The final race of the 2024 season. McLaren and Ferrari are still battling over the Constructors’ Championship.
News since Qatar:
- VER threw his toys out of the pram, saying he “lost all respect” for RUS because the Red Bull driver was penalised for driving too slowly in Quali. (Don’t forget it was VER who jumped on the race during the race to try to get NOR penalised during a yellow flag period.)
In response, RUS accused VER of “crossing a line”; VER told RUS “`I’m going to purposefully crash into you, I’m going to put you on your f*****g head in the wall` – for me that isn’t acceptable and he’s gone beyond the line here, and I’m not going to accept it. So somebody’s got to stand up to a guy like this before it gets out of control.” [F1] - The FIA has always been headed up by megalomaniacs but current FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is being quite blatant in his attempts to make it a dictatorship. Proposed changes “would ensure that any ethics complaints were overseen by the FIA president and president of its senate, rather than the senate itself.” [BBC] Nothing like an obvious conflict of interest there, given the complaints about his behaviour!
From that same BBC article:The proposals come after a year in which the ethics and audit committees investigated a number of allegations about the conduct of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. These included questions about the finances of Ben Sulayem’s private office; the establishment of a $1.5m “president’s fund” to pay member clubs, which vote for the FIA president. Neither of these were progressed. And two separate allegations that Ben Sulayem interfered in the operations of grands prix in 2023, which were dismissed. The former chief executive officer Natalie Robyn left the organisation after raising questions about the general governance of the FIA and its professional practices, including finances in the president’s office. And the head of the audit committee Bertrand Badre and audit committee member Tom Purves were fired in the summer, external in the wake of these investigations. The compliance officer Paolo Basarri, who looked into the allegations and reported them to the ethics committee, was fired last month. The changes to the statutes, which have been seen by BBC Sport, remove the ability of the compliance officer to report to the audit committee and remove the audit committee’s ability to investigate any matter unless asked by the president of the senate. And they would mean the FIA president controlled the appointment of the head of the ethics committee, and remove the role of the senate and compliance officer in its operations.
Wow!
- Alpine have dropped OCO from the final race and replaced him with Jack Doohan. The official statement from the team says “The change allows Esteban to be released to Haas to drive in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi.”
(Next week there’s a “young driver” session in Abu Dhabi but some departing drivers, e.g. HAM, are still under contract and won’t be able to participate.)
Free Practice
Six rookies will get a chance to drive an F1 car in FP1
- LEC’s brother, Arthur, will be in SAI’s Ferrari marking the first time siblings have driven in the same F1 session
- Ayumu Iwasa (in TSU’s RB)
- Felipe Drugovich (in STR’s Aston Martin)
- Isack Hadjar (in VER’s Red Bull)
- Luke Browning (in ALB’s Williams)
- Ryo Hirakawa (in PIA’s McLaren)
- FP1: LEC (1:24.321), NOR, HAM, RUS, GAS
LEC has a new battery, so that’ll be grid penalties for the race; both Williams will also have penalties for new parts
The rookies had challenges, as expected the first time behind an F1 wheel
ALO was frustrated; “Worst car ever. Worst traffic preparation ever. Next time I do my outlap myself.” - FP2: NOR (1:23.517), PIA, HUL, SAI, HAM
PIA locked up, ran wide in the final turn
RUS had a snap of oversteer
COL ran very wide, damaging the Williams – their mechanics must be counting down the minutes to the end of this season!
