F1 in 2024: A season that kept everyone guessing

The 2024 Formula 1 season has been as unpredictable as any in recent memory. What initially looked set to be a Max Verstappen walkover in the opening races turned into a year of intense competition, surprise results and classic performances that will be talked about long into the future.

READ MORE: The 2024 F1 season in numbers

Pivotal moments 

Red Bull falter

After two dominant drives to unchallenged victories in the opening rounds, Verstappen’s imperious 2023 form looked to have spilled over into 2024. But Round 3 in Melbourne showed the first hints that Red Bull was no longer invincible.

With brake failure ruling Max out of contention in the first handful of laps, it was left to Carlos Sainz to complete the ultimate comeback story, taking the win two weeks after he was hospitalised for appendicitis.

McLaren shows its hand

Another two victories for the Dutchman followed in Japan and China, but the first visit to American soil saw McLaren truly match and surpass Red Bull’s pace for the first time.

Lando Norris may have taken his first F1 victory by way of fortuitous Safety Car timing, but once in the lead he comfortably pulled away from Verstappen announcing the papaya cars as genuine title contenders.

Verstappen makes the difference

Even with a pace advantage, McLaren failed to win any of the next four races. At Imola, Montreal and Barcelona it was the reigning champion who made the difference to snatch three wins from the jaws of the papaya cars.

In Italy, Norris chased down Verstappen in the closing stages, crossing the line less than a tenth behind. Max resisted the pressure to take to the top step for a fifth time in 2024. Having mastered changeable conditions in Canda to win again, the Dutchman seized the advantage early on with decisive overtakes in Spain as well. At each of the three races, the Brit followed him home in second.

Tensions boil over, the pack picks up the pieces

Coming into the 2024 season, it was well known that Max and Lando were good friends and regularly competed in esports races together. Although the pair had fought over the same piece of tarmac previously, their relationship and Norris’ approach to racing Verstappen would be irrevocably altered at Round 11 in Austria.

After several laps of robust defensive driving from the Red Bull, the pair went wheel-to-wheel at Turn 3 and made contact. Lando’s race was over on the spot, but Max continued to finish fifth. From then on, the rules of engagement were clearly defined.

Later in the season, Max’s controversial racecraft made headlines once again when the title rivals came to blows in both Austin and Mexico City. Once again, Lando came off worse in Texas when the stewards deemed him to have overtaken outside of track limits. In Mexico, however, Max was on the receiving end of two 10-second penalties dropping him to fourth.

While the protagonists butted heads, that opened the door for the likes of George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to claim victories in Austria, Austin and Mexico respectively.

History made at Silverstone and Merc on the march 

The 2024 British Grand Prix was a memorable weekend for many reasons, not least an all-British top three headed by George Russell in qualifying.

In another rain-affected race, Verstappen crucially got the better of Norris once more to finish second, but it was seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton who took a record-breaking ninth Silverstone victory in front of the adoring British crowd.

That win at Silverstone was part of an excellent four-race run in which Mercedes took three victories. Russell won in Austria, Hamilton on home soil then third in Hungary, and finally, what would’ve been a spectacular 1-2 for the silver arrows in Belgium, before George was disqualified for an underweight car. That handed Lewis a second 2024 win and the 105th of his career.

To the Max in Brazil

In a season of races where Verstappen has appeared to drive beyond the capabilities of the car, there has to be a spectacular performance to stand out, and stand out the Brazilian Grand Prix did.

Having started way down in 17th on the grid and with Lando on pole, it looked as if the Brit would take chunks out of the Dutchman’s points advantage, but Max had other ideas.

In a drive reminiscent of his memorable 2016 Interlagos performance, the Red Bull driver scythed through the pack in challenging conditions, making overtakes when most of the field struggled to get close to the car in front.

Aided by a well-timed red flag, Verstappen seized the lead from Esteban Ocon at a Safety Car restart and proceeded to sprint almost 20 seconds clear, becoming only the fifth driver in F1 to win from 17th on the grid or lower.

