F1 Grand Prix, GP Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit

Lando Norris led off the line from start to finish, keeping out of trouble to win for the fourth time this season, beating Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz while the Charles Leclerc performed a sensational recovery drive to end up third in the final race of the season. F1Technical's lead journalist Balazs Szabo delivers what teams reacted after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

McLaren

“This feels incredible. The team have done an amazing job this season to come from where we were at the beginning. I’m so proud of everyone. It’s been a lovely journey and to end the season with another race win is perfect.

"A big thank you goes to everyone at McLaren, everyone in papaya, everyone who supported us this year. It’s been tough, but for us to win the Constructors’ Championship after 26 years is pretty special. I’ve learned a lot from this year, from the team and from competitors around me. I’m excited to get next year going.”

“We did it! I am so incredibly happy for the team. Whilst it was a tough race, we managed to seal the Constructors’ Championship and that means more than anything for everyone.

“I want to thank every single person at McLaren for what they've done for myself and Lando this year. We've had so many highs, and whilst there have also been lows, we kept pushing and it all culminated into today. I am so excited for the future with this team. We go again next year."

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc, 3rd
"Even though the race itself was incredible, we fell short of our main objective of winning the constructors’ title, so the disappointment is there today. The first lap was really strong, I managed to make up 11 positions going from P19 to P8. The whole first stint was good, but it was a bit tricky to overtake because there was a train of DRS ahead. We managed to make it through and preserved our tyres well, so I am very happy with the way we manage our race. There was nothing we could have done better.

"Speaking about Carlos, it has been incredible to share team with him for four seasons. We pushed each other to new heights and moved the team positively, always keeping respect for each other. That we are here today, missing our on the world title by 14 points, is also thanks to his contribution. I wish him all the best and look forward to seeing what he will do in the future.

"Looking at next year, I hope that we can start the season off with a really strong car. This is probably where we missed our this year, coming back strong in the second half of the season which is where we made a big impact thanks to the incredible work of everyone back in our factory who created the upgrades which let us perform the way we have. This gives me confidence for the future and I really look forward to being back on track in 2025. A big thank you to the whole team that has made this season possible."

Carlos Sainz, 2nd
"We gave it everything we had. I did my best to try to keep Lando (Norris) under pressure but today McLaren was just a bit faster overall. Congratulations to the Papaya team for the Constructors’ Championship, they fought hard and they deserve it!

"As a team, we should be proud of what we’ve accomplished this year—five wins and numerous podiums is no small feat in such a tight championship. It was an emotional parade lap after the chequered flag and I suspect tonight will bring even more emotions.

"Thank you, Scuderia Ferrari, this is truly a special team. These four years together are something I will always cherish and I have no words to describe it in a simple final quote. Grazie di cuore!"

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, 4th
"That was a tough but really enjoyable race. I had to bide my time at the beginning on the Hard tyre and was struggling to make progress. To come through the field on the Medium compound in the final stages felt great though. To come through the field from P16 and make it back to P4 was awesome. I’m really happy with how my evening went and how the car felt. It was definitely a good way to end our time together!

"After the chequered flag, I was focused on just taking it all in, knowing that this was my last time in a Mercedes cockpit and savouring the emotions. I want to hold on to that moment, so I just sat there, contemplating everything we’ve been through together, all the ups and downs, and the success we’ve enjoyed.

"I can’t tell you how much I am going to miss this team. I’ve worked with them every day for the last 12 years and there is so much love there. That won’t disappear, no matter that we will be racing each other on track next year."

"Lewis had an amazing race, so I want to say a big well done to him. He has not only been an incredible team-mate, but someone that I looked up to when I was karting and racing in junior formula. He is not only the greatest driver of all time but is the type of person that every racing driver should aspire to be. I wish him well in his next challenge and look forward to battling him on track.

"Today I just didn’t have the pace to compete for more than P4. I’ve not had the speed all weekend and it is a shame to end the season like that. We need to go away and understand why that was. That said, there are many positives we can take away from the season. We have got back to winning races and, on occasion, have been competing right at the front on merit.

"We know there is more we need to do to compete for championships, but we are all determined to make progress and do so next year. Finally, congratulations to McLaren on winning the Constructors’ Championship. They have been a worthy adversary all season and are deserving winners."

