2024 Formula 1 Season Finishes in Exciting Title Battles

Tiegan Swanson, Staff Writer • January 9, 2025

Top to bottom left to right: Red Bull Content Pool, Altaf Qadri, AP Formula 1, Tyler Rowlinson, Bryn Lennon

The end of the 2024 Formula 1 season was a close battle between the World Constructors’ Championship and the World Drivers’ Championship. 2024 began appearing like it would be another year of Red Bull dominance after the Milton Keynes team began the season with their car, the RB20, carrying over the RB19’s dominance.

Max Verstappen and teammate Sergio (Checo) Perez took a 1, 2 at the opening round in Bahrain with a 25.110-second gap between Verstappen and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz in P3. But by the time the checkered flag was waved in Abu Dhabi, there were 7 drivers with 2024 race wins to their name: Verstappen (9), Norris (4), Piastri (2), Leclerc (3), Sainz (2), Hamilton (2), and Russell (2).

Competition Sparks
Development from McLaren has attributed them to having the best car since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix back on May 19th following McLaren driver Lando Norris’ first F1 race in Miami. Since that point, Red Bull’s star driver Verstappen has carried the team to success and maintained his Drivers’ Championship lead even through struggles with their car. On the other hand, Perez has struggled to extract performance from an underperforming car, allowing McLaren and Ferrari to surpass Red Bull.

Ahead of the Final 4 Weekends
McLaren’s Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had earned the Papaya team 566 points going into the final 4 races and were looking to win their team its first Constructors’ Championship since 1998. But, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were tailing by just 29 points. Meanwhile Red Bull was in 3rd with only 367 points whilst Max Verstappen hoped to secure a 4th Drivers’ Championship Title with Norris and his faster car 44 points behind.

Brazilian Sprint – McLaren’s Perfect Strategy Call
In the Brazilian Sprint held on November 2nd, Lando finished P1 for 8 points, and Piastri barely held on to P2 for 7 points. The Ferraris got P3 and P5 after Verstappen was demoted from P3 to P4 for a breach of the Virtual Safety Car rules. Perez qualified for the Sprint in 13th but finished P8 after a solid effort to give Red Bull another point.

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As the Sprint at Interlagos began, the top 4 held their positions through the opening laps. The McLarens stayed P1 and P2 while Verstappen searched for an opportunity to take P3 away from Charles Leclerc. His best chance came on the straight between turns 3 and 4 on lap 18 where the Red Bull drove past the Ferrari with the help of DRS.

After Hulkenberg stopped his car on lap 21 of 24, a Yellow Flag slowed Sector 2 of the track. McLaren, intending to give Norris the victory for maximum points to his Drivers’ fight, opted to swap their driver’s positions on the back straight of lap 22 to avoid a loss of overtaking opportunity in the final 2 ½ laps if the intervention was increased. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed at the end of the lap and did not lift until halfway through lap 24.

When the cars resumed racing speeds Piastri was under threat of an overtake by Verstappen. But as McLaren had hoped, the Australian’s perfect braking point kept him ahead around turn 4, successfully fending off Verstappen.

Brazilian Grand Prix – Verstappen’s Dominant Drive
Verstappen drove an incredible race from 17th to P1 and scored the fastest lap point achieving 26 points in Sao Paulo, extending his Drivers’ Championship lead to Norris by 18 points during the Brazilian Grand Prix held on November 2nd. McLaren completed the weekend with 593 points, Ferrari with 557, and Red Bull with 544.

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The 2024 Brazilian GP at Interlagos was a very eventful weekend for the Drivers’ Championship fight. Qualifying was pushed to Sunday morning due to intense rainfall in the Sao Paulo venue. Lando, looking to chip away at Verstappen’s championship lead, clinched pole. Verstappen started in 17th after serving a 5-place grid penalty due to Red Bull opting to exchange his car’s 5th engine for a 6th (Drivers’ are only allowed to use 4 per season). Lando only happened to earn 8 points from a P6 finish while Max drove an incredible race from 17th to P1 and also scored the fastest lap point, extending his Drivers’ Championship lead to Norris by 18 points. McLaren completed the weekend with 593 points, Ferrari with 557, and Red Bull with 544.

On the opening lap, Verstappen passed 6 cars to climb into the points-scoring positions by the end of the first lap. George Russell passed Lando into the first corner, and McLaren opted to pit Norris for Intermediates on lap 29 to take advantage of a Virtual Safety Car slowing the whole field up. After the light turned green, the two Alpines and Verstappen, who was now in P2, passed Lando who was still in the pit lane. Due to McLaren’s strategy call, Lando was expected to have a larger lead over the cars yet to pit had swapped their tires than when he had entered the pit lane, but things went south.

William’s Driver Franco Colapinto’s crash on the main straight suspended the race on lap 32 with a Red Flag giving a chance for Verstappen and other cars to align strategies to change their tires without loss of time and position. Once the race was resumed, Ocon led the race followed by Verstappen in P2 with Norris down in P4. For further McLaren's frustration; Lando soon dropped to P5 after going wide on lap 34.

Going into turn 1 of lap 43, Verstappen sent a move down the inside of Ocon for the race lead and Leclerc pulled an identical move on Norris. Unrelated to this, Lando ended up losing control of his car on the wet track which allowed McLaren teammate Piastri to overtake him