British Formula One driver George Russell finished P5 in Abu Dhabi. He previously finished P3 in 2023’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

A promising start to the season finale

George and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team began the season’s final Grand Prix by testing the Medium tyres in Free Practice.

In this session, George debuted his tribute helmet created to honour team-mate and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton’s final race with the team.

George reported disliking the brakes and not feeling the usual deceleration. The team worked on assessing and improving this, alongside gathering information on the W15.

He finished FP1 in P4, a promising result ahead of the weekend.

WATCH: 2024 ABU DHABI FP1 HIGHLIGHTS  

Continuing data collection in FP2

George worked on learning more information on the Mediums before switching to Soft tyres for the final stint. He finished the session P13.

WATCH: 2024 ABU DHABI FP2 HIGHLIGHTS

The season’s final Free Practice

George began 2024’s final Free Practice by running on the Medium tyres. He then pitted and switched to Softs, which is the tyre compound he ran on until the end of the session.

George concluded FP3 in sixth.

WATCH: 2024 ABU DHABI FP3 HIGHLIGHTS

Seventh in Qualifying

George had a solid Q1 and got through to Q2 in ninth.

He was straight back on track for Q2 to set a time. Later in the segment, he was back out with four minutes to go. He improved, going sixth initially before finishing Q2 in P8, through to the final segment.

In Q3, George set an initial lap of 1:23.697 before returning to the pits.

George came back out with under three minutes to go. His time meant he qualified seventh in the season’s final Grand Prix weekend.

WATCH: 2024 ABU DHABI QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS

Fifth in the final race

Following a penalty for another driver, George was promoted to starting from sixth. Choosing to begin on Medium tyres, George made up places to take fourth on the first lap after a collision for Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen ahead.

During the opening laps, George was battling Pierre Gasly who was in P3.

On Lap 14, George was in DRS range of Gasly and was close to overtaking before Gasly pitted.

A few laps later, Charles Leclerc, who was running behind George, had DRS, but George did a great job of holding the Ferrari off for several laps.

At the end of Lap 26, George pitted from third. He switched to Hards and rejoined in P7.

A lap later, George made the overtake stick on Gasly, passing him to take sixth.

After drivers in front of him pitted, George was running in P4 in the race’s closing stages.

Team-mate Hamilton began to close in on George on the last few laps. On the final lap, Hamilton made the overtake, moving George into P5.

George came away with 10 points, bringing his season total to 245. He finished the 2024 Drivers’ Championship in sixth.

Abu Dhabi marks the conclusion of the 2024 F1 season. George will return to race on 14-16 March in the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.

WATCH: 2024 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX HIGHLIGHTS

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team driver:

Lewis had an amazing race, so I want to say a big well done to him. He has not only been an incredible team-mate, but someone that I looked up to when I was karting and racing in junior formula. He is not only the greatest driver of all time but is the type of person that every racing driver should aspire to be. I wish him well in his next challenge and look forward to battling him on track.

Today I just didn’t have the pace to compete for more than P4. I’ve not had the speed all weekend and it is a shame to end the season like that. We need to go away and understand why that was. That said, there are many positives we can take away from the season. We have got back to winning races and, on occasion, have been competing right at the front on merit. We know there is more we need to do to compete for championships, but we are all determined to make progress and do so next year. Finally, congratulations to McLaren on winning the Constructors’ Championship. They have been a worthy adversary all season and are deserving winners.