Red Bull

“My start was good and I went up the inside and then realised it was going to be tight at the apex with Oscar. I tried to stay on the kerb but unfortunately we clipped the tyres and spun which wasn’t great. I have already apologised to Oscar, he is one of the last guys you want to come together with and it wasn’t great.

"After that, we had a tough race and were struggling with tyres as they were overheating. We were just stuck in that position unfortunately so didn’t make it up with the pace. It has been a long season and there wasn’t a lot for us to fight for today. I’m looking forward to the break, I’m going to switch off, relax and spend some much needed time with friends and family. We have things to work on for next year and already have good ideas but we will see when we get into the car next year.

"We have had an up and down season and McLaren have been very strong from Miami onwards. I want to thank the Team for the season, it has been a long one but we have stuck together and ultimately to come away with a Drivers’ Championship has been fantastic.”

Sergio Perez, DNF
“It hasn’t been a great year and we wanted a better result today but in the end, it probably summed up the season. It was just very unfortunate to have a collision with Valtteri, I was turning into turn six and I got hit from the back. I think he broke too late but I had the feeling that the car was already damaged before that, I was upshifting and the gearbox was spinning, so I think there was potentially an engine issue prior.

"I ended up losing drive and couldn’t continue. I am relived this season is over in a way, it has been a very frustrating and difficult year. I am just happy it is all over and I can look forward now. We will see what happens in the coming days, I don’t know what is going to happen at the moment, I have a contract and the Team and I have been talking. It’s a case of discussing what is the best for everybody moving forwards.”

Alpine

“Firstly, thank you to Luca de Meo, Flavio Briatore and Oliver Oakes for the opportunity, it has been an incredible experience to make my Formula 1 debut and I am very grateful that they entrusted me to step into the car this weekend. Thank you to the whole team for making the transition as smooth as possible.

"It was fantastic to get back racing, I have learned a lot and gained a lot of experience. We finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, which is great, I am happy to have assisted where possible to achieve that, both this weekend and throughout the whole season behind the scenes.

"Congratulations to Pierre on his result in the race and also getting tenth in the Drivers’ Championship. I am looking forward to next season, kicking it off with my home race in Australia and continuing to work and progress with the team.”

Pierre Gasly, 7th
“I am so happy for the entire team as we have achieved sixth in the Constructors’ Championship. This season we have had lows which were extremely low and highs which were extremely high. We have been through some tough moments this year and I am so proud of the team’s reaction to turnaround our season.

"We finished it with a competitive car, which has allowed us to regularly compete for Q3 and fight for points in the races. Credit to Haas as it’s been a great battle with them at recent races. There was also a little personal battle between Nico [Hülkenberg] and I in the Drivers’ Championship for tenth place.

"It was a close one today with him as it always is. He was right behind me, and I knew we just had to react to what he did and we would achieve our targets. It felt good to run in third place for some of the race but we knew that was not our fight today. In the end, an important result, sixth place secured in the Championship, so congratulations to everyone at the team for this achievement.”

Haas

Nico Hulkenberg, 8th
“We’ve been consistently plugging away, scoring points all season long from the beginning to the end, so flair play to us – we’ve done so well considering where we were last year.

"That’s what I’m mostly happy and proud about, it was really fun to part of the process and part of the team. I’ve really enjoyed myself these past two years and I’m leaving happy and with a smile – a big thank you to this team, it’s been probably the most enjoyable time in my Formula 1 career.”

Kevin Magnussen, 16th
“The first lap went right, from P14 to P7, so that was one good thing about this race. I had a slow pit stop, that screwed my race and after the second pit stop, I got run into by Bottas, so it was definitely over then. It’s not the way I wanted to end the season, but we gave it a go, I tried something special on that first lap and went for it – gaining seven positions.

"Since returning, I think we’ve managed to turn the team around and get it on the right track, especially in the last half of this year, and I’m proud of that. I was a small kid dreaming about Formula 1 25 years ago, and I managed to get 10 years in the sport I was desperately dreaming to be a part of – it’s been a privilege.”

Aston Martin

"It's been a positive end to the season for us with two races finishing in the points in Qatar and now here in Abu Dhabi. We had to execute a perfect race and we capitalised on some mistakes by our rivals around us. I'm looking forward to taking a break over the winter after the longest season in the sport's history.

