Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in quali with Hamilton out in Q1

Lando Norris took pole position for Formula 1’s 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz, as long-time qualifying leader Max Verstappen ended up only fifth.

Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc lost his best lap in Q2 to a track limits violation for Ferrari, which boosts McLaren’s chances of netting the constructors’ title even further given its 1-2, while Lewis Hamilton’s final weekend for Mercedes included a shock Q1 exit.

Verstappen had looked in control through the opening segments, with the Dutchman the only driver to get through to Q3 with two sets of new softs.

He used his first to lead with a 1m22.945s, albeit with a lurid slide out of the final corner as Norris trailed by 0.004s at this stage.

On the final runs, Verstappen ran last of the pack but did not improve, as the added grip punch of the new softs got McLaren back to the pacesetting position it had established in FP1 and FP2.

Piastri shot to a 1m22.804s, which shuffled outgoing Haas star Nico Hulkenberg back from the provisional pole he had snared with the opening effort on the final runs – the German eventually ending up fourth.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Norris then came by to edge his team-mate by 0.21s while setting a purple final sector, with Piastri’s Q3 starting with him temporarily losing his first run time as he flirted with track limits exiting Turn 1.

Behind on the final fliers, Verstappen only set a personal best in the final sector and so did not go quicker overall – the four-time world champion finishing ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and George Russell for Mercedes.

Then came Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, while Sergio Perez failed to beat Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber to ninth, with the Mexican rounding out the top 10 in what could be his final F1 race.

In Q2, Leclerc looked to have progressed as the fastest runner, with previous segment leader Verstappen even temporarily out of his car in the pits, but the Ferrari driver slipped fractionally beyond track limits at Turn 1 and so lost his 1m22.985s personal best.

Unlike Red Bull with Perez in Q1, Ferrari could not get Leclerc’s time reinstated as a patch of blue kerb paint was visible as he went deep through the left-hander and his fall to 14th means he will start last with his battery-change grid penalty.

The other Q2 fallers were RB duo Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson in 11th and 12th, with Lance Stroll 13th and Kevin Magnussen 15th.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

In Q1, Hamilton was the big shock faller – the Mercedes driver down towards the drop zone after the initial runs, and with a big track improvement factor evidenced by former team-mate Bottas jumping from 16th to second in the segment eventually topped by Leclerc.

At the end of Hamilton’s final flier, where he was trailing Magnussen all around, the Haas car cut Turn 14 and knocked a green bollard into the seven-time world champion’s path meaning he did the final corners with his car handling compromised.

He failed to set a personal best at the line – exiting Q1 alongside Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu, Franco Colapinto and series debutant Jack Doohan.