Lando Norris led the field off the line from pole position to start the chaotic opening lap. Max Verstappen had a strong start from P4, attempting to make a lunge on Oscar Piastri in the first corner. Piastri opened the steering to give Verstappen space, but the two collided as Verstappen took a wider line. Both drivers spun. Verstappen rejoined in P11, but Piastri rejoined the race in last place, blowing the World Constructors’ Championship battle wide open. Verstappen received a ten-second penalty for
Later in the opening lap, Sergio Perez found himself in a traffic jam at the sixth corner. Valtteri Bottas put a tyre alongside Red Bull, spinning the Mexican around. Bottas was given a ten-second penalty. Perez rejoined the race but pulled over trackside to retire the car. Will this be Perez’s final race at Red Bull? The investors will decide over the winter break.
The virtual safety car was deployed so the marshals could push the stricken Red Bull off the circuit. More drama surfaced when the VSC ended a few laps later. Attempting to judge the restart perfectly, Piastri bumped into the rear of Franco Colapinto’s Williams. The Williams rookie suffered a puncture and Piastri was given a ten-second penalty for the violation.
While Piastri was dropping down the field, Charles Leclerc was charging through the field, gaining eight places on the opening lap. The Ferrari driver started in P19 after changing some power unit components. He continued to carve his way through the field, working his way up to P5 by the end of lap 12.
On lap 21, Leclerc made an early pit stop to undercut George Russell ahead. Russell was confident he could maintain his pace, so Mercedes allowed their leading driver to extend his stint. This would lose Russell the position when he finally pitted on lap 27, giving Ferrari P2 and P3. Carlos Sainz had attempted the undercut Norris on the previous lap, but McLaren covered off the threat by pitting a lap later to maintain the lead.
We saw the return of the ten-second stop-go penalty, this time for Liam Lawson. During his pit stop, the team released the car when the front-left tyre was not fully tightened. Lawson completed a lap on the circuit before returning to the pit lane so the team could secure the tyre.
Kevin Magnussen was another driver whose day kept getting worse, despite some early promise of a Haas double-point finish. During his first pit stop, the Dane had a slow stop as the team struggled to remove the right-rear tyre. At the halfway point of the race, he made a second stop for soft tyres. After easily overtaking the Sauber of Bottas on the run to turn six, Bottas had a huge lockup and slammed into the rear tyre of the Haas. Bottas’ car was destroyed and Magnussen continued racing, but it’s surely not the race either driver was hoping for as potentially their final Formula One race.
The only driver to start the race on the alternate strategy was Lewis Hamilton, starting with the hard tyres in P16. This paid off great for the seven-time World Champion, who worked his way up to P5 when he swapped to the medium tyres. In the closing laps, he managed to get within DRS range of his teammate, shrinking what was initially a 14-second gap. On the final lap, Hamilton made a spectacular move around the outside of turn nine to take P4 in his final race for Mercedes.
But the cheers could be heard loudest in the McLaren garage as Lando Norris crossed the line to take victory, securing the World Constructors’ Championship title for the first time since 1998. Despite the loss, Ferrari shook hands with McLaren team members to congratulate them on their victory. Carlos Sainz stood on the second step of the podium in his final race with Ferrari. A slightly disappointed Charles Leclerc joined them.
And this concludes what has been a thrilling 2024 season. Although there won’t be any on-track entertainment until next year, there’s always something happening in Formula One. You can continue to keep up with all of the headlines with the Weekly F1 Recap series, posted every Monday here on Racing Clothesline.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 58 | 1:26:33.291 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 58 | +5.832 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 58 | +31.928 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 58 | +36.483 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 58 | +37.538 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 58 | +49.847 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 58 | +72.560 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 58 | +75.554 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 58 | +82.373 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 58 | +83.821 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 57 | +1 Lap | |||
| 12 | 57 | +1 Lap | |||
| 13 | 57 | +1 Lap | |||
| 14 | 57 | +1 Lap | |||
| 15 | 57 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 57 | +1 Lap |  | ||
| DNF | 55 | ||||
| DNF | 30 | ||||
| DNF | 26 | ||||
| DNF | 0 |
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 437 |  | |
| 2 | L. Norris | 374 | -63 |  |
| 3 | C. Leclerc | 356 | -81 | |
| 4 | O. Piastri | 292 | -145 | |
| 5 | C. Sainz | 290 | -147 | |
| 1 | McLaren | 666 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 652 | -14 | |
| 3 | Red Bull | 589 | -77 | |
| 4 | Mercedes | 468 | -198 | |
| 5 | Aston Martin | 94 | -572 | |