ALB was stuck in third gear, trundling back to the pits - FP3: PIA
Penalties
- ALB and COL each have a 5-grid place drop for new components
- LEC’s engine changes result in a 10-place grid drop – that’s not going to help their Championship challenge
- Red Bull were fined €900 for rookie Isack Hadjar speeding in the pit lane in FP1
Qualifying
Air temperature 25°C; track 30°C; humidity 65%
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
Green light but no-one’s rushing to get on track
Alpine mechanics just finished working on GAS’ car
ALO is scrubbing a set of hard tyres; HAM and RUS do the same
STR boots it out of Turn 8 and the rear of his Aston Martin steps out
STR 1:24.366
PER 1:23.559 but he exceeded track limits in Turn 1 so the time is deleted
ALB 1:24.153
TSU 1:24.004
VER 1:23.516
SAI 1:23.487
5mins left; bottom 5 are DOO, LAW, ALB, PER, COL
COL P11, ZHO P16
ALB P10, GAS P16
PER’s lap time is reinstated! He looked well over the line in the replay; that relegates BOT to P16
PER over-reacts to BOT coming out of his garage as PER is in the pit lane; there was no danger, but that’s the Red Bull way
ZHO P12, TSU P16
BOT 1:23.481, ALO P16
TSU P11, COL P16
LAW P11, HAM P16
GAS P4, ZHO P16
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are ZHO, HAM, COL, ALO, DOO
LEC 1:23.302
ZHO P16
ALO P15, ALB P16
HAM P18
Back of the grid: ALB*, ZHO, HAM, COL*, DOO
*ALB and COL each have a 5-grid place penalty to be applied
Wow, that’s terrible for HAM; he’s got a bollard under his front wing, so he’s been wide
Radio from HAM, “I messed that up”
Replay shows MAG pulled off-track to get out of HAM’s way, but MAG knocked a bollard into HAM’s path
Replay of the end of LAW’s flying lap shows RUS trying to move off the racing line but that might be investigated
Qualifying session 2
Start of Q2 delayed so track workers can reinstall the bollard
LAW/RUS incident – no further investigation
VER 1:22.998
LEC seems surprised by GAS, has a big twitch
4mins left; big queue at pit exit, crawling along as usual
VER is out of his car, confident in going through to Q3
3mins left; bottom 5 are ALO, STR, MAG, BOT, GAS
Everyone bar VER on track
(HUL P2)
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are LEC, MAG, ALO, STR, BOT
STR P10, LAW P11
ALO P6, STR P11
LEC 1:22.980, SAI P11 … but LEC’s lap is deleted
SAI 1:22.985, TSU P11
Timing chart is updated; LEC drops to P13 pushing TSU out of the drop zone
LAW P11
BOT P9, TSU P11
Middle of the grid: TSU, LAW, STR, LEC*, MAG
*LEC’s 10-place penalty means he’ll start P20
Top 10 shootout is between SAI, VER, HUL, GAS, NOR, PIA, ALO, RUS, BOT, PER
Qualifying session 3
HUL 1:23.492
RUS P2
PER P2
VER 1:22.945 but he lost it out of the final turn – did he exceed track limits?
SAI P2
ALO P4
GAS P4
PIA P2 but that’s deleted
NOR P2 just 0.004 sec behind VER
Order after the first run: VER, NOR, SAI, HUL, GAS, ALO, PER, RUS, PIA, BOT
Reply of PIA in Turn 1 – that looks less off the track than PER but will McLaren convince the stewards like Red Bull did?
