McLaren and Ferrari had an opportunity to secure the World Constructors' Championship title at this event, the first since 1998 for McLaren, and the first since 2008 for Ferrari. Ferrari had to outscore McLaren by at least 22 points to win the title, or 21 points if Ferrari won the Grand Prix. Defending Constructors' Champions Red Bull Racing were eliminated from contention after the previous round in Qatar, and were 59 points behind McLaren, with a maximum of 44 points available.[6]
During the first practice session, six teams fielded alternate drivers who had not raced in more than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One regulations:[12]
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the softest three in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.[26]
Practice
Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 6 December 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+4),[1] and was topped by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.[27] The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time,[1] and was topped by Norris ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Nico Hülkenberg of Haas.[28] The third practice session was held on 7 December 2024, at 14:30 local time,[1] and was topped by Piastri ahead of his teammate Norris and Hamilton.[29]
The race was held on 8 December 2024, at 17:00 local time (UTC+4), and was run for 58 laps.[1]
Race report
Polesitter Lando Norris kept the lead, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was tagged into a spin by Red Bull's Max Verstappen into turn 1. Meanwhile, Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Pérez, was also spun by Valtteri Bottas. On lap 3, Piastri made contact with Franco Colapinto, but Piastri did not suffer any damage, causing Colapinto to slow down to let Piastri through. His race engineer reported the collision at the start and Verstappen was given a ten-second time penalty. After Pérez was spun by Bottas, he retired.[35][36]
Charles Leclerc, who started 19th due to serving a ten-place grid penalty, had a good start: by the end of lap 1, he moved up to eighth, and on lap 7, he overtook Nico Hülkenberg, then Fernando Alonso three laps later. Verstappen also made the move on Alonso two laps later, in which the Dutchman progressed to seventh, while the Spaniard dropped to eighth. During lap 24, Liam Lawson was called in for a pit stop on hard tyres, but his front-left tyres were not fitted properly as the jackman dropped Lawson's car. On the same lap, Leclerc progressed by overtaking Pierre Gasly, as did Russell on lap 27. However, on lap 31, Kevin Magnussen was spun by Bottas in the same corner, in a similar move what he did with Pérez, causing Bottas to lose half of his front wing and sustaining a puncture.[35][36]
Verstappen overtook Alonso again and served his penalty in the past couple of laps, while progressing by overtaking his old Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly. Piastri, now running in twelfth, made a mistake while attempting to make a move on Yuki Tsunoda. Piastri made up a place on the Japanese driver on lap 49, and then five laps later, he took the last point position, tenth place, by overtaking Alexander Albon. Hamilton, on the final lap, was chasing his teammate George Russell. The race was won by polesitter Norris. Norris' victory allowed his team, McLaren, to win the Constructors' Championship for the first time in 26 years. The podium was completed by Carlos Sainz Jr. in second, his last podium finish for Ferrari, and Leclerc in third. Some time after Norris had taken the chequered flag to win the race, Hamilton and Russell battled for fourth place. The two almost made contact, but Hamilton passed Russell on the outside of turn 9 and got ahead, completing his final stint with Mercedes.[35][36]
