Drivers ranking after the Abu Dhabi GP
Last list of drivers of the season. Final highlight for drivers like Gasly or Hulkenberg
The longest season in the history of the league ended. Formula 1but we still have to qualify the drivers during the last weekend of the calendar in the Abu Dhabi GP in which we saw McLaren breaking a streak of 26 years while the tifosi still have to wait another year to celebrate.
To put together this driver classifier, we took everything done over the weekend, prioritizing the practice sessions, qualifying and the race. We also consider the car each driver competes with, as well as the competitor’s years of experience.
1- Lando Norris
Solid weekend at the end of a season that brought the British his first victory in the category but at the same time, the bad taste of losing a championship even when the chances were minimal due to the advantage of his rival. In Abu Dhabi Lando Norris dominated from start to finish and did what was necessary to secure McLaren’s first constructors’ title since 1998.
2- Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz did his job in qualifying, qualifying in P3 ahead of Max Verstappen and benefited from the contact between the champion and Oscar Piastri in the first corner, moving up to P2, from then on it was all about pace management for the Madrid native who closes. his time with Ferrari with a second place that was not enough to snatch the title from McLaren.
3- Nico Hulkenberg
Another driver who will change colors for 2025, “Hulk” was in direct fight with Pierre Gasly for 6th position in the constructors’ championship, but a penalty for violating the race direction mandate of not overtaking in the tunnel during qualifying, He robbed us of the possibility of seeing a good-looking Haas in the top 3 of a race. Hulkenberg had a good weekend to say goodbye in style, propelling Haas up to P7 in the constructors’ table.
4- Pierre Gasly
Alpine leader Pierre Gasly arrived in Abu Dhabi with the commitment to keep the French team in P6 since his partner for the fight with Haas and VCarb was a rookie like Jack Doohan, but Gasly managed to get the best out of his car to get into Q3 and surpass the performance of both Haas, closing a season from less to more for the Enstone team.
5- Charles Leclerc
Leclerc arrived in Abu Dhabi hoping to bring the constructors’ championship to Maranello for the first time since 2008 but a failure in the electrical part of the SF-24 caused him to install his third battery bank of the season, giving him a 10-position penalty early. to reach Qualy and then start in Q2 after having left the track in his last attempt. The Monegasque had his best start in a long time by advancing 11 positions in the first lap, to finally reach P3.
6- Lewis Hamilton
Some bad luck accompanied Hamilton during Saturday’s qualifying in which he rode part of his preparation lap with a cone under his car, leaving him in P18 in his last race with the German team, which gave us the opportunity to see for the last time “Hammer Time” was a silver arrow when the seven-time champion overtook George Russell on the final lap to take P6.
7- Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso managed to get his Aston Martin into Q3 and stayed within the top 10 for most of the race, finishing in P9 ahead of Oscar Piastri who saw his comeback stopped when he overtook the Spaniard, a tremendous result for “Magic” considering the regression of the Silverstone team during the season.
8- Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen had a miscalculation trying to overtake Oscar Piastri in turn 1, causing a crash that sent him to the bottom of the grid, for which he was penalized with 10 seconds and 2 points on his super license, a bad decision by the champion who At that moment he no longer had anything at stake other than taking the victory from Lando Norris.
9-George Russell
Russell and Hamilton were called to fight for victory in Yas Marina but they were barely able to place themselves in the top 10. Russell, for his part, remained in P4 for a good time until being overtaken by Hamilton on the last lap of the race, finishing P5.
10- Oscar Piastri
While Lando Norris carried McLaren’s desire to become champions, Piastri was a victim of Verstappen on the first lap and then caused Franco Colapinto to abandon the race after hitting him from behind, although in the end he was able to climb back to P10.