PIA’s lap time has been reinstated; he’s P3
3 mins left; everyone heading out for a final quali lap
PER P4
BOT P4
HUL 1:22.886
GAS P4
PIA 1:22.804
Chequered flag; order is PIA, HUL, VER, NOR, GAS, BOT, PER, SAI, ALO, RUS
ALO P6
PER P9
SAI P2
NOR 1:22.595
RUS P7
VER P5
Front of the grid: NOR, PIA, SAI, HUL, VER, GAS, RUS, ALO, BOT, PER
Provisional grid: NOR, PIA, SAI, HUL, VER, GAS, RUS, ALO, BOT, PER, TSU, LAW, STR, LEC*, MAG, ALB*, ZHO, HAM, COL*, DOO
Post-Quali Penalties
HUL given 3-grid spot drop for passing two cars in the tunnel section of the pit lane
Race
Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
Air temperature 27°C; track 33°C; humidity 45%
Grid: NOR, PIA, SAI, VER, GAS, RUS, HUL, ALO, BOT, PER, TSU, LAW, STR, MAG, ZHO, HAM, DOO, ALB, LEC, COL
NOR leads everyone away on the formation lap
Everyone starting on medium compound tyres except HAM on hards
It’s the last race for some drivers and the last with their current team for others, so many messages of thanks
01/58: NOR leads into Turn 1
VER spins PIA around – typical dirty move by VER
GAS past PER for P3
PER spins
Debris flying off BOT’s car
PER has parked at the side of the track in Turn 10
02: NOR, SAI, GAS, RUS, HUL, ALO, MAG, LEC, STR, LAW, VER, HAM, BOT, ZHO, ALB, DOO, TSU, COL, PIA, PER
VSC deployed
03[VSC]: VSC ending
DRS enabled
PIA runs into the rear of COL
Radio from COL reporting a puncture
04: COL pits
VER/PIA lap 1 incident noted
05/58: NOR, SAI, GAS, RUS, HUL, ALO, MAG, LEC, STR, VER
SAI fastest lap 1:28.995
PIA pits; switches to hard tyres but no front wing change; rejoins P18
10sec penalty for VER for causing the collision with PIA – expect Red Bull to appeal a lap 1 incident
Replay of radio from PIA describing it as the “move of a world champion”
07: PIA f/lap 1:28.950
RUS still trying to find a way around GAS
08: PIA/COL incident noted
09: NOR f/lap 1:28.860
10sec penalty for PIA
VER inside MAG for P8
10/58: NOR, SAI, GAS, RUS, HUL, ALO, LEC, VER*, MAG, STR, LAW, HAM, ZHO, ALB, TSU, DOO, PIA*, BOT, COL; out: PER (*penalties to be applied)
LEC uses DRS to pass ALO for P6
Replay shows ALO ran very wide, letting LEC close up
11: ZHO noted for a false start
12: STR pits from P10
LEC closing on HUL; takes P5 – remember he started P19
Radio from HAM, “I’ve got no pace”
13: MAG, ZHO and ALB all pit; slow stop for MAG
ALB past ZHO for P16
14: HUL and ALO pit; rejoin P11 and P12 respectively
RUS still unable to pass GAS
15/58: NOR, SAI, GAS, RUS, LEC, VER, HAM, LAW, TSU, DOO
GAS pits, releasing RUS
5sec penalty for ZHO for false start
18: Radio from VER reporting his “front tyres are getting too hot; I can’t brake” – is that code for “I’m going to hit someone”?
19: Black & white flag for STR for repeatedly exceeding track limits
20/58: NOR, SAI, RUS, LEC, VER*, HAM, LAW, GAS, HUL, TSU, DOO, ALO, PIA*, STR, MAG, ALB, ZHO*, BOT, COL (*penalties to be applied)
Replay of TSU’s start shows he was very slow getting away, and on the radio saying he “lost the clutch”
21: LEC pits from P4; hards go on; rejoins P8 just in front of HUL
22: NOR is 4sec clear of SAI; if NOR wins, McLaren take the Constructors’ Championship
23: LAW defending P6 from GAS
TSU and DOO pit
Radio from RUS saying he “can maintain this pace”
24: GAS takes P6 from LAW
LEC inside LAW to take P7
LAW pits; rejoins P15
25/58: NOR, SAI, RUS, VER*, HAM, GAS, LEC, HUL, ALO
LEC takes P6 from GAS
Radio from LAW reporting “the wheels aren’t on, mate”!! (Thats bound to be a penalty)
LAW returns to the pits
