A spirited farewell was the optimistic hope for Lewis Hamilton as he headed into his final meeting with Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but even that luck didn’t seem to be enough for the British driver as his farewell song saw him finish 18th in qualifying.

His final hot lap was dogged by bad luck when he picked up a stray bollard that had been removed by Kevin Magnussen, likely turning his finale into a slog at the bottom of the grid.

At the top, McLaren holds all the cards when it comes to securing its first constructors’ title since 1998. Lando Norris secured pole position for the team at the season finale at the Yas Marina circuit, with Oscar Piastri finishing second, giving them the best position to secure the title.

Hamilton was deeply disappointed by the discouraging end to his final qualifying session with Mercedes, with whom he took 78 poles in his 12 seasons and enjoyed unprecedented success, including six titles.

The last three seasons have been tough for driver and team and both were hoping for more in Abu Dhabi before the curtain fell.

“I was the last car on the track and I ended up running out of time and I ended up getting the bollard that went under the car and I lost all downforce, so it really couldn’t have been worse,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton will have the names of 150 fans on his car this weekend to acknowledge the support he has received and will return to the Brackley factory next week to say goodbye in person. Although victory in Abu Dhabi is unlikely, seeing the flag fall will be a moment that will undoubtedly resonate strongly with the British driver.

“Every day, more than ever, I just tried to be really present,” he said. “I’m just trying to digest it because it’s the last time we’re racing and driving Silver Arrows and it’s all my victories, all my successes in my life, so every moment is a special moment and I would like so much “Standed on the podium for the boys this weekend and it just didn’t work out.”

His team boss Toto Wolff had hoped for a celebratory farewell for Hamilton, who will start the race 16th after grid penalties were imposed, but felt the team was at fault for sending him out late and in the middle of traffic. “I have to apologize to Lewis,” he said. “We totally let him down, the idiotic mistake of not leaving earlier is inexcusable. I’m so devastated by what happened, it was just idiotic.”

For McLaren, which leads Ferrari by 21 points and has 44 points on the table, a win by Norris or Piastri would seal victory, as would a driver finishing ahead of both Ferraris.

“We want to do it in style and we want to win, I want to win,” Norris said. But even if he and Piastri didn’t get involved in counting chickens, they have already had a hand in the first constructors’ title for 26 years. Not least because Charles Leclerc from Ferrari had his last fast lap in the second qualifying canceled because he exceeded the track limits and he ended up in 14th place. A setback compounded by his 10th place penalty on the grid for using a new battery unit and he will start from 19th, all but ending any faint hopes the Scuderia had of securing the title might.

It would be no small achievement for McLaren following the revival sparked by the improvements they made 17 races ago at the Miami GP. They have overcome a 115-point deficit at this point in the season to take the lead over Red Bull. Your team boss Andrea Stella rightly described it as a turnaround that would have been unthinkable just twelve months ago.

Then they will celebrate after a long, arduous journey back to the front of the grid and have the pace to do so with real momentum under the floodlights, while Mercedes and Hamilton will perhaps, at best, end their long relationship with a spirited push from behind , before the seven-time champion heads to Ferrari’s scarlet in 2025.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg put in an excellent lap to finish fourth, while Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull.

Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell was seventh, Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, Valtteri Bottas was ninth for Sauber and Sergio Pérez was tenth for Red Bull.

Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson finished 11th and 12th for RB, Lance Stroll for Aston Martin 13th and Magnussen for Haas 15th.

Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were 16th and 19th for Williams, but both drivers face a five-place grid penalty for using a new gearbox and will start 18th and 20th respectively. Zhou Guanyu finished 17th for Sauber and Jack Doohan, who made his F1 debut replacing Esteban Ocon at Alpine for this final race before joining the team full-time the next season, finished 20th.