Within the twenty fourth and last grand prix of the 2024 season, McLaren has a chance to do one thing many followers of theirs have by no means seen them do earlier than – win the constructors’ championship.
Fittingly, the group they need to defeat for that honour is their oldest and fiercest conventional rival: Ferrari.
After exhibiting promising tempo throughout the primary two days of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured one of the vital essential entrance row lockouts the group has ever taken, proper forward of Carlos Sainz Jnr in third
“I believe we’ve each been driving nicely this weekend and we knew the strain was on, from ourselves,” Norris stated after taking his eighth pole of 2024. “So we’ve each carried out nicely. We’ve each obtained every part out of the automobile. However this can be a lengthy race, and plenty of issues can occur, so we’re undoubtedly not going to get forward of ourselves.”
Ferrari’s day was bittersweet to say the least. At a monitor he struggled severely final yr, Sainz confirmed that Ferrari had been under no circumstances far off McLaren for efficiency by being the closest to them in qualifying two tenths away from Norris’s pole. However not solely was group mate Charles Leclerc hit by a 10-place grid penalty on Friday, a brutal Q2 elimination after exceeding monitor limits signifies that Ferrari’s second automobile will begin down in nineteenth.
“I believe it was already extraordinarily troublesome,” Sainz admitted. “It was a little bit of a ‘mission unattainable’ already earlier than the weekend began.
“Then we arrived in FP1 and Charles’ battery died earlier than operating and the grid penalty clearly was an enormous shock, an enormous blow. On high of that, you get the Q2 scenario for Charles. It simply makes issues clearly much more troublesome.
However in his last race for Ferrari, Sainz is on no account going to surrender the battle. If Ferrari are to lose this title, Sainz is set to push each McLarens to the bitter finish.
“Till the chequered flag comes down tomorrow, something can occur,” he stated. “I’m going to maintain preventing for no matter comes. And I’m positive Charles from the again will push flat out to get each single level accessible and see what occurs with the McLarens.”
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Climate
To the shock of nobody, the Abu Dhabi Grand prix might be a dry race. There’s not even the slightest likelihood of rain hitting the Yas Marina circuit, which means the constructors’ championship might be determined over a dry race.
The race itself will run in circumstances largely much like qualifying and Friday’s second observe session, with ambient temperatures just below 30C for the 5pm race begin time after which steadily falling via the race because the solar units. Wind has not been too large an element thus far this weekend and is unlikely to be once more on Sunday, with wind speeds anticipated to be decrease than the earlier two days.
Begin
The 177 metre run from pole place to the braking level for the primary nook is among the many shorter ones of the season. Even when the driving force beginning second on the grid, on the left-hand facet, manages to get a greater begin than the pole winner and has the within line for the primary nook, there may be not numerous room for them to try an out braking transfer into flip one.
Within the final ten grands prix at Yas Marina, the driving force on pole has led the opening lap eight occasions, with Lewis Hamilton the one driver in a position to take the lead from second on the grid – from Nico Rosberg in 2014 and Max Verstappen of their notorious 2021 showdown.
Nevertheless, all that’s more likely to be rendered moot as Piastri will doubtless be underneath strict orders to not assault his group mate too exhausting initially, on condition that it doesn’t matter what order they end in, however that they’re forward of Ferrari.
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Technique
It’s a good factor for a number of groups that many drivers have already used up all of their gentle tyres this weekend – as they are going to virtually definitely not be needing them for Sunday.
Final yr, the sphere had been pretty common of their strategy to the race and a two-stop technique. The highest eight finishers all employed the identical technique of beginning on mediums earlier than two stints on the exhausting tyres, with Yuki Tsunoda one-stopping to ninth and Lance Stroll the one driver inside the highest ten to run a hard-hard-medium technique.
This yr, Pirelli predict a one-stop as being the most suitable choice, beginning on mediums and switching to exhausting tyres – as was the case final weekend in Qatar. That’s primarily based on the degrees of tyre degradation being decrease this weekend than was noticed on the identical occasion final season.
Overtaking
Yas Marina shouldn’t be identified for producing thrilling racing nevertheless it’s honest to say that the in depth reprofiling at both ends of the monitor for the 2021 season has had a demonstrable affect on overtaking alternatives across the lap.
The final seven races held across the circuit’s outdated configuration – 2014-2020 – produced a median of 25.7 profitable on-track overtakes outdoors of the primary lap, per race. Following the modifications, the primary three races have averaged 44.3 passes per race.
The 2 most blatant passing spots sit on the ends of the 2 DRS zones at turns six and 9. However the DRS zone alongside the again straight approaching flip six has been decreased by 50 metres for this yr. This didn’t appear to have an effect on the prospects of passing in Saturday’s F2 dash race, nonetheless, with a number of strikes made into the 2 turns.
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Security Vehicles
With its virtually infinite asphalt run off areas, Yas Marina shouldn’t be a circuit that produces Security Vehicles usually. The final ten have solely produced three in complete, with solely two Digital Security Automobile durations wanted over that very same time.
The final two Abu Dhabi Grands Prix have run solely freed from Security Vehicles, which means the final deployment in a race right here was essentially the most controversial one within the sport’s historical past, following Nicholas Latifi crashing out at flip 14 in direction of the tip of the race in 2021.
One to observe
There is just one driver to choose for this last weekend of the season: Lewis Hamilton.
His last race for Mercedes sees him beginning far decrease than each he and his group would have needed in sixteenth – though it’s doubtless that he deserved to be a lot increased given the tempo he had proven as much as the tip of Q1.
Like Michael Schumacher, who capped off his time as a Ferrari driver with a shocking battle from the again in his last race earlier than his first retirement at Brazil in 2006, Hamilton might be determined to emulate his fellow seven-times champion by producing one last magic second.
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Over to you
Will Sainz have the ability to battle towards the McLarens for victory on Sunday? Share your views on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix within the feedback.
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2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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