F1 news - latest: Sergio Perez faces Red Bull decision and Abu Dhabi test updates including Carlos Sainz
F1 updates with post-season testing in Abu Dhabi giving Carlos Sainz and Williams valuable time on track
F1 post-season testing is here in Abu Dhabi as the dust settles on the 2024 season.
Lando Norris secured a dominant victory at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to win McLaren their first constructors’ championship since 1998, with Max Verstappen already secure of the drivers’ championship following a tough year for Red Bull.
As Lewis Hamilton prepares to join Ferrari and says his farewells at Mercedes, teams and drivers will be dialling in pace and experimenting ahead of the 2025 season.
Including Carlos Sainz and Williams, with the Spaniard determined to carry over late-season momentum from his own performance after calling time on his spell with the Scuderia. Yuki Tsunoda is also driving for Red Bull, with Esteban Ocon testing for new team Haas.
Follow live updates from the Abu Dhabi post-season test below:
Lewis Hamilton picked his Ferrari moment perfectly – but one man deserved better
Three years on from the toughest day of Lewis Hamilton’s career in Abu Dhabi, this final lap at the Yas Marina Circuit was altogether sweeter. There was no dodgy interference here; just pure racing.
Sure, it didn’t really matter. Hamilton does not compete in F1, a month before his 40th birthday, to finish in fourth. Who even knows how bothered his teammate was in defence? But swooping around the outside of George Russell in the Marina section of lap 58 reminded the world – even if television coverage did excruciatingly cut away – why Ferrari pursued the Briton for half a dozen years.
It also marked the final time his race engineer, Peter “Bono” Bonnington, said his iconic catchphrase, instructing his driver to push flat-out.
Lewis Hamilton picked his Ferrari moment perfectly – but one man deserved better
Hamilton reminded the world of his race prowess in Abu Dhabi on his final outing for Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton’s farewell at Mercedes ends the greatest era in F1 history – but not in the way you think
The bemusement reverberated across the paddock. It is difficult not to overemphasise the brutal reaction the cut-throat Formula One circus – whether it be media, ex-drivers or fans – had in September 2012 when, to the astonishment of everyone, Lewis Hamilton decided to leave McLaren for Mercedes.
Even the wishes of his father and manager, Anthony, were ignored. As Jeremy Clarkson put it so tactlessly on a 2012 episode of Top Gear: “Is that not a bit like moving from Manchester United to West Ham?” And sorry Hammers fans – it was not a compliment.
Yet six world championships, 12 years and 84 grand prix victories later, Hamilton’s bold plunge into unchartered waters was his best-ever decision.
Full piece below:
Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes farewell ends the greatest F1 era – but not how you think
Hamilton races his final grand prix for Mercedes this weekend after six world championships, 12 years and 84 grand prix victories. But his Silver Arrows legacy goes beyond those numbers, as Kieran Jackson explains
Isack Hadjar stalls at start in ‘worst moment of my life’ as Gabriel Bortoleto wins F2 title
Plenty of drama from the F2 season finale in Abu Dhabi, read all about it:
Hadjar stalls at start in ‘worst moment of my life’ as Bortoleto wins F2 title
French driver Hadjar endured a disastrous start in the Formula 2 title decider in Abu Dhabi on Sunday
Lewis Hamilton in ‘two minds’ over missing Ferrari run at Abu Dhabi test
“Look, I know Fred wanted it to happen. For me, I was in two minds,” said Hamilton. “Driving the red car for the first time in Abu Dhabi does not excite me. In a perfect world, you get to drive it, not be seen, and do the first rollout next year.
“When I did raise it, obviously with Toto [Wolff], they had all these plans that I’ve got to go and see some of the sponsors and say their farewells. So I don’t think it was ever going to actually be allowed, even if I had asked to have done it, because I’m contracted to the team until December 31st and that’s totally fine. But it doesn’t bother me again because I wasn’t going to do the test.
“It’s not what I wanted to do. I told Fred that’s not what I wanted to do. Am I missing out on something? For sure. It definitely delays the process and makes the start of the year harder, but we’ll do our best to recover.”
