The 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked the end of the season for Scuderia Ferrari HP. Charles Leclerc managed to secure a fourth-place finish, while Lewis Hamilton, starting from 16th, fought his way up to eighth. Leclerc's consistent pace and strategic pit stops allowed him to maintain his position, while Hamilton's early pit stop and subsequent recovery showcased his resilience. Despite the challenges, the team concluded the season with a determined effort, looking ahead to the next year with renewed focus.
First of all congratulations to Lando on winning the title.
Ever since his days in karting it was obvious that he has a special talent and this title is well deserved and well done also to McLaren for giving him the equipment to get the job done. Overall, this has not been a bad weekend for us in terms of pure performance, but it came a bit too late following a very tough start on Friday after which the team at the track and back in the factory did a very good job to recover for Saturday, by making very big changes to the cars. However, when you have to recover like this, it’s all about fine tuning the details and we weren’t able to do that. That affected our qualifying as the field was so close and then today our race pace was good and with Charles we were matching Lando’s pace, but in the current F1 where the gaps are so small, if you leave anything on the table you pay the price. Lewis also had a good race with very strong pace, he pulled off some nice overtaking moves and the motivation was there. But across the whole team, if we want better results we must work on having better weekends from the start of practice. I want to thank everyone in the team at the track and all the people back in Maranello for all their hard work all year and of course thanks also to the Tifosi for their support this season, because even when we were struggling, and we had some very tough weekends, they were always behind us, always supportive and you can’t imagine the positive energy this has given us throughout all the year.
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I gave it everything and our team executed the race perfectly.
Unfortunately, P4 was all there was in it for us today. I really wanted to finish the season on a high, bringing home a podium for everyone, and I was close to Lando (Norris) in a few moments of the race, but it was not enough to make a pass. Congratulations to Lando for his first title. He has been doing an incredible job of driving this year and it’s fully deserved. A huge thank you to our whole team, both at the track and at home in Italy, for all the hard work put in this year, as well as our Tifosi for their ongoing support. It’s been a tough season for us. Next season is still a blank slate, and we don’t know where the other teams stand, so we don’t have any real expectations yet. After this week, we will head back to Maranello to regroup, and our job will be to focus all our efforts on preparing for the season ahead as best as we can.
Charles Leclerc #Charles16
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I’m pleased with today’s drive.
We made good progress, overtook a lot of cars, and got ourselves back into the points. The two-stop strategy worked well so thank you to the team. It’s been a tough season, but the kindness and hard work of everyone at Ferrari means a lot to me. I stand with team and know we have better times ahead. After testing, I’m looking forward to taking some time to switch off, spend time with my family and friends and will come back refreshed and stronger in January. Congratulations to Lando. It’s great to see a fellow Brit win the championship. I’m proud of the work he’s put in over the years and this result is fully deserved.
Lewis Hamilton #Lewis44
4Qualifying
CHARLES LECLERC QUALIFYING SESSIONS
Q1 - SOFT TIRE
1:23.163
Q2 - SOFT TIRE
1:22.948
Q3 - SOFT TIRE
1:22.730
POSITION
5
GAP FROM LEADER
+0.523 s
QUALIFYING SESSIONS LEWIS HAMILTON
Q1 - SOFT TIRE
1:23.394
Q2 -
-
Q3 -
-
POSITION
16
GAP FROM LEADER
+0.789
“
I’m satisfied with my lap in Q3 and I don’t think there was much more to extract today.
I feel that our team has done a really good job in turning things around this weekend. We made some changes on the set-up between FP2 and FP3, and if paid off. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, to see if the changes we made will also help us to get ahead in the race. We can’t get our hopes up too high, because the cars ahead are very fast. It’s up to us to maximise our result tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to take action at the start and hope to bring home a last podium for our whole team this season.
Charles Leclerc #Charles16
“
Clearly it wasn’t the result we were aiming for today.
The team did a great job after FP3, in getting the car ready in time for qualifying, but a mistake in the last sector cost us. I know this track well and I’ll be aiming to deliver a more positive result for the team tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton #Lewis44
Charles Leclerc Practice sessions
FP1 - POSITION: 3
1:24.501
FP2 - POSITION: 8
1:23.658
FP3 - POSITION: 8
1:23.675
5Practice sessions
Lewis Hamilton Practice sessions
FP2 - POSITION: 14
1:23.939
FP3 - POSITION: 18
1:24.470
Arthur Leclerc Practice sessions
FP1 - POSITION: 16
1:25.360
6Circuit Info
Sectors
Turns
Max Speed
DRS
LocationYas Marina
First GP2009
Circuit length5.281 km
Race Distance306.183 km
Laps58
Lap Record1:25:637Kevin Magnussen (2024)
7Yas Marina Circuit
Ascenariofromathousandandonenights
Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island
A scenario from a thousand and one nights, with a race that starts in sunlight and runs through the Arab night, a setting that is a real scene stealer. The race can consist of a long train of cars unable to overtake on the 5.554 kilometre track, unless the drivers are prepared to take a risk at turn 7. With the arrival of DRS on the Formula 1 scene, the show improved. The first sector is home to the fast corners, then come some very heavy braking zones before the chicane at turn 5 and a final sector where high downforce is required and the drivers need to be very precise, because it’s easy to run wide off the racing line. In Abu Dhabi, one also has to manage the fact that track temperature gradually drops over the course of the race. This has to be kept in mind when it comes to set-up, so the car can deal with the reduction in track temperature. This has been an unlucky track for Ferrari, which has never won here: the best results are a couple of second places for Fernando Alonso in 2011 and 2012.
The long straight (after turn 7)
It’s very difficult to overtake here. There are two DRS activation zones, but only one is a real passing opportunity: after turn 7 comes the very long straight where overtaking is relatively easy.
Pit lane exit
It’s been nicknamed the exit to the shopping centre. It consists of an underpass with a corner in it that runs under the track. Drivers brush the wall every time. Beware of a lapse of concentration, as disaster is just around the corner.