It all came down to this: Ferrari against McLaren for the 2024 Constructors Championship title in a race full of plot twists at the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP.<\/p>\n
In a dramatic finale at the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP, McLaren triumphed over Ferrari to clinch the Constructors\u2019 Championship title, with Lando Norris leading the charge and Ferrari\u2019s valiant efforts falling just short.<\/p>\n
Ferrari went into this weekend’s race against McLaren with a 21-point disadvantage. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc<\/a> were determined to win the Constructors title for the Maranello-based team.<\/p>\n However, Ferrari’s chances slimmed down when Leclerc took a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding power unit components. This raised McLaren’s chance to conquer the title.<\/p>\n Going into Saturday all eyes were fixed on qualifying’s outcome. Leclerc started on a positive note going fastest in Q1. However, after breaching track limits Leclerc was knocked out of Q2.<\/p>\n This sparked some controversy. Both Piastri and Perez previously had their times deleted and then reinstated for a similar error as Leclerc’s. The Monegasque driver, meanwhile, didn’t get his time reinstated and angrily went out in Q2.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz was McLaren’s closest challenger throughout Q3. The Spanish driver concluded his last qualifying session with Ferrari in a promising third place.<\/p>\n YOU MAY ALSO LIKE<\/strong>: F2 Ends 2024 Season with Drama, Triumph, and Heartbreak in Abu Dhabi<\/a><\/p>\n Despite McLaren’s clear advantage, hopes were up in the Ferrari garage. After Max Verstappen made contact with Oscar Piastri in turn 1, the latter dropped down the order. In the meantime, Leclerc shot up to 8th from 19th in just one lap.<\/p>\n From there Leclerc managed to climb up the order even more, maintaining P3 until the end of the race. Carlos Sainz, was just ahead of him in second place, holding his own throughout the race.<\/p>\n Leclerc was the first of the front runners to make his pit stop on Lap 21. Some laps later, Norris too entered the pits and came out in the lead with hard tyres. Sainz soon followed suit and came out of the pits in second place.<\/p>\n The race seemingly went on without problems and in the end, it was Norris who took the chequered flag, and at the same time the Constructors Championship, in first place.<\/p>\n Ferrari\u2019s Sainz and Leclerc were just behind him finishing the podium. Despite the good race result disappointment could be seen on Leclerc\u2019s face after the race.<\/p>\n Overall it was a good result for the team as a whole, with 9 podiums from Carlos Sainz<\/a> and 13 from Charles Leclerc.<\/p>\n For Carlos Sainz, this marked his last race with the Maranello team as he prepares for next year with Williams.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, at the same time, very grateful, you know, to be part of this amazing team for four years. I think I’ve had the opportunity to win my first races, do my first pole positions, my first podiums. I’ve proven to myself and to everyone that I can be fighting for race wins and for podiums if I have the right car. My target is from next year onwards, focus together with Williams to get back to where we belong together.\u201d – Carlos Sainz post-race<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And despite the initial disappointment Charles Leclerc positively talked about Ferrari\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m very happy because I think the first part of the season wasn’t easy. We were definitely not the fastest car. We were actually struggling for performance. The second part of the season, we’ve done an incredible job, mostly for improving the car in terms of pace. We’ve picked up a lot of pace. We were a lot closer to the guys in front, and actually on some races we were probably the fastest car and this is thanks to the team in Maranello, thanks to Carlos, thanks to me and the team back at the track as well to have done such a great job with the new upgrades.\u201d – Charles Leclerc post-race.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nRace day: the last fight<\/h4>\n
Carlos Sainz farewell<\/h4>\n