Ferrari has started the Abu Dhabi weekend, the final Grand Prix of the 2024 Formula 1 season, in a decidedly difficult way.
In the first practice session, the team had to replace the battery pack on Charles Leclerc’s SF-24, installing the third unit of the season. This means only one thing: a grid penalty. Charles will have to drop 10 places on the grid, depending on tomorrow afternoon’s qualifying result.
This is a significant blow for Ferrari, which was hoping—and still hopes, despite the slim chances of success—to win the Constructors’ Championship, a title that has eluded them since 2008.
But Charles Leclerc’s troubled weekend had already begun last night due to food poisoning, which kept him awake all night.
“The penalty makes our weekend more difficult. Unfortunately, it all started last night when I had food poisoning and couldn’t sleep at all. I’m so tired; I just want to sleep now. It hasn’t been easy, and this morning I didn’t feel like driving, but of course, the big motivation of the day was doing FP1 with my brother.” -he pointed out at the end of the second free practice session.
“It was a dream come true today for both of us and for our entire family, who traveled to Monaco to see it. It was a very emotional moment, and I had to put my helmet on early because I was overwhelmed, and that’s when things started to go wrong, unfortunately. As soon as we started the car, we saw there was an issue with the energy store. A lot of thoughts went through my mind…”
Fortunately for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc already seems to be feeling better. This should allow him to be close to full fitness tomorrow for the third practice session and, most importantly, qualifying at Yas Marina.
“The first thing that came to mind was: ‘I’ll drive this FP1 with my brother, which is a unique opportunity,’ and obviously also the championship, which makes our weekend much harder, but this doesn’t demotivate me at all. I already feel a bit better tonight. I’ll get a good night’s sleep and come back tomorrow fully recharged—no pun intended! But yes, hopefully, we’ll have a great day tomorrow and then a great recovery on Sunday.”
Today’s on-track performance favored their direct rivals for the title, McLaren. The MCL38s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set the pace both on single laps and race stints. Ferrari’s hopes of clinching the title are slim, but within the team, the focus remains on giving their all. What happens will be assessed at the end of the season.
“McLaren seems to be faster, unfortunately. For now, they have the upper hand, but we know things can change very quickly in either direction, and we have to stay alert. It won’t be over until the end, as we’ve seen today with our issue, but I don’t wish problems on anyone else. We’ll just focus on ourselves and try to make an extraordinary comeback.”
For Charles Leclerc, this weekend will also mark his last alongside Carlos Sainz as teammates before the Spaniard moves to Williams next season.
“Yes. Another thing that adds to this emotionally turbulent weekend. Of course, we want to finish on a high note. This morning, we ended up watching together, and we were both a bit sad about what happened because we obviously rely on each other to try to win this Constructors’ title. We really want to finish these four years together in the best way possible.”
“But sometimes, things happen that are beyond our control, and that’s what happened today. We’ve had a fantastic relationship, four fantastic years, and we’ll give it our all until the last lap to conclude these four years together in the best way possible.”
