The 2024 racing season wrapped last Sunday in Abu Dhabi, and the final championship was decided.
With Max Verstappen clinching the Formula 1 drivers’ title two races ago, the constructor’s championship was a nail-biter. Lando Norris won the race and the title for McLaren by 14 points over Ferrari, 666 to 652. The Ferraris finished second and third in the race but could not deny McLaren their first constructors’ championship since 1998.
Verstappen hit and spun Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri on the first lap, but Oscar fought his way back to 10th, adding another point to McLaren’s total.
The final excitement of the race was watching Lewis Hamilton in his last race with Mercedes, tracking down and passing teammate George Russell for fourth on the last lap.
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The Monday test session at Abu Dhabi saw a mix of series regulars, newcomers, and wannabes take to the track. The day was a combination tire test of Pirelli’s 2025 compounds and “young driver” segment, giving the cream of the current Formula 2 contenders and others a chance to show what they can do.
Carlos Sainz drove the tire test portion for his new team, Williams, topping new teammate Alex Albon’s Saturday qualifying time by two tenths of a second. Other tire test drivers were Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), Russell (Mercedes), Liam Lawson (RB), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin) and Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber).
Notable among the young drivers was Arrow McLaren IndyCar ace Pato O’Ward, who also ran the car in Free Practice 1 on Friday. Those who have already been named as full-time 2025 drivers were Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber). The rest of the young driver field included current Formula 2 and Super Formula competitors and reserve drivers.
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With the season at and end, I want to congratulate all the 2024 champions in other forms of motorsport.
IndyCar was the first major series to close the season and crowned a now three-time champion, Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou.
NASCAR fielded three divisions, each with a regular season champion and a playoff-winning champion. In the NASCAR Cup division, congratulations to Joey Logano as the 2024 champion and Tyler Reddick who took the regular season title by one point. The Xfinity series saw long-time competitor Justin Allgaier win his first series title with Cole Custer the regular season champion. And in the Craftsman Truck Series Ty Majeski took home the gold with the regular season title going to Christian Eckes.
The Weathertech Sports Car Championship GTP class winners were Penske Porsche teammates Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr while Nick Boulle and Tom Dillman won the LMP2 category. In the GT classes, Laurin Heinrich was the lone GTD Pro championship driver, AO Racing the top team, and Porsche the manufacturer’s champion. And in the GTD division, co-drivers Philip Ellis and Russell Ward took the championship for Winward Racing and Mercedes AMG.
And finally, congratulations to the class champions in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series: Antron Brown in Top Fuel; Austin Prock in Funny Car; Greg Anderson in Pro Stock; and Gaige Herrera in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
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And now we await the 2025 season, which will begin a little over a month from now with the Roar Before the 24 at Daytona on Jan. 17-19. The Rolex 24 will follow the next weekend, running twice around the clock Jan. 25-26.
One week later, the 2025 NASCAR season kicks off with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium and the Daytona 500 just two weeks after that. Formula 1 and the NTT IndyCar series both open Feb. 2, and the NHRA season begins the weekend of March 8-9.