🏁 One Last Hurrah

PLP Season 2 Edition 50

Race Weekend - 2024 Season Finale

And just like that, only one race remaining it what was a doozy of an F1 season. There’s still a lot to race for - and something tells me this electric season still has one last thrill left in the tank.

Here’s the schedule for the 2024 finale in EST:

• FP1: Friday, December 6th @ 4:30am

• FP2: Friday, December 6th @ 8:00am

• FP3: Saturday, December 7th @ 5:30am

• Quali: Saturday, December 7th @ 9:00am

• Grand Prix: Sunday, December 8th @ 8:00am

Quick Question!

Qatar Recap

Sprint

🥇 PIA - 🥈 NOR - 🥉 RUS

DNF: None

The final sprint of the season saw pole sitter Norris get a good jump off the line, with his teammate quickly overtaking Russell for P2. Papaya had the pace last Saturday and while Russell had some looks (and complained twice about late moves from the Aussie), the only team that could disrupt their 1-2 finish were themselves (sort of). In a move that had been planned since Brazil and against the team’s wishes, Lando slowed down after the last turn to allow Piastri to take the win. Surprising, but made sense considering Piastri had to give up a Sprint win a few weeks ago for Lando who was still in the WDC fight. Fair play, Lando. It was quite a risky move with Russell right behind - the top 3 finished within just .4s of each other.

In a bizarre pit lane start, Colapinto surged past Checo after he reacted to the green light incredibly slowly, adding to his recent woes. The best Max could manage was a measly single point in P8, but his fortunes would turn greatly in the GP after the team were able to tweak the set up favorably. Future teammates Leclerc and Hamilton had a brilliant clean battle lap 13 which produced the best racing action.. perhaps a preview of 2025? Hulkenberg picked up a P7 for Haas, with Gasly and K-Mag just missing out on points. Lawson went way backwards at the start, while Zhou took a gamble on soft tires that did not pay off.

Grand Prix

🥇 VER - 🥈 LEC - 🥉 PIA

DNF: OCO - COL - STR - PER - HUL

Fastest Lap: NOR

DoTD: ZHO

We made up for our midseason lack of safety cars last weekend with three deployments in a chaotic race that also saw seven driver penalties and five DNFs. It was one of those where you look at the running order and are constantly like “wait, how they heck did [insert driver here] end up in that position?” Nothing to scrambles the brain quite like safety car stops with half the grid pitting.

If there was ever a guaranteed loss of pole on turn 1, this was it. Max pointed right at George and promptly overtook him, driven by the Mercedes drivers’ advocation that Max be penalized for a prep lap quali incident - which Max was NOT happy about (read more below). Lando also got the jump at the start and moved into P2. Colapinto and Ocon were out from a Hulkenberg bump on turn 1, with Stroll spinning Albon a few turns later to bring out an early safety car.

Some good passes by K-Mag (who dropped a celebratory **** off! on the radio after passing Albon), Gasly, and Alonso would be outdone by the mid-race star of the show: Albon’s mirror. It simply said “peace out” and flew off the car, landing on the main straight. Crofty couldn’t believe there wasn’t a safety car to clear it immediately, and with good reason because a couple laps later it got blasted by Bottas. The resulting debris hindered both Sainz and Hamilton’s races with punctures, which then triggered another safety car. Max somehow caught Lando not lifting (slowing down) during a yellow flag when he was behind him, resulting in the penalty that saw him drop from P2 to finish P10.

Leclerc and Piastri escaped the bedlam and rounded out the podium behind Max. Zhou finally got Sauber on the board, benefitting from some safety cars but putting in a great drive in his own right to take P8. Mercedes went backwards as their car continues to be an enigma, while Gasly earned his second top five finish in the last three races and Alonso finally had a decent day finishing P7.

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Abu Dhabi GP Preview

The annual race finale heads to Yas Marina (said Yaaaaaas Marinaaaa, as if you’re encouraging your friend Marina) in Abu Dhabi. The track has a big ‘ol straight between turns 5 and 6, which feature heavy braking zone ripe for overtaking opportunities - along with the exit towards turn 9. Turns 10 thru 12 is a tricky section that requires braking with decent lateral load on the car, with placement being critical going into turn 13. Lap times are made or broken in the third sector.