"We can reset and learn from all of the difficulties and apply them to next season. We have some great new additions to welcome to the team in 2025 and I'm excited for what's to come."

Lance Stroll, 14th
"I had a good start to the race and made up four positions on the opening lap, but the car didn't have the performance to fight for much more today. After the pit stops, we just didn't have the pace to climb all the way back through the traffic into the points, but we made a few positions back passing [Jack] Doohan and [Yuki] Tsunoda.

"This wasn't the season we were hoping for, but we will be pushing hard to come back stronger next season. Thanks to the team for all their hard work over a challenging year."

Williams

Alex Albon, 11th
"With ten laps to go, I thought it would be hard to hold on. The tyre’s grip stayed quite strong, but the temperatures just dropped off. Once the track started to cool down, I couldn’t drive quickly enough to keep the temperature in the tyres, so it felt like qualifying laps from about 25 laps in until the end, making it a very physical race.

It’s a shame not to reward the team with a points finish. My consensus of the season is that it’s been one of missed opportunities. It’s easy to focus on this latter end of the season and the incidents, but realistically, we started with the car overweight when we should’ve been fighting for points. We bought one major upgrade, as our plan was always to focus on the future and at that point, a lot of teams naturally overtook us.

In the end, I’m not too upset because I’m here for the long term and I know as a team we’re not interested in being the best of the midfield, we’re putting in the work now for the future to be back fighting for wins and championships and I believe in this journey we’re on. Thank you to Franco for being a great teammate. He earned his place in F1 during these remaining races and I’m sure I’ll be seeing him somewhere on the grid soon."

Franco Colapinto, DNF
"Retiring the car was not the way I wanted to end the final race of the season. I had a good start and was trying to get through the race, but Piastri hit me which caused a puncture and some damage. We still had good pace after we changed tyres but unfortunately, we had to retire the car due to a suspected PU issue.

"The last couple of races have been really unlucky for me. It hasn’t been the end to the season that I wanted but that’s part of Formula 1. It’s still been a dream come true, but I obviously would’ve loved to have finished how we started. I’ve been working towards racing in F1 since I was very young and I’m so grateful to everyone at Williams for the opportunity to put me in the car for these last nine races."

RB

"A tough way to end the season, which is a shame because we started really well. It was probably one of the best races I’ve driven, even though we were a couple of laps down, the pace was actually really strong, we were fast. But we had an issue in the pits, which put us out of the race, which sucks because we could have potentially had a chance to score some points today. After that I just tried to treat it like a normal race, so I could show what I could do.

"To everybody supporting the team and myself, a massive thank you, I’ve loved my 6 races so far in the car. Obviously I’m hoping to have a future in Formula One, I gave it everything and I’m looking forward to hopefully being back next year."

"Unfortunately, today my race was almost finished after the start. I don’t know exactly what happened, but honestly, I felt as if the clutch was stuck, as well as later when I came in for the pit stop as I struggled to stop properly. We’ll review it later with the engineers to understand more about what occurred during the start.

"I tried my best after that and was able to recover some positions, but sadly it wasn’t enough to get into the points. Looking back at this year, we really gave everything as a team and I’m happy with what I’ve done throughout the season, even if it’s a shame to finish the last race of the season without a nice result which would have been a nice thank you for everyone within the team."

Kick Sauber

"Unfortunately, today felt like a downward spiral after the incident on lap one, for which I also received a penalty. From there on, I was at the back, but we still kept trying and kept pushing. Later in the race, I had contact with Kevin [Magnussen] while defending: I locked up on old tyres and basically bumped into him.

"That was my mistake, and it’s a shame my last race with the team ended this way. We know we gave it everything and that is all we could do tonight. As another season goes into the books, and I plan for what’s next, I want to take a moment to thank everyone at the team, everyone at Ferrari, and all the supporters for their incredible support this year."

"It’s been an emotional weekend and, while I wish we could finish with a better result, we cannot let today detract from the three years I spent with the team. I don’t think the pace was at its best today, but we were out there fighting and gave it everything. Starting 15th it was always going to be difficult, and a slow stop and the penalty put us out of contention for the points.

"Still, it was the last race, and I think we executed our day as well as we could. I just want to thank everyone in the team and among the fans for their support over the last three years—it’s truly been a pleasure. Now it’s on to the next chapter for me, but I also wish the team all the very best for the future."