Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00For one more time in 2024, it's lights out and away we go, and a very good start at the back from Lance Stroll.
00:08The McLarens, 1st and 2nd going into the 1st quarter, but McLaren under pressure from Verstappen,
00:13and there's contact between Piastri and Verstappen, and Piastri facing the wrong way.
00:18Verstappen spinning around 360 degrees, he's managed to keep going.
00:22Lando Norris leads this race, but the 2nd McLaren of Piastri, that's the worst possible start.
00:28There goes Kevin Magnussen trying to make a move on Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly's up to 3rd.
00:32What a move down the inside from the Haas, getting past Sergio Perez.
00:35Charles Leclerc is getting involved, and Sergio Perez is now spun around.
00:39The two Red Bulls having a right old kerfuffle on this 1st lap.
00:43And that is Sergio Perez, and as we were saying, this could be his final race for the Red Bull team,
00:51and it has ended before the end of the 1st lap.
00:54He was hit by Valtteri Bottas, and we have a virtual safety car.
00:59With a virtual safety car deployed, that's why Max Verstappen has just let Liam Lawson get past him again,
01:04because that move was not going to be allowed.
01:06The race now neutralized, and the drivers driving at 40% of their normal race speed.
01:11Gasly putting him under pressure into the chicane.
01:13Now we can get some overtaking done, and Russell's going to pick up a lovely slipstream here behind the Alpine.
01:19Norris leads, Sainz 2nd, and then comes George Russell,
01:22making a move with DRS on Pierre Gasly, who's also got DRS to try and defend.
01:27Is the Mercedes through? No, the pink Alpine squeezes through on the inside.
01:31Let's just have a little look at the restart from the virtual safety car.
01:35He's right behind the Williams, as you can see.
01:38Is there a chance of... Oh, and he touches, he makes contact there with Franco Colapinto.
01:43Yeah, has he damaged the wing?
01:45But he'll certainly have some tires that resemble a 50 pence piece, if you know the UK coinage.
01:53He has got past Colapinto, who has got a puncture.
01:5610-second penalty for Verstappen for this first corner incident.
02:01I'm not surprised, because I think he was just a bit too late onto the scene,
02:06and he was the one that made contact with Piastri.
02:09And I think the stewards there say, Martin,
02:11that he could have actually been a little bit more to the inside and avoided that.
02:14He could have been... Piastri could have given him a touch more space,
02:17but would he even know he was there? Because it's a late lunge.
02:20And Max really didn't need to do that.
02:31When he says he was all the way up, he wasn't.
02:34His front wing was just behind the front axle of that McLaren.
02:39This is what it all looked like from Carlos Sainz's vantage points.
02:43He's got a gap to drive into, but where is that gap? There.
02:46And, of course, on such a tight line, Verstappen also understeered then.
02:52The front slid across the road.
02:55And this is Oskar Piastri. There was space.
02:58Yep, overall champion.
03:03I mean, Piastri did open up some space.
03:06He opened the space up on the way in.
03:10And that was the reaction at the McLaren Technology Centre.
03:13We can just see a little bit further on on that opening lap.
03:17And this is where Valtteri Bottas hits Sergio Perez,
03:20sends him spinning around,
03:21caused by Kevin Magnussen steaming down the inside.
03:24Maybe he took them both by surprise.
03:25I don't think Bottas could have done anything about that, to be honest.
03:27There's just no space, was there?
03:29And there was obviously space for Charles Leclerc,
03:32because whilst they were squabbling around on the inside,
03:34he danced around the outside.
03:38He rather liked that, didn't he?
03:40Charles Leclerc from 19th on the grid up into 8th place.
03:43Let's go to the McLaren pit wall, shall we?
03:46Zac Brown, first and foremost,
03:48your thoughts on that opening corner, Zac?
03:52I think the penalty was appropriate.
03:54He wasn't pulling up alongside them.
03:56Six different constructors in the top six.
03:59Not sure how much longer that's going to be like that, though,
04:02because there might be another Ferrari joining the top six any minute now.
04:05He's got DRS, 17 kilometers an hour of extra pace.
04:08It's Charles Leclerc.
04:10There he goes, past Fernando Alonso and up into the top six.
04:14Charles Leclerc is already on his third strike.
04:16He's been warned about Turn 1,
04:17and he's already pressuring Hulkenberg.
04:19So he's got to watch out while he battles him for track limits here.
04:22And he goes wheel to wheel out of Turn 9,
04:25and as they exit that Turn 9,
04:28Charles Leclerc is up once again, making a place,
04:32and now up into 5th place,
04:34which is very good news for Ferrari,
04:36not brilliant for Haas.
