The 2024 Formula One season will go down as one of the most dramatic and unpredictable in recent years. With 10 teams, 20 drivers, and 24 races spread across eight months, the season was filled with surprising wins, shocking retirements, and history-making moments. Seven different drivers claimed victories, compared to three last season, adding to the dramatics.
Before the season started, Lewis Hamilton announced that he would be leaving Mercedes after 12 years to join Ferrari. Considered the greatest Formula One driver of all time, Lewis Hamilton will join the Italian racing team on a two year contract in 2025. This also meant that Carlos Sainz was out of a seat for the 2025 season, which wasn’t solved until late July when he signed with Williams Racing.
At the second race of the season in Saudi Arabia, it was announced just before the weekend began that Ferrari Reserve, and F2 driver Ollie Bearman, would be racing in place of Carlos Sainz, who had to get an emergency surgery. Bearman would go on to race in two more races this season, instead for Haas F1 team, both in place of Kevin Magnussen. It was announced in July that Bearman would join Haas on an F1 contract for the 2025 season.
Just 16 days after surgery, Carlos Sainz returned at the Australian Grand Prix and won in quite the dramatic fashion. McLaren driver Lando Norris set a particularly unwanted record for achieving the most podiums in Formula One without a win.
The Miami Grand Prix marked a milestone for Lando Norris, who in his sixth F1 season collected his first win in Formula One and the first for McLaren since 2021. Between McLaren’s strategy and a safety car after the crash, Norris took a pitstop without losing time and passed Max Verstappen to gain the win.
The Monaco Grand Prix, clearly the most popular F1 race, features what Formula One is all about: winning and luxury. Monaco is also home to Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who has been famously unlucky at his home race throughout his F1 career, but this year, not only did Leclerc qualify in first place for the race, he won the race in order to become the first Monegasque driver to win this race in 93 years.
At the Singapore Grand Prix, Lando Norris qualified on pole and claimed his second win of the season. But the weekend’s biggest story was Daniel Ricciardo’s emotional farewell. After 13 years in F1, Ricciardo competed in his final race, as it was announced hours after the race ended that he would be replaced by Liam Lawson for the rest of the season.
The Brazilian Grand Prix, known for its dramatic weather, lived up to its reputation. The qualifying sessions on Saturday were postponed until Sunday morning because of heavy rain that made it impossible to drive the cars. There were five stoppages in the qualifying sessions, and in the race, five drivers didn’t finish, or even start. Alpine also achieved a double podium for the first time since 2013 after the dramatics.
At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Max Verstappen finished sixth, still clinching his fourth consecutive Championship after outscoring Lando Norris. The season’s penultimate race in Qatar also saw intense qualifying battles, with Verstappen securing pole but receiving a grid penalty for an incident with George Russell. Norris was penalized as well, dropping him from second to 15th, though he fought back to finish 10th.
The final race of the season in Abu Dhabi capped off in the most memorable way. McLaren and Ferrari were in a tight battle for the Constructors’ Championship, and Lando Norris clinched the title for Mclaren with his win, their first since 1998. It was a bittersweet race, as it marked the end of long careers for several drivers, including Lewis Hamilton’s final race with Mercedes after 12 years.
In the end, 2024 was the season to watch in Formula One, and we as fans can only hope that it will keep getting better as the years go on and that younger drivers such as Kimi Antonelli and Gabriel Bortoleto carry on the legacy.