All-McLaren front row in Abu Dhabi qualifying

McLaren were once again in the spotlight on the second day of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Lando Norris taking pole position ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri. The pole time of 1’22”595 was almost a second quicker than last year’s (1’23”595) and almost identical to the pre-event simulation of 1’22”6.

There are two Ferrari power units on the second row, the one fitted to Carlos Sainz’s car, his time of 1’22”824 just 20 thousandths off Piastri’s and the other in the back of Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas (1’22”886).

This was Norris’ ninth pole: his first came in Sochi in 2021 and the remaining eight were all this season. The Englishman and Max Verstappen therefore top the list for the most poles this year, but it’s the Dutchman who tomorrow will receive the 2024 Pole Position of the Year Award thanks to his additional three poles in Sprint Qualifying, compared to two for Norris.

Norris was presented with the Pirelli Pole Position Award by Terry Crews. The former American Football player is now a successful actor. In the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine he plays the role of the Lieutenant of the detective squad and he also appeared in all the films in “The Expendables” series. The actor has promoted the #MeToo movement and, 2017, was nominated as one of the “silence breakers” who were given the “Person of the Year” award by Time magazine.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The C3 made its first appearance of the weekend during the third free practice session. The compound chosen as the Hard was used by the two Racing Bulls drivers, Yuki Tsunoda completing 9 laps and Liam Lawson 10 and by the Aston Martin pair, but in this case Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll just went through their usual scrubbing-in procedure. The green team drivers also did the same with a set of Mediums, as did Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for Mercedes. The C4 was also used by Carlos Sainz (13 laps) and Max Verstappen (9 laps) while all the other drivers only ran the Soft, this compound being the only used throughout qualifying.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A very close qualifying, the closest of the year, given that in Q1 just 803 thousandths of a second covered all 20 drivers: only in Zeltweg was there a smaller gap from first to last (0”798) but that was on a track that is 963 metres shorter than this one. The close contest pushed the drivers to make the most of the Soft, which while delivering very good performance, only did so on the first flying lap. The track conditions were more or less stable throughout the sixty minutes of qualifying, so what made the difference was mainly the difference in grip levels between a new set and a used one, even if they had only done one timed lap. 

“Regarding strategy for tomorrow’s race, a single stop, running the Medium and then the Hard is, on paper, the fastest choice, with a pit stop window between laps 18 and 24. Those starting further back might want to extend a first stint on the Hard, pitting between laps 29 and 35. There are however three factors that could open the door to a two-stop race: possibly greater degradation than we have seen so far, a neutralisation, or more plausible, drivers who find themselves in traffic deciding to pit early to try and exploit the clear advantage of having a new set of tyres for the first few laps after the stop. This could trigger a chain reaction, leading teams to switch to a two-stop strategy. That was the case last year, when all the teams with the exception of the Racing Bulls had kept two sets of new Hards.”

Obviously the Medium tyre was the only choice for all 23 drivers (Kimi Antonelli did not take part) in the final Sprint race of the season. The yellow banded tyre provided good overall grip and an acceptable level of thermal degradation, which was more accentuated on the rear, but still manageable over the Sprint race distance. The win went to Spain’s Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing) ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) and Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight), while the third contender for the 2024 title, Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing), finished sixth. This result means that only Bortoleto or Hadjar can be crowned champion, currently separated by 5.5 points.