TLDR: Opening Carnage, Leclerc and Hamilton go from bottom 5 to top 5, Mclaren Constructors Champions"!

Qualifying

Qualifying was very McLaren Dominate with a 1 and 2 however Norris was over 0.200 ahead of Piastri. this set them up nicely for the race especially with Leclerc in P19. A surprising guest was Hulkenberg however he was given a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Start of the Race

Norris had a great start of the line from pole. Piastri had to be defensive against Sainz which caused him to leave a slight gap open for Verstappen however whether that move was necessary or not was decided by the stewards. Verstappen span Piastri on the first corner which ruined their races and put the pressure on Norris to secure that constructors title.

The first lap had a lot of carnage with Perez also spinning at the end of the backstreet, turn 6. This ultimately ruined Perez‘s race as he had to retire the car. I would personally say this has determined that Perez will be replaced next season. The amount of damage and lack of performance can’t continue for another season.

Meanwhile, Leclerc had an almighty start, going from P19 to P8. Absolute amazing first lap performance and it would only keep getting better for the Ferrari Duo with Sainz now in P2.

Sergio Perez’ retirement ended up deploying a virtual safety car. Unfortunately for Piastri whilst slowing down on the back straight he made contact with Colapinto. Obviously they were trying to maintain their deltas however it appeared to have caught the McLaren off guard. The McLaren was awarded a 10 second penalty as well. Ultimately, this would give Colapinto a puncture and lead Colapinto to retire the car mid race. This was not ideal for his last race in F1 for the time being. He has done an amazing job to step up and I’m sure there’s a seat for him in F1 in next year or two.Due to the incident, Piastri had to also box the car.

Norris flew off when the VSC ended timing in to perfection maximising his Delta and pulling away from Sainz. At this point of the race as long as Norris stayed out in front, McLaren had won the constructors title. Piastri would need to gain quite a few places in order to make it an easier win. However he was sitting in P17 on lap 9.

Leading to the mid race where the first stint was coming to an end, the racing was mainly coming from the Mercedes of Hamilton and the Ferrari of Leclerc. Is this a sign of things to come? I’m excited for next year already. The two were flying through the field, gaining over 20 places combined at this point.

Norris was still pulling away upfront however, Sainz was too far behind to get a significant undercut.

Lawson pitted however while exiting the pit he noticed that the wheel was not on properly therefore having to perform a slow lap. He came back into the pit to rectify the issue however his race was ruined from this. It conclusively ended when the car retired on lap 58.

Sainz came in on lap 26 for a new set of hard compound tyres. McLaren didn’t risk anything and brought Lando in the very next lap. Lando Norris‘s pit was very smooth and he was back out in front. A speedy two second pitstop.

What wasn’t accounted for was Hamilton. Being out on the hard compound tyre he was able to extend his first stint. He would be on the faster tyre for the end of the race allowing him to fly through the field.

George Russell’s pit didn’t quite go to plan after he got caught behind Pierre Gasly for quite a few laps. It took awhile for the hard compound tyres to fire up. Later down the road, this will cost him.

Carlos was pushing hard for the first five laps on the new tyres. Ultimately he pushed probably too hard, too soon as his lap times were dropping off from Norris.

Max and Oscar served their 10 second time penalties during the race rather than adding to the finish time

Unfortunately, Bottas and Magnussem came together and for once it wasn’t at the fault of Magnussen. Bottas us locked up and went in to the back of the HAAS ruining his last race. K Mag did go out with the fastest lap though.

Hamilton came in on lap 35 for his new mediums. He came out in 7th position (9 place gain) but with Alonso very close on his back. The fresher and faster tyres however easily kept Alonso at bay. Hamilton managed to make his way through the pack being in fifth position by lap 42. Bono came onto the radio and said there is a possibility of P3. Not gonna lie, I was quite excited when I heard that.

On lap 46 Piastri had a big snap of the car going in to turn 11 and losing aero, which could’ve easily resulted in a safety car. This would’ve ruined their constructors title. Luckily he managed to catch it. He did receive a radio message to ease off.

Leclerc sat on P3. This was absolutely amazing gaining 16 places throughout this Grand Prix. It didn’t look like anybody was catching him from behind either. Same goes to Lewis Hamilton at this pointt he was in P5 from P16.

Hamilton on that 54 was 3.6 seconds away from George Russell in 4th. On lap 58 he got that time down to 0.3 seconds. This is an absolute incredible comeback especially for his last race. Hamilton managed to get a brilliant overtake on Russell at turn 9 around the outside. And they say he is a has been.

Lando Norris took the checkered flag on that 58 putting McLaren as constructors champions for the first time in 26 years. Absolutely dominating throughout this race, incredible performance from Lando and well done to McLaren for the brilliant turn around.

As you can see from the chart below McLaren fully dominated this race from start to finish Leclerc and Hamilton were absolutely flying through the pack but one that shouldn’t go unnoticed is Albon. From P18 to P11 a brilliant result from Williams.

Summary

Overall, I think this race was very dominant by McLaren and if it was not for the first corner incident, it would’ve been even more dominant. The McLaren pace is showing and will be something to fight against next year. It’s going to be close between them and Ferrari we can’t write off Mercedes and Red Bull however. And like that, the season is over. What an incredible season it’s been. It’s been the closest championship since 2021 for both WDC and constructors. We’ve had multiple race winners and we’ve had a new constructor for the millennium absolutely amazing.

Thank you for all those that have been reading. I will be taking her winter break, however, I will be doing a season in review piece after Christmas. This will be where we go over the season and discuss all of those brilliant moments. I will be active on X and Instagram. So by all means, follow me there.

I am looking forward to next season already, and I’m looking forward to bringing you more commentary and analysis for the 2025 season.

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Standings

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