The last free practice session and Qualifying event of the 2024 F1 season ended in disappointment for Ferrari and Mercedes going into the 2024 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 8. McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start the race on Sunday in the first and second positions. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start the race in the pit lane, and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start in the 17th position.
Notable wins and fails during the Free Practice 3 and Qualifying
The teams continued to test different tires and aerodynamics setups during Free Practice 3 (FP3). The Qualifying event was important because it determined the starting grid positions for the Grand Prix. There were several upsets and disappointments during Qualifying.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was already facing a ten-position penalty in the starting grid related to needing a new battery for the car, exceeding the normal allocation. However, LeClerc also had a track limits penalty in the second round of Qualifying, which left him in the 14th starting position before the equipment-related ten-position penalty. He’ll be starting the race in the pit lane.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, driving his last race for the team before moving to the Ferrari team next year, didn’t do well in the first round of Qualifying when a loose plastic bollard got stuck under his car. Hamilton starts in position 17.
Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg had a great run in the third Qualifying session and finished with the fourth-fastest time, which put him in fourth place on the starting grid. However, after the event, Hulkenberg was given a three-place penalty for passing two cars in the pit lane, so he will start in seventh position.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix starting grid
McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be in the first two positions at the start of the race. With McLaren going into the race 21 Championship points ahead of Ferrari, the easy guess is that McLaren will be unbeatable for the season’s biggest prize, the Constructors’ Championship, which is the big money-maker for the teams.
The likelihood of a McLaren win is even greater with Ferrari driver Leclerc starting the race from the pit lane instead of the starting grid due to penalties.
Never say never in Formula 1, however. If Leclerc passed everyone else in the race’s 58 laps, Carlos Sainz, the second Ferrari driver, finished strong, and the McLaren drivers fell out of the points in 11th place or further back, Ferrari could still win the Constructors’ title for 2024.
Starting grid for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
| Grid position | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | RB Honda |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams |
| 16 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber |
| 17 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 18 | Franco Colapinto | Williams |
| 19 | Jack Doohan | Alpine |
| Pit road | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