Lewis Hamilton receives heartfelt message from Toto Wolff ahead of Ferrari move: ‘You should win’
Toto Wolff sent a heartfelt message to Lewis Hamilton after the Brit’s final race for Mercedes, saying ahead of his move to Ferrari: “If we can’t win, you should win.”
Hamilton, who started 16th in his final race for the Silver Arrows in Abu Dhabi, surged through the field and with a last-lap overtake on teammate George Russell, the 39-year-old finished just outside the podium in fourth.
Full story below:
Lewis Hamilton receives heartfelt message from Toto Wolff ahead of Ferrari
Hamilton finished fourth in his final race for Mercedes as he heads to Ferrari for 2025
F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2024
McLaren boss determined to ‘refuse the poison biscuit’ to secure long-term success
Andrea Stella maintains McLaren “refusing the poison biscuit” to remain united as a team and claim the Formula 1 world constructors' champions.
“The time I joined McLaren to now, end of the season, celebrating a championship, means that we’ve gone through a circle,” the team principal said. “I often mention to the team the fact that the first race in 2015 in Australia, [the gap] between our lap in Q1 and pole position was five seconds.
“We have gone all the way thanks to great resilience, thanks to great belief and I would like to thank in particular Zak, Paul Walsh [executive chairman of the McLaren Group], all our shareholders for their faith in the change that gradually they have implemented and that has put McLaren in a solid position. From a management point of view, when you are solid from a management point of view, you are trusted. When you start to deliver on the investment that was necessary, then you can compete at the top.
“I think the final bit of this circle came through the people; unlocking the people. I am not sure if it is something that [others] can appreciate what it means if you are not seeing such rapid progress of 1,000 people, but that is what has happened. You cannot achieve this standard, this operation, this reliability without every one of the 1,000 people to operate at a very high level.
“That’s what we’ve gone through at McLaren and hopefully this is not the end point but the starting point for the future.”
Max Verstappen apologises to Oscar Piastri after Abu Dhabi GP:
“Launch was good, and then I tried to grab the inside and I quickly realised, once I committed to it, that the gap was closing and I wanted to try and get out of it, because I didn’t want to, naturally, of course, crash with Oscar,” Verstappen explained to media including PlanetF1.com.
“But unfortunately, we still clipped each other – but I already apologised to Oscar.
“It’s not what you want to happen, and especially not with him. He’s a great guy, but it happened. It’s just bit unfortunate.
“Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m just happy that the season is over. For me, the most important thing that I had to do was just apologise to Oscar, because I have nothing to gain, nothing to lose – I went for it, it didn’t work out.
“Especially also for him, you know that we both spun. It’s not nice. He’s a friend of mine, so I don’t want to have any, like, weird feelings or whatever going into the break.”
F1 2024 prize money
The projected team prize money after the 2024 season has been reported by Autosport, with Sergio Perez’s lacklustre season likely to cost Red Bull in the region of $18m.
1. McLaren: $140m
2. Ferrari: $131m
3. Red Bull: $122m
4. Mercedes: $113m
5. Aston Martin: $104m
6. Alpine: $95m
7. Haas: $87
8. RB: $78m
9. Williams: $69m
10. Sauber $60m
Lewis Hamilton on hearing ‘hammertime’ for final time from trusted Mercedes colleague
“I noticed that today,” Hamilton said at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after hearing ‘Hammertime’ from race engineer Pete ‘Bono’ Bonnington one final time in a Mercedes. “When he told me, I was like ‘I can’t even remember the last time he told me hammertime’.
“I remember I told Bono to say hammertime back in the first year together. I was like, ‘Don’t just tell me to go faster, tell me it’s hammertime and I know what it is’.
“What a rollercoaster ride I’ve had with Bono,” Hamilton added. “He’s been one of my closest friends for many years.
“It’s something I didn’t expect to have because he worked with Michael Schumacher, he’s worked with great drivers and for the longest time he’s stood by me.
"For an engineer to stick by someone, as frustrating and painful as it can sometimes be – he’s stood by me every single day without fail.”
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