26: SAI pits from P2; hards go on; quick stop (2.2sec); rejoins P3
Replay of LAW’s first stop; the front-left wasn’t tightened
27: NOR pits from P1; hards; 2.0sec stop; rejoins still P1
RUS pits from P2; hards; P7
Radio for LEC, “Now it’s plan C”; LEC says
28: SAI f/lap 1:28.177
RUS takes P6 from GAS
COL pits, retires
30/58: NOR, SAI, VER*, HAM, LEC, RUS, GAS, HUL, ALO, PIA*
VER pits from P3; serves 10sec penalty; hards go on; rejoins P11
MAG makes his 2nd stop
Radio from VER, “Can we ask for 20 seconds? Stupid idiots” – Hopefully that’ll be another penalty
31: BOT has a front-right puncture
Replay shows BOT locked up, ran into the side of MAG; spun MAG
BOT pits, retires
MAG’s still running though
32: VER f/lap 1:28.088
33: PIA pits; serves 10sec penalty; hards go on; rejoins P15
34: MAG f/lap 1:27.235
35/58: NOR, SAI, HAM, LEC, RUS, GAS, HUL, ALO, VER, ALB, ZHO, TSU, DOO, STR, PIA, MAG, LAW; out: BOT, COL, PER
HAM pits from P3; mediums go on; rejoins P7 just ahead of ALO
So P7 to P9 are World Champs, HAM, ALO and VER*
36: VER takes P8 from ALO
38: NOR leads by just over 3secs from the Ferrari duo; that would still win the Constructors’
ALO pits; hards; P12
39: PIA inside STR for P14
40/58: NOR, SAI, LEC, RUS, GAS, HUL, HAM, VER, ALB, ZHO, TSU, ALO, DOO, PIA, STR, MAG, LAW
Radio for NOR asking if he thinks he could pass SAI if NOR has new tyres but SAI doesn’t pit (presumably discussing strategy if there’s a SC)
41: HAM past HUL for P5
STR takes P13 from DOO
DOO has a look around the outside of STR but the Aston Martin closes the door
43: Radio from HAM asking about the gap ahead; he’s told 14secs, but does he know it’s RUS that’s ahead?
44: VER takes P7 from HUL
45/58: NOR, SAI, LEC, RUS, HAM, GAS, VER, HUL, ALB, TSU, ALO, PIA, STR, DOO, ZHO, MAG, LAW; out: BOT, COL, PER
46: NOR’s lead by over 5secs
ALO past TSU for P10
PIA has a moment behind TSU – suddenly loses downforce but catches the McLaren and rejoins the track
47: PIA is right on TSU’s rear wing again
Radio for PIA telling him to keep calm
48: HAM has closed slightly on RUS; he’s now under 10sec behind his teammate
49: PIA around the outside of TSU for P11
50/58: NOR, SAI, LEC, RUS, HAM, VER, GAS, HUL, ALB, ALO, PIA, TSU, STR, DOO, ZHO, MAG, LAW
Radio from NOR complaining about dirty air as he laps the backmarkers
52: HAM continues to close on RUS; gap is under 6sec now
Ferrari mechanics in the pit lane; will SAI put on softs to go for f/lap? No, the mechanics return to the garage
Replay of radio from SAI saying he thought he had a puncture
53: NOR laps TSU (P12)
54: PIA has taken P10 from ALB, but his teammate is going to lap him soon
55/58: NOR, SAI, LEC, RUS, HAM, VER, GAS, HUL, ALO, PIA
56: HAM under 2sec behind RUS
57: Will RUS let HAM pass him? Radio from Toto suggests they’re allowed to race
MAG pits for new soft tyres
58/58: Yellow flag – LAW has pulled off with a very smoky engine
HAM has DRS to attack HAM
NOR takes the chequered flag
HAM past teammate RUS for P4
MAG f/lap 1:25.637
Provisional result: NOR, SAI, LEC, HAM, RUS, VER, GAS, HUL, ALO, PIA; ALB, STR, TSU, ZHO, DOO, MAG
DNF: LAW, BOT, COL, PER
Fastest lap: MAG (no point awarded as he finished P16)
HAM does donuts on the main straight to mark the end of his time with Mercedes
He parks on the start line alongside NOR and the Ferrari duo
Post-race penalties
STR was given a 5sec penalty for exceeding track limits, dropping him from P12 to P14
LAW received a 10sec stop-go penalty for the unsafe release (at his first pit stop)
[2024 calendar and driver line-up]
