F1 constructors’ battle goes down to the wire: 2024 Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi GPs report

Into the final three races Ferrari was expecting to be quick in Las Vegas. That long straight down the strip – the second-longest stretch of flat-out running on the calendar after Baku – and the many short sharp corners play very much to the car’s strengths.

Given that the Scuderia was in with a realistic chance of taking the world constructors’ championship from under McLaren’s nose – and the fact that Ferrari did not expect to be quick around the following Qatar race, which in theory was perfect for McLaren – it made it imperative to capitalise.

Few would have guessed back in April after Max Verstappen had won four of the first five races that the constructors’ battle would not have involved Red Bull. In fact 2024 had gone on to become a season of unexpected competitive variety after that initial continuation of Red Bull’s ’23 dominance.

“Sergio Pérez’s support role collapsed around mid-season”

For the first time in history, four teams scored at least one 1-2 race result, and this variation was a key reason that the early lead established by Verstappen in the drivers’ championship was never seriously threatened. Because although Lando Norris ended up being the closest challenger, his opportunities for eating into Verstappen’s lead were limited by those occasions on which his McLaren was outpaced by either Ferrari or Mercedes. That and a few key errors.

McLaren and Ferrari were fighting out the constructors’ title in these final three races because, unlike Red Bull, they both had two fully competitive drivers. Sergio Pérez’s support role to Verstappen collapsed completely from around mid-season as he struggled to retain his respectable early season form, something which led to his inevitable departure at the season’s end.

But what was the reason for the sudden competitive inversion? McLaren – and later Mercedes – had found a more effective way of getting around the balance conflicts inherent in this generation of ground effect car. The initial advantage established by Red Bull from the beginning of the regulations was based upon a better integration of underbody design and suspension. Of having a suspension soft enough to give some tuneability of balance, even at the cost of ultimate peak downforce. It made for a better spread of downforce throughout the speed and attitude ranges. But when McLaren introduced its aero-flexible front wing as part of its Miami update, it essentially made Red Bull’s way of resolving the balance conflicts (between low-speed understeer and high-speed oversteer) obsolete. Now you could have an aggressive front wing angle for the low-speed corners, which would flatten out and de-power itself at higher speeds so as to remain stable in fast corners. You could keep your super-stiff downforce-enhancing suspension but still have a way of balancing the car.

It’s an expensive technology to develop. By the time Red Bull had understood what was happening, it could not have followed that direction without breaching the cost cap. Mercedes introduced its version of the flexi front wing at Monaco. Like Red Bull and for similar reasons Ferrari didn’t go down that route, but concentrated on exploiting its car’s great strengths of driveability, braking, low-speed punch and traction. That and the intensely competitive relationship between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz made it a formidable package, once the bouncing introduced by its Spain upgrade was cured.

In trying to respond to McLaren’s upgrade, Red Bull pursued more downforce – and in the process unbalanced the car. The more it was developed the slower it became. Until a terrible weekend at Monza shone a light on where the problem lay. From there, there was a mini Red Bull recovery, enough for Verstappen to be challenging for victories again. But not enough to prevent McLaren and Ferrari being the only two serious contenders for the constructors’ crown.

McLaren hadn’t won this title since 1998, Ferrari not since 2008. So the competitive tension between them as they arrived in Vegas just 36 points apart with 147 on offer in the remaining races was considerable. Ferrari really needed to score big on what was expected to be a track better-suited to the car’s traits than Qatar. But from left-field at Vegas came Mercedes, quickest in every practice session, quickest in Q1, Q2 and Q3. It’s not unknown for the Mercedes W15 to be super-quick – as its impressive victories in Silverstone and Spa, both in July, showed – but more recently it had been firmly lodged at the back of the leading four teams.

“McLaren hadn’t won the constructors’ title since 1998”

“We struggle on bumps,” said pole-sitter George Russell. “When the track is bumpy we have to lift the car and go softer on the suspension. Certain circuits require us to be in a [ride height] window the car doesn’t like to be. But on smooth circuits like this, where we can run it low and stiff, we fly.”

Smooth and cold. In the desert nights the track temperature rarely got much beyond 15°C. Which was perfect for a Merc which can generate front tyre temperature quicker than any other. “They take 0.3sec out of us in sector 1 because of that,” said Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, second-fastest. The Ferrari was quicker on the rest of the lap but not by enough to oust Russell. Lewis Hamilton, having been at least as quick as team-mate Russell throughout the weekend, made errors on each of his Q3 runs which left him no representative time and starting back in 10th.

The super-low track temperatures had the effect of spreading the qualifying performance differences between the top teams. Max Verstappen, on the verge of clinching the championship following his victory in Brazil, could qualify his Red Bull only P5, 0.5sec slower than Russell but 0.2sec faster than title rival Lando Norris just behind.

Rear wing choices were another significant point of differentiation on this track demanding almost Monza levels of low drag. The Alpine has an efficient Monza wing and can generate its tyre temperatures pretty quickly. That was a combination which under these special conditions allowed Pierre Gasly to qualify a great third-quickest, just ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

But it was Leclerc on the move as the lights went out. Russell took off into the lead as Leclerc out-dragged Gasly off the line then sliced down Sainz’s inside for second. With the Ferrari so much quicker than the bigger-winged Mercedes at the end of the straight, it seemed only a matter of time before Ferrari was leading this race. Leclerc made his move on the fourth lap but Russell held him out wide through Turn 14, 17 and Turn 1 of the following lap. Side-by-side through the flat-in-eighth 17 at 200mph was an impressive spectacle. Russell’s steely defence turned out to be crucial. It was the only time he’d be challenged for the rest of the evening. The Ferrari’s tyres had overheated in the battle and as Leclerc backed off to bring them under control, so Russell disappeared into the night.

