Abu Dhabi: pre-qualifying 2024

Before practice we had some handbags between Verstappen and Russell. One suspects they won’t be swapping Christmas cards this year.

First practice had a lot of newcomers, mostly on a one-off basis (such as Arthur Leclerc joining his brother Charles at Ferrari). However, there’s also Jack Doohan, who takes the seat of shunted Ocon (bit of a shoddy way to treat the Frenchman). In addition, Leclerc (Charles) had a problem with his car that stopped him driving for the first half hour, so take the results below with a boulder of salt.

Leclerc did end up top for the first practice session (his brother was 18th), ahead of Norris, Hamilton, and Russell. Behind the Britons were Gasly and Hulkenberg, then Colapinto, Magnussen, Drugovich, and Perez. Perhaps positive signs for Alpine and Haas.

Second practice had Colapinto suffer a problem with his floor and Albon with his engine. Woe again for the Williams engineers. McLaren (Piastri) was around a second faster on high fuel than Ferrari, but precise fuel loads, and thus effect on lap times, are impossible to ascertain. Nevertheless, a positive sign for McLaren.

An interesting snippet I heard is that all the Williams crashes means they’ve had to use some of the 2025 budget for spare parts this year, which bodes ill for the future.


In third practice Piastri led Norris in a McLaren 1-2, the Aussie two-tenths up on the Briton. Hamilton was two-tenths further back, two-hundredths ahead of Verstappen. Sainz and Russell followed, with Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Leclerc, and Perez rounding out the top 10.

Still looking good for Haas but it’ll be an achievement if they can re-pass Alpine in the Constructors’ battle.

I think McLaren are in good shape but for the odds are too short, with Ladbrokes putting Norris evens and Piastri 3.5 My earlier tip of Piastri (mentioned on PB) each way for the win at 7.5 is looking ok at the moment, and can be hedged at 4.9 on Betfair or Smarkets if you’re feeling risk averse.

I was pretty interested in seeing the odds on Hulkenberg or Magnussen to reach Q3 but with just over an hour to go until qualifying the market still wasn’t up.

Anyway, no tip for the final qualifying session of 2024.

Qualifying is at 2pm, UK time.



Morris Dancer

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