This was the final Formula One race for Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Franco Colapinto, Sergio Pérez, and Kevin Magnussen.

It was also Lewis Hamilton's last race start for Mercedes before moving to Ferrari in 2025, ending the most successful driver-team partnership in Formula One history.

The first free practice session was held on 6 December 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+4),[1] and was topped by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

[27] The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time,[1] and was topped by Norris ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Nico Hülkenberg of Haas.

[28] The third practice session was held on 7 December 2024, at 14:30 local time,[1] and was topped by Piastri ahead of his teammate Norris and Hamilton.

[1] Polesitter Lando Norris kept the lead, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was tagged into a spin by Red Bull's Max Verstappen into turn 1.

Verstappen also made the move on Alonso two laps later, in which the Dutchman progressed to seventh, while the Spaniard dropped to eighth.

[35][36] Verstappen overtook Alonso again and served his penalty in the past couple of laps, while progressing by overtaking his old Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly.

The two almost made contact, but Hamilton passed Russell on the outside of turn 9 and got ahead, completing his final stint with Mercedes.