Lando shows what he’s made of 

Of the three instances Lando stood on top of the podium after Miami, he utterly dominated two of them taking wins in the Netherlands and at Singapore by more the 20 seconds.

When he was able to convert pole position, or get the better of Max in combat, he was truly in a league of his own leaving fans to consider what might’ve been had his starts been up to scratch throughout the season.

His fourth and final win came at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, leading Sainz over the line by five seconds but he remained largely untroubled for the duration. Lando signed off his best season to date with a statement of intent for 2025.

Winners and losers

Max Verstappen (winner)

Of all the winners in 2024’s F1 season, Max Verstappen is arguably the most justified. Yes, he had the best car underneath him for the opening five races, but from Miami onwards he was the one extracting results from a car that had no right being on the top step.

The 2024 season has done nothing if not solidify his status as one of F1’s greats, having won the drivers’ title with a team that finished third in the constructors’ for the first time since Nelson Piquet in 1983.

McLaren (winner)

Team papaya has returned to its very best in 2024 and is therefore an unquestionable winner. Six wins – four for Lando and two for Oscar Piastri – as well as a remarkable unbroken 14-race run of podiums midway through the season were enough to secure McLaren its first teams’ title since 1998.  

Lewis Hamilton (loser)

Despite his two wins at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, the 2024 season has been largely underwhelming by Hamilton’s standards.

A lowly seventh in the drivers’ championship is his worst-ever finish in the end-of-year standings, and his team-mate was one position ahead of him overall. He was also convincingly outqualified by Russell over the course of the year.

Charles Leclerc (winner)

Although Ferrari’s pace took a mid-season slump, Charles Leclerc was there when it mattered for himself and his team.

The Monégasque finally took victory on home soil in the principality after years of bad luck, and followed it up with a win in front of the elated Tifosi at Monza. A third and final win came in Austin and third in the overall standings puts him in a great position to mount a serious title tilt next year.

Williams (loser)

In 2023, Williams looked to be at the beginning of a McLaren-esque resurgence finishing seventh in that season’s Constructors’ Championship, but the Grove-based team has taken a step backwards in 2024 falling to ninth in the standings.  

A stream of costly crashes for all its drivers – Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant and more recently for Franco Colapinto – has resulted in tens of millions in repair bills, presenting major setbacks to the car’s development, undoubtedly impacting overall performance.

Pierre Gasly (winner)

Alpine spent the first part of the season in a tailspin but has recovered well in the second half of the year, most notably in the hands of Pierre Gasly. A Brazilian Grand Prix podium alongside team-mate Ocon breathed new life into the Frenchman, who finished an impressive fifth in Qatar and seventh in Abu Dhabi to finish 2024 on a high.

Haas (winner)

Like Alpine, Haas was on the backfoot early in the year, but a string of positive, points-scoring results for both Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in the latter races elevated the team to seventh in the standings, its highest finish since 2018.

Lando Norris (loser)

OK, hear us out… Lando Norris has established himself as a genuine title threat in 2024, with dominant drives and consistent podiums taking him to the runner-up spot in the standings.

But this season has also highlighted areas that need improvement for the young Brit; most notably his starts, wet weather pace and racecraft. If those elements were even marginally better in 2024, his campaign could’ve looked very different.

George Russell (winner)

In 2024, George Russell showed that he was ready to lead the Mercedes team in the wake of Lewis’ departure. With two wins under his belt, Russell also became Hamilton’s first team-mate to outqualify him over the course of a season, and finished ahead of him in the drivers’ standings.  

Sergio Perez (loser) 

With only four podiums to his name and falling some 285 points short of his team-mates title-winning tally, Sergio Perez’s stock has tanked irreparably in 2024. As a result, rumours are swirling around his imminent replacement at Red Bull.

What’s to come in 2025?

The pace at the front, middle and back of the F1 grid has converged in 2024 leading to tighter battles than ever, and that sets the stage for potentially one of the greatest-ever seasons in 2025.

Four teams fought for the top spots in 2024, but others may yet join the party next season and with fresh faces at Mercedes, Ferrari and possibly even at Red Bull, you aren’t going to want to miss next year’s F1 action.