When the final race week of the 2024 Formula 1 season began, Ferrari faced what Carlos Sainz Jr. called “mission impossible” in their chase of McLaren, and the Constructors’ Championship. With McLaren holding a 21-point lead in that fight — and Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both starting Sunday’s season finale on the front row — Ferrari needed something extraordinary to end the season as Constructors’ champions.
They almost pulled it off.
Contact between Piastri and Max Verstappen on the first turn of the race sparked chaos on the opening lap and opened the door for Ferrari. Storming through was Leclerc, who was starting all the way down in 19th due to a difficult qualifying performance on Saturday, and a ten-second grid penalty for taking a new Energy Store (ES) this week, his third of the season and one more than the two allowed for each season under the rules without penalty. When a Virtual Safety Car was implemented on that opening lap Sainz was in second behind Norris, Leclerc was already up in the points after picking up 11 places on the first lap, Piastri was at the back of the field, and the game was on.
Ferrari continued to put the pressure on, as Leclerc moved up the grid thanks to a tremendous first stint. By Lap 12 he was up into P5, and a few laps later when green flag pitstops began Leclerc was into P4. As for Sainz, he had faded a bit from the rear wing of Norris’ MCL38 and was over three seconds behind, but remained in striking distance of the race leader, in position to capitalize should something happen to Norris.
Around the midway point of the race, the next tense moment arrived for McLaren, as Ferrari called in Leclerc on Lap 20, and then Sainz on Lap 25, to try and pressure McLaren and Norris at the front. McLaren called Norris on Lap 26 to cover off Ferrari, and the pit crew delivered a stunning two-second-flat stop to respond. While Sainz had closed the gap, Norris rejoined the fight 1.5 seconds ahead of the Ferrari driver.
With slightly fresher tires, Norris pressed the advantage. By Lap 44 his advantage over Sainz was over four seconds, and further back in the field, Leclerc was asking his team over the radio if that running order would mean that McLaren had secured the title.
“Like this yes, but it’s not finished. Keep pushing,” was the reply.
Ferrari pushed with everything they had, but it ultimately was not enough. Norris managed his tires, and some of the dirty air he was dealt when encountering lapped cars, to the checkered flag to take the victory and clinch the title for McLaren.
Sainz came home second in his final race for Ferrari, with Leclerc third, but the two podium steps were not enough on a day that saw Norris, and McLaren, climb to the top.
“We tried our best,” was the message from Sainz after the checkered flag over the radio to his team.
“I knew I had to be very aggressive,” said Leclerc trackside after the race. “Unfortunately we were just starting too further back to do anything better than what we’ve done today.
“It hurts.”
Leclerc also spoke fondly about his current teammate, who will be driving for Williams next season.
“For now it’s more thinking about the past year, and the past years, I’ve done with Carlos. We’ve had an amazing relationship, we’ve pushed each other, I really hoped that we could finish this four years together with a Constructors’ title,” said Leclerc. “We both gave it all.
“It wasn’t enough.”
“A bit of a bittersweet feeling,” described Sainz trackside. “Congratulations first of all to McLaren, they deserve this championship … they’ve been incredible.”
Ferrari certainly threw everything they had at McLaren, nearly pulling off what Sainz had called “mission impossible.”
But on this day, mission impossible was just out of reach.
