A botched pit stop and engine issues saw Liam Lawson fail to finish the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite a race he recognised as one of the best has driven.
The Kiwi star had driven a strong race and ran as high as seventh during the pit cycle before coming in on Lap 24, when disaster struck and he was sent on his way with his front-left not attached properly.
He was forced to return to the pits to amend the issue, and was slapped with an additional 10-second stop/go penalty because of the unsafe release.
Smoke from the rear of Lawson’s Racing Bull at the start of the final lap left him unable to complete one final tour as Lando Norris went on to win the race, and Manufacturer’s Championship, for McLaren.
“A tough way to end the season, which is a shame because we started really well,” said Lawson. “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 six 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.”
The DNF for Lawson and a non points-paying position of 12th for teammate Yuki Tsunoda confined Racing Bulls to eighth in the Manufacturer’s Championship, behind Haas and Alpine.
“We did not have a satisfactory season finale, with Yuki suffering a problem off the start line and Liam getting a 10-second stop and go for an issue we had during his pitstop,” said Team Principal Laurent Mekies.
“It is a difficult way to finish the season, especially after all the good work done from the Team on the reliability and pit stop front this season.
“Looking at the season as a whole, it’s been a mega intense year from day one when we started this season, with a new mission and a new name. We had our highs and lows along the way, but we have started to build stronger foundations together for the future of the Team, and it is now the time to thank everyone, in Faenza, Bicester, Milton Keynes, at Honda and at RBPT, for their fantastic work this season, which enabled us to progress in our journey.
“A very special thank you also need to go to our drivers, Yuki and Liam, who both developed immensely this year, without forgetting the invaluable imprint Daniel left on all of us earlier in the year.
“Whilst we are not happy with where we finished in the championship, our drivers have accumulated nearly double the points compared to last season, and we had our share of good fights on the track. There are a lot of exciting challenges to come over the winter and we will be pushing very hard to keep our progression going into 2025.”
Norris’s commanding 5-second victory over Carlos Sainz was enough to given McLaren the Manufacturer’s Championship by 14 points over their Italian rivals, despite a spirited drive from the rear of the grid from Charles Leclerc that saw him complete the podium in third.
Lap 1 contact between Oscar Piastri and World Champion Max Verstappen gave the Italian manufacturer a glimpse at overturning the 21-point deficit to McLaren, but Norris was more than capable of the task required to take the win.
Piastri had slotted into second behind his pole-sitting teammate at the start, only to be collected by a Verstappen lunge which sent both cars spinning and saw the latter slapped with a 10-second penalty. Both cars returned to racing, albeit down the order.
Sergio Perez was another Lap 1 casualty but could not resume, leading to an early Virtual Safety Car to allow for the recovery of his Red Bull.
Contact with Valtteri Bottas brought about the Mexican’s retirement in what shapes up to be his last race with the team. Bottas received a 10-second penalty for the incident.
Pierre Gasly running third allowed Sainz and Norris to pull away comfortable at the front until the Alpine came in on Lap 14, releasing George Russell to attempt to overturn a deficit of over 10 seconds.
Norris’s advantage was at four seconds when Sainz came in on Lap 25, and McLaren followed the next tour, losing a further two seconds through the Ferrari’s undercut attempt.
Once back on track, Norris continued to increase his advantage on the run to the chequered flag, winning by 5.8 seconds. Leclerc finished 21 seconds behind the lead duo in third.
Lewis Hamilton managed a last-lap pass on teammate George Russell to finish fourth in his final race with Mercedes, with Verstappen following the British duo home in sixth, having recovered from his Lap 1 spin and subsequent penalty.
Gasly scored further good points for Alpine with seventh, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Piastri, who completed the points.
Piastri ran into the rear of Franco Colapinto on the restart from the VSC, thee damage eventually leading to the Williams’ retirement and a 10-second penalty for the Australian.
Alex Albon narrowly missed out on points in 11th, ahead of Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Lance Stroll, Jack Doohan and Kevin Magnussen, the final finisher home.
Magnussen’s Grand Prix was compromised by mid-race contact from Bottas, which led to the Sauber driver’s early exit from proceedings.
Header Image: Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Pool
