Leclerc didn't make it in Abu Dhabi to bring the world title back to Maranello. Despite a great comeback on the Yas Marina circuit, the Monegasque, like Sainz, had to surrender to the performance offered on the track by Norris and McLaren. The 2024 season for Leclerc thus ends with a highly valuable third place. Now, the primary objective will be to be competitive in March as we have been since Monza.
In Abu Dhabi Leclerc conquers the podium behind Sainz and Norris
The energy and emotions that a driver like Leclerc manages to transmit to his fans are very dense. With him in the car you can always hope for the impossible, for breathtaking moves and overtaking where, usually, you don't overtake. This and much more is Charles Leclerc, but this temperament of his doesn't always prove to be a winner, we know. Not always, as in this case, his tenacity and his energy are enough to get to victory. This is today's story, with the Monegasque who made sparks fly at the start. First he dodged Tsunoda's Racing Bull that was stuck on the grid. Then, at the braking point of turn six, he went all the way to the outside and overtook most of the cars fighting in the rear. So on the first lap Leclerc found himself in eighth position, on a track where overtaking is never so obvious.
A comeback that continued to third place that, in some ways, is reminiscent of what Sebastian Vettel did in Red Bull during the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP. The German, relegated to last place after qualifying due to irregularities on his car, managed to climb the standings to the lowest step of the podium, crossing the finish line behind Raikkonen and Alonso. Those points were fundamental for Vettel in winning his third world title at the end of the season. Today, however, Leclerc's comeback had no effect on the constructors' championship, except for earning the credit for having kept the discussion open until the checkered flag.
A result, that of Ferrari, well made. Especially if we consider the performance level at which the car had settled at the beginning of this summer. In fact, if it hadn't been for that disastrous Canadian GP and that package of updates that arrived in Spain, we would probably be talking about something else today. But the merit of the winners, namely McLaren, was precisely in this: the ability to remain stable and solid in performance for two thirds of the season.

Leclerc looks back on Sainz: “We pushed each other”
A sad and dejected Leclerc is the one in the picture at the edge of the track once the race is over. Lewis Hamilton approaches him and whispers something. They are the new Ferrari couple who, in 2025, will have to work hard to bring the Reds back to success. An imminent future, which by the end of the month will already be present. Leclerc thinks about it, while looking back at the time spent with Sainz. "Lewis has achieved so much success in this sport and it will be exciting to race with him. But now I'm thinking more about the year we've had with CarlosWe had a fantastic relationship, we pushed each other and I hoped to conclude these four years together with the constructors' championship. For now there is great disappointment. Now I'll have four or five days to reset and then start thinking about next year.".
Nice words for his now ex-teammate, which put aside once and for all what happened in Las Vegas two weeks ago. Four years together is not a short time, but the end of this cohabitation was not as happy as expected. And here among the memories comes the disappointment for the missed objective. The constructors did not arrive, despite Sainz's second place and Leclerc's great comeback in the race.
"I knew I had to be very aggressive and take as many risks as possible to gain as many positions as possible. I did it but we started too far back to do anything better. I think we did our best. It obviously hurts because it was a season fought until the end. It was a hard blow on Friday when I learned about the penalty. We gave it our all but narrowly missed our goal. We've tried them all".
Now, let's focus on 2025. Ferrari, with Leclerc and this time Hamilton, will have to start again from what they built over the autumn, to attempt to attack both the constructors' championship, which just slipped away, and the drivers' championship. "If we look at our first part of the year we were absolutely not fighting for the constructors' championship. Then the second part of the season was very good. We hope to start like this next year".