fantastic position to win their first Constructors Championship since 1998 as they will lock out the front row for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Lando Norris taking pole position.

It was the final qualifying session of the season at the Yas Marina Circuit that produced shocks throughout. Charles Leclerc being eliminated in Q2 caught so many by surprise but Lewis Hamilton picking up a bollard under his car cost him so much time and in his final qualifying with Mercedes ended up 18th.

Norris took pole from teammate Piastri who still awaits his first Grand Prix pole position. Carlos Sainz in his final qualifying for Ferrari would complete the top three.

McLaren are in the perfect position to clinch their first Constructors Championship since 1998 as with a front row lockout they need to be outscored by 22 points to lose their championship lead.

How the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying unfolded

Saturday at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi would signify qualifying for the final time in the 2024 Formula One World Championship and it would set to be a fantastic session of lap times with the top four teams having been super competitive throughout 2024.

Earlier in the day for the final free practice session of the weekend and the season, it was Oscar Piastri who was fastest in a McLaren 1-2. Would that be the theme of the day?

Max Verstappen and George Russell had been on pole for the previous two Grand Prix in Qatar and Las Vegas, would one of them take pole once again or would it be someone else?

Q1

The start of qualifying would begin with all 20 drivers competing for the top 15 places. The green light would be on at the end of the pit lane which would signify the start of the session.

It would be a fairly slow start to the session with no direct on track action, with just Lance Stroll setting a lap in the very early stages of the session. He would be the first driver to set a flying lap and he would go fastest because of this.

It took a while for the majority of the field to come out onto the track but with 13 minutes to go in the session, they did just that. Fast laps would eventually be set by the vast majority and it would be Ferrari's Carlos Sainz who would go provisionally top of the time sheets.

Sainz's time would be good enough to be top as Max Verstappen was sitting second with Kevin Magnussen in third for Haas. The drivers at risk with five minutes remaining would be Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez who would have his lap time deleted after an impressive first run.

However, this would be reinstated by the FIA as after review it was found to have not fully exceeded track limits and therefore it was a fully legitimate lap time. With the lap reinstated he would be bumped up into third after being in 19th when the lap time was deleted!

Soon enough the chequered flag would be out with a vast amount of improvement from many drivers and it was quite close between the entire pack as the final Q1 of the season concluded. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc would end the session fastest overall.

However, his future teammate Lewis Hamilton would get a bollard caught underneath his car that appeared to have been knocked onto the circuit by Kevin Magnussen. The last few corners were a disaster and he lost so much time because of the lack of aerodynamics.

In his final qualifying session for Mercedes, he would be knocked out in the first part of qualifying along with Colapinto, Albon, Doohan and Zhou Guanyu.

Q2

Time for the second part of qualifying in Abu Dhabi as 15 drivers remained in the final qualifying session of the 2024 season. This time around, the drivers would be competing for a space in the top 10 to make it through to Q3 and to be in the fight for pole position.

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and Max Verstappen would be the first out of the 15 to enter the track in the session.

Verstappen would go fastest in the first set of lap times to be set and the four-time champion would be finding it in a comfy position in the session. His lap would be around a tenth faster than Lando Norris who was positioned in second.

Norris' McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri would go third fastest demonstrating the great speed of the McLaren with both drivers looking like they had the pace to compete for pole position.

The cars would head back to the pit lane for a change of tyres ahead of the final lap in Q2 with Max Verstappen opting to get out of his car as he felt that he would be comfortable and would make it through to Q3 with ease.

Soon enough, the chequered flag would be out and that would signify the end of the session and only drivers on their current flying laps would be able to complete them. Registering the fastest lap of the session and going quickest would be Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc who would be taking a 10-place grid penalty for an energy store change. However, he would be set to go through to Q3 until his lap was deleted for a track limits violation and instead he would be eliminated in Q2!

A big surprise at the end of the session would be, in his final qualifying session for now, Valtteri Bottas who would put himself through to Q3 with a stunning effort and someone who is known for a quick qualifying would make it through to the top 10 shootout!

Eliminated at the end of the session would be both Visa RB drivers in Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, as well as Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Leclerc of Ferrari!

Q3

With just 10 drivers remaining following Q2, the qualifying session would prepare for Q3 which would bring about the top 10 shootout and the fight for pole position.

​ Eight teams would have ended up getting a car into the top 10 shootout just proving how competitive the field was and how unpredictable Q3 was expected to be. The green light would be on at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of the session and that the hunt for pole position was on.

On the first laps it would be Max Verstappen who would go to provisional pole as he was top by just 0.004 as he narrowly had a time better than McLaren's Lando Norris.Oscar Piastri, Norris' teammate would go to third but would have his time instantly deleted for track limits which ended up promoting Carlos Sainz to third.

However, after a review, in a similar fashion to Sergio Perez the Australian would have his lap reinstated ahead of the final runs - knocking Carlos Sainz back down to fourth!

Soon enough, after a quick tyre change the drivers would be heading out onto the circuit for their final flying laps in Q3 with the aim of pole position very much in the forefront of the drivers' minds. All 10 drivers would be out on track at the same time.

In the final laps, it would be a staggering end to the qualifying action for the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship. The two McLaren drivers would shine as Lando Norris would take pole position in a McLaren 1-2. Therefore it would be a McLaren front row lockout for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz would go third fastest by the end but the surprise of Q3 without a doubt would be Nico Hulkenberg who would put his Haas car fourth for Sunday's season finale in a fantastic effort from the driver. Max Verstappen would have to settle for fifth after a tricky final lap.

Pierre Gasly would end up sixth in another fantastic session for the Alpine driver. George Russell would end up seventh for Mercedes. His first non-front row start since Mexico!  Fernando Alonso would be eighth ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

That would be the top 10 for the final Grand Prix of the season at the Yas Marina Circuit to get underway on Sunday December 8.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal