It was an unremarkable finish for both Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and their Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team (RB Honda RBPT) in the final Grand Prix for the 2024 season. We may have hoped for better but got what we expected in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
A bungled pitstop on Lap 26 for Lawson and a wheel nut not tightened properly resulting in another stop to fix the problem and the consequence being in a 10 second stop and go penalty dropping the Kiwi driver to the rear of the field.
“A tough way to end the season, which is a shame because we started really well,” commented a positive Lawson. “It was probably one of the best races I’ve driven, even though we were a couple of laps down, the pace was actually really strong, we were fast.
“But we had an issue in the pits, which put us out of the race, which sucks because we could have potentially had a chance to score some points today. After that I just tried to treat it like a normal race, so I could show what I could do.
A brake issue saw Lawson retire with only a few laps left to un. His first F1 dnf.
In contrast, Tsunoda finished outside of the points in 12th position. However, his remarks after the race are quite perplexing.
“Looking back at this year, we really gave everything as a team and I’m happy with what I’ve done throughout the season, even if it’s a shame to finish the last race of the season without a nice result which would have been a nice thank you for everyone within the team.”
I’m surprised that he is happy with his season. You’d think that someone in his position wanting to move up to the Red Bull Team would be less than satisfied, wanting more and hungry for better.
It was quite the opposite for Lewis Hamilton in his last Grand Prix for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team. With 246 races netting 84 wins, 78 pole positions and 153 podiums, it is a remarkable record and one to savour. And what a finish, from 16th to fourth in his last race with the team. Next year is going to be exciting with his move to Ferrari.
We finish the season with no certainty on Lawson’s future. A credit to his humility at the end.
To everybody supporting the team and myself, a massive thank you, I’ve loved my 6 races so far in the car. Obviously, I’m hoping to have a future in Formula One, I gave it everything and I’m looking forward to hopefully being back next year.”
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