While Leclerc nursed the tyres he radioed that team-mate Sainz could pass him. He did so but it quickly became apparent that both Ferraris – and several others – were in trouble with graining fronts. Suddenly, the whole complexion of the race was changing. It had been expected to be a straightforward one-stop, but the graining was changing that. Crucially, the Mercedes front tyres were proving much more resistant than anyone else’s. This applied to Russell as he extended his lead over Sainz and to Hamilton as he made his way through the field.

Although Mercedes insisted afterwards it could comfortably have completed the race stopping only once, it converted to a two-stop just to cover what everyone else was doing so as not to be vulnerable to any safety car. After everyone had made their first stops Russell led by 10sec from the closely packed Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc and Hamilton.

“It quickly became apparent that both Ferraris were in trouble”

The Ferraris had encountered traffic on their out-laps, allowing Verstappen to overcut his way past them and Hamilton to get onto their tails. The Red Bull had no great pace, the team not having a suitable Monza-style rear wing in its armoury but all Verstappen needed to do to clinch his fourth world title was finish ahead of Norris – who was no threat here as the McLaren struggled with the cold.

Hamilton was enjoying the Merc’s great tyre usage and around the second stops got himself ahead of both Ferraris before closing down on Verstappen. “Don’t lose sight of our aim here,” his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase advised. “Yes, I’m just going to do my race,” replied Verstappen before putting up no resistance to Hamilton, who then set off in chase of his race-leading team-mate. Verstappen subsequently allowed the faster Ferraris to pass too and that low-key fifth place (with Norris a distant sixth) sealed him the crown with two races still to go, albeit a long way behind the Mercedes 1-2. Hamilton had got to within 5sec of Russell before he finally ran out of tyre grip a few laps from the end.

Qatar a week later was a sprint format event. The fast interconnected corners of the Losail circuit were bad news for Ferrari, but helped bunch up the performance of the McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes. The Red Bull, as so often this season, needed a day of running to find its set-up sweet spot (because it’s a suspension/aero equation rather than just the aero one of the McLaren) and so wasn’t really a factor in the sprint, where McLaren finished 1-2 with Russell snapping at their heels, Norris pulling over at the last corner for Piastri, paying back the favour of the Brazil sprint.

A rethink on set-up had made the Red Bull a much more formidable tool for the grand prix proper and Verstappen used it to take a narrow pole from Russell and Norris. The front row positions were then inverted by the stewards for a territorial conflict between Verstappen and Russell on their Q3 warm-up laps. It made little difference into the race as Verstappen surged straight into the lead.

Russell’s challenge faded along with his front tyres as his diff became locked in position. Without that adjustment tool, he was struggling and soon lost touch with the Red Bull and McLaren. For 29 laps Verstappen kept Norris just out of his DRS reach before the latter fell foul of yellows on the main straight for a discarded wing mirror. For not lifting, he was awarded a 10sec stop-go penalty. Verstappen was left to a comfortable victory.

McLaren’s advantage in the constructors’ championship was seriously dented not only by Norris’s penalty – from which he recovered only to 10th – but also by how the whole sequence of events around the debris on track had allowed Leclerc to vault up to second, which flattered the Ferrari’s competitiveness.

Nonetheless it brought McLaren and Ferrari to the Abu Dhabi finale separated by 21 points – a big margin for Ferrari to breach in one race. Especially after Leclerc’s battery expired, the replacement of which cost a 10-place grid penalty. Things looked bleaker for the Scuderia after a qualifying session in which McLaren locked out the front row while Leclerc had his Q2 lap deleted for track limits which, with the penalty, had him starting 19th. Ferrari’s hopes rested on third-fastest Sainz, having his last race for the team.

Things got a little tense for McLaren at the start, as Piastri was hit by Verstappen into Turn 1, spinning them both. With Piastri restarting at the back, Norris, leading, no longer had his rear gunner to protect him from attacks. Furthermore, Leclerc had made a sensational opening few corners to make up 11 places – eighth by the end of the first lap.

But in the end the McLaren’s small performance edge over the Ferrari here was decisive. It allowed Norris to control from the front, steadily edging away from Sainz, always with enough in hand to simply cover the Ferrari strategy. Sainz was brought in for the switch from mediums to hards on the 25th lap, McLaren responded with Norris on the next lap and the team delivered a superb 2sec stop. Sainz never let up for the Scuderia but Norris and McLaren were simply too fast. Which was a great way for the team to clinch that title. The margin was 14 points.

Hamilton, in his final race for Mercedes, made a great comeback from 16th to relieve team-mate Russell of fourth place around the outside of Turn 9 on the final lap, his offset tyre strategy having proved very effective.

It had been an intriguing season but 2025 – the last season of the current rules before the major re-set of ’26 – has the ingredients for an even tighter battle.