04:39As I said before, Charles Leclerc has only scored points once,
04:43when he started 19th.
04:46That's a deeply Sonoda start.
04:48That didn't get going very quickly, did it?
04:50I lost the class, man.
04:51I don't think I did anything wrong, to be honest.
04:56So Leclerc's sort of in the 29s, going through the traffic,
04:59and again, Leclerc and Ferrari with sight.
05:02Look at this one, a double DRS train there,
05:05and he'll get a run up the inside.
05:07Can he stay there?
05:09He's got enough grip in the Ferrari to easily stay there.
05:12We're doing this one, aren't we?
05:15Oh, no.
05:15Give a tenth or two away,
05:18and make sure the front left's not ready, and...
05:22Did that front left ever get tightened up at all?
05:25No, it's amazing it's still on there, isn't it?
05:29Whatever was holding it in place did a very good job.
05:34Maybe it got a half rotation.
05:35There was a green light on the back of the gantry there, wasn't there, to go.
05:39It looked like the...
05:40This is where Liam Lawson first felt the problem.
05:44Is the wheel...
05:46Yeah, you can see the wheel's loose, because it's...
05:48So now we've got Slippery Stuff, the reasonably firm...
05:51We're going to assume it's another car.
05:54So now we've got Slippery Stuff.
05:56Oh, it's Kevin Magnussen who's just come out of the pits.
05:59Magnussen gets past, Bottas locks up.
06:03And there was a car locking up there,
06:05heading straight to the scene of a passing Haas.
06:08Yeah.
06:10Oh.
06:13Both those drivers out of Grand Prix racing for now, tonight, unfortunately.
06:19And that was a big old hit.
06:21Oh, isn't that just great?
06:25It is.
06:26No, it's not, I'm afraid.
06:27That's unfortunate for Kevin Magnussen,
06:29and unfortunate for Valtteri Bottas as well,
06:31as we watch the battle between Lance Stroll and Oscar Piastri,
06:35who has got DRS.
06:37So, can Lance Stroll keep Oscar Piastri at bay into this chicane?
06:42He's going to go down the inside, is Oscar Piastri.
06:45And he does make a very clean pass.
06:47Lance Stroll saw that one coming.
06:50Like this, we lose the constructors, or not?
06:53Like this, yes, but it's not finished.
06:55Keep pushing.
06:59Getting very tucked up behind the RB and just lost the aero, didn't he?
07:04You wonder if it's worth McLaren.
07:06He did.
07:08Well held.
07:09Well held.
07:11And that's purely instinctive.
07:13OK, let's get back into the rhythm.
07:15I don't know what you call the rhythm, but this is the rhythm.
07:22Carlos is 7.5 seconds from Landa.
07:31Damn, says Charles Leclerc.
07:33In the Mercedes is teammate Lewis Hamilton.
07:36Now looming large in his wing mirrors.
07:39And it's through these final corners where Lewis will be really gaining,
07:42because that's where you need good traction.
07:44And George Russell's had those tyres off for eight laps.
07:46Charles Leclerc will just keep it super clean with Lewis.
07:52On this, the final lap of the race,
07:54and a race that McLaren went into,
07:57wanting to win a constructors championship.
07:59And for the first time since 1998,
08:02McLaren are constructors champions,
08:05because Lando Norris takes the chequered flag
08:08and wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
08:11It was all McLaren needed to get their car home in front.
08:16McLaren gave them a great challenge.
08:18Ferrari gave them a great challenge.
08:20Second and third is all they could muster.
08:22Lewis Hamilton is now ahead of George Russell.
08:25And he has got him from 16th on the grid.
08:28Hamilton in his final race for Mercedes.
08:31The race, they say, that every dream needs a team.
08:34Well, every team needs a dream.
08:36And the dream tonight was for Lewis Hamilton
08:39to charge through the field.
08:41And that is what he's done.
08:42It's another brilliant drive from Lewis Hamilton to take fourth.
08:47He misses out on the podium.
08:49But what a race he has given.
08:51What a race Charles Leclerc has given
08:53from 19th on the grid as well.
08:55Those two both deserve driver of the day.
08:58McLaren, for their efforts this year,
09:00deserve that constructors championship.
09:03We did it, mate.
09:03We did it.
09:04World champions.
09:06Well done.
09:11Papaya run, Tom.
09:13Congratulations, everyone.
09:15Incredible.
09:16Well done, everyone.
09:17So proud of you all.
09:19You all deserve this.
09:21Thank you so much.
09:22It's been a special year.
09:24Next year is going to be my year too.