🏎️ It's the end of the road - The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix brings this F1 season to a close 🏎️
Here's the grid for today:
Nico Hülkenberg, who qualified P4, got hit with a grid penalty and dropped down to P7.
https://www.instagram.com/f1/p/DDSGZkmveuC/
What happened in qualifying?
Q1:
- In the last minutes, Magnussen has a moment and dislodges a bollard into the race track
- Hamilton on a push lap has terrible luck and gets the bollard stuck under his car, making him lose out on Q2 for his final race with Mercedes. He qualifies P18
- Bottas finishes the session in a somewhat surprising P2
- Also out: Albon, Zhou, Colapinto, Doohan
Q2:
- Leclerc almost crashes, but manages to just about save himself
- Poor guy apparently got food poisoning after the driver's dinner. Do we suspect foul play? 👀
- Doesn't really matter in the end though - during his final lap he comes in P1, but the lap gets deleted due to track limits and he is eliminated. He also has a 10-place grid penalty on top of that so... good luck to him.
- Also out: Tsunoda, Lawson, Stroll, Magnussen
Q3:
- Verstappen almost crashes, yet still somehow manages to get provisional pole
- Bottas qualifies ahead of Perez - P9 and P10 respectively
- Hülkenberg manages to get a surprising P4 in that Haas of his
- McLaren lock out the front row, with Norris P1 and Piastri P2.
https://www.instagram.com/f1/p/DDSBG0XtQ_x/
It's not goodbye, but see you later
It's the final race of the season, and we're saying goodbye to some faces and seeing some race suits change.
Driver goodbyes:
- It's most likely the final races of Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, and Franco Colapinto as none of them have seats for next year.
- Some of them (Bottas) are rumoured to maybe get a reserve seat though
- Sergio Perez is heavily rumoured to get fired after this race, despite having a contract for next year.
- Liam Lawson's future is still up in the air
Team changes:
- Alpine has already (unceremoniously) said goodbye to Esteban Ocon, and is running next year's driver Jack Doohan in his stead. We'll see Ocon over at Haas next year, though.
- It's Nico Hülkenberg's final race for Haas. He will be driving for KickSauber next year.
- Carlos Sainz will be donning the red Ferarri suit for the last time, as he's going to Williams
- And perhaps the biggest goodbye of them all: The Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Era
Imagine… Thank You, Lewis pic.twitter.com/mG90j2cvqA
- Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 5, 2024
George getting Lewis to sign the same book he was holding when he was photographed chasing after Lewis' signature 15 years ago
15 years, worth the wait… 📕✍️ Thank you, Lewis 🙏 pic.twitter.com/FB8Me21fDQ
- Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 7, 2024
🥹 @GeorgeRussell63 finally got that Lewis signature pic.twitter.com/eKLWdbwkvY
- Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 7, 2024
F1 bits and bobs
• A post on Max and George's media feud
• Max is becoming father to a baby whose grandfathers will be Jos Verstappen and Nelson Piquet
• The drivers had their annual drivers dinner (and made unemployed man Bottas pay)
The annual drivers dinner! ❤️ F1 AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/K75kMLRJ7t
- Formula 1 (@F1) December 5, 2024
📸 Another angle from the drivers dinner ( landoscar 🫂) pic.twitter.com/cFb5aMb57s
- McLaren News | 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 (@McLarenF1_News) December 5, 2024
sources: grid, pole, lewis tribute video, russell book 1 2, drivers dinner 1 2
Nico Hülkenberg, who qualified P4, got hit with a grid penalty and dropped down to P7.
https://www.instagram.com/f1/p/DDSGZkmveuC/
What happened in qualifying?
Q1:
- In the last minutes, Magnussen has a moment and dislodges a bollard into the race track
- Hamilton on a push lap has terrible luck and gets the bollard stuck under his car, making him lose out on Q2 for his final race with Mercedes. He qualifies P18
- Bottas finishes the session in a somewhat surprising P2
- Also out: Albon, Zhou, Colapinto, Doohan
Q2:
- Leclerc almost crashes, but manages to just about save himself
- Poor guy apparently got food poisoning after the driver's dinner. Do we suspect foul play? 👀
- Doesn't really matter in the end though - during his final lap he comes in P1, but the lap gets deleted due to track limits and he is eliminated. He also has a 10-place grid penalty on top of that so... good luck to him.
- Also out: Tsunoda, Lawson, Stroll, Magnussen
Q3:
- Verstappen almost crashes, yet still somehow manages to get provisional pole
- Bottas qualifies ahead of Perez - P9 and P10 respectively
- Hülkenberg manages to get a surprising P4 in that Haas of his
- McLaren lock out the front row, with Norris P1 and Piastri P2.
https://www.instagram.com/f1/p/DDSBG0XtQ_x/
It's not goodbye, but see you later
It's the final race of the season, and we're saying goodbye to some faces and seeing some race suits change.
Driver goodbyes:
- It's most likely the final races of Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, and Franco Colapinto as none of them have seats for next year.
- Some of them (Bottas) are rumoured to maybe get a reserve seat though
- Sergio Perez is heavily rumoured to get fired after this race, despite having a contract for next year.
- Liam Lawson's future is still up in the air
Team changes:
- Alpine has already (unceremoniously) said goodbye to Esteban Ocon, and is running next year's driver Jack Doohan in his stead. We'll see Ocon over at Haas next year, though.
- It's Nico Hülkenberg's final race for Haas. He will be driving for KickSauber next year.
- Carlos Sainz will be donning the red Ferarri suit for the last time, as he's going to Williams
- And perhaps the biggest goodbye of them all: The Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Era
Imagine… Thank You, Lewis pic.twitter.com/mG90j2cvqA
- Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 5, 2024
George getting Lewis to sign the same book he was holding when he was photographed chasing after Lewis' signature 15 years ago
15 years, worth the wait… 📕✍️ Thank you, Lewis 🙏 pic.twitter.com/FB8Me21fDQ
- Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 7, 2024
🥹 @GeorgeRussell63 finally got that Lewis signature pic.twitter.com/eKLWdbwkvY
- Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 7, 2024
F1 bits and bobs
• A post on Max and George's media feud
• Max is becoming father to a baby whose grandfathers will be Jos Verstappen and Nelson Piquet
• The drivers had their annual drivers dinner (and made unemployed man Bottas pay)
The annual drivers dinner! ❤️ F1 AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/K75kMLRJ7t
- Formula 1 (@F1) December 5, 2024
📸 Another angle from the drivers dinner ( landoscar 🫂) pic.twitter.com/cFb5aMb57s
- McLaren News | 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 (@McLarenF1_News) December 5, 2024
sources: grid, pole, lewis tribute video, russell book 1 2, drivers dinner 1 2