Will we get driver donuts this year? I think Max did some last year? I think Lewis 100% to celebrate his last race with Mercedes. Hopefully he goes out on a high note with a good result. But who could forget poor Charles in 2023 getting denied after the team missed on on P2 in the Constructors’. If they manage to pull off P1 in the Constructors’ this year though.. I’m willing to be he’ll get to do car spinnies. The last race of the year is always a nice feel as the driver conclude the grueling schedule.. and there’s still plenty of intrigue in this year’s edition.

What to watch for:

• Prancing Horse vs Papaya People: Ferrari needs to pick up 22 points on McLaren, or 21 plus a race win to have the edge on season victories. A 1-2 LEC/SAI finish ahead of a 4-5 NOR/PIA would do exactly that. They’ve only bested them by 21 points in a race once this year - their 1-2 finish in Austin.

• Battle for P2: Leclerc is only 8 points off of Norris for P2 in the WDC. He’ll need to best him by 9 points, or 8 points if he gets the win. So, he can guarantee P2 with a race win + fastest lap.

• Can Haas pull it off? Gasly’s recent success might have put P6 out of reach for the American team. They’ll need to outscore team Frenchie by six points to earn their best finish since 2018.

• Last Hurrahs: Unlike last year, we’ve got a handful of F1 drivers who won’t be on the grid next year. Let’s see if K-Mag, Zhou, Bottas, (and most likely Checo) can end their F1 careers on a high note. It’s also increasingly likely Colapinto won’t have a seat for next year after interest has waned during his recent string of tough races.

• Rookies Galore: We’ll have six rookies driving in FP1, including Arthur Leclerc driving Sainz’s car. Charles and Arthur will become the sibling teammates in F1 history for an hour.

Ocon Out, Checo Likely Out, Max and George on the Outs

And we thought silly season was finally over for 2024. Nope. Add these to the list of why 2024 has been crazy both on and off track:

• Esteban Ocon has driven in his last race for Alpine, and will be replaced by Jack Doohan this weekend. Based on his social posts, the move caught him by surprise and he was disappointed his five year tenure with the team ended that way. He even had a special helmet planned to honor the team.

  • Part of his Instagram post reads: “As you know, the plan was always to race one last time this weekend and personally say goodbye to you all next week…This is not how I wanted things to end.”

  • Cold move by Alpine here. They said the release was so he could test for Haas, but Sainz is testing for Williams so what’s the difference? Seems like they might want to give Doohan a chance to show he deserves the seat over Colapinto? Or did team drama become too much?

• Sergio Perez seems to be all but out at Red Bull after this weekend, with many outlets reporting what has seemed inevitable for quite some time. Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have both already alluded to it, and his performance has not improved down the stretch.

  •  At 34 years old and no seats left for 2025.. will this race be his last? He may have an opportunity if GM/Cadillac wants to bring in a vet, or even if a 12th team is approved.

  • Liam Lawson is the reported frontrunner for the seat alongside Max, while Colapinto interest has wanted and Yuki continues to get overlooked. Maybe an impressive end of season test could sway team opinion? Doubtful.

• Big Beef Brewing ever since George Russell advocated to for Max Verstappen to get a penalty for impeding during a cool down lap in quali last weekend. After Max allegedly approached George at the drivers parade, they’ve since been duking it out in the media:

  • Max earlier in the week: ““I think I have a lot of respect for a lot drivers, but after last night I totally lost it for him…I thought it was absurd how Russell tried to give me a penalty…In front of the camera he is very reasonable, but outside he is a completely different person. I can't stand that, then you better **** off.”

  • George Retorted: “Max has gone personal. He’s crossed the line and I’m not going to stand for it from someone who thinks he’s above the law… He said he would put me on my ******* head. Somebody has to stand up to a guy like this before it gets out of control.”

  • Max shot back: "George is a backstabber…He's just a loser. He lies and pastes all kinds of things together that aren't true…I only gave my opinion about his behavior with the stewards. He's clearly not into that.

    • When told that Russell has tears in his eyes at one point, Verstappen cannot suppress a smile. "It wasn't that dramatic at the stewards last week. Maybe next time it will be, then I'll bring tissues."

  Oh my goodness. Watch out if they’re lined up close on the grid for Abu Dhabi. Already looking forward to these two on track next year, especially if they both have competitive cars.

Down the Grid

Constructor’s Corner

Tech Talk

Off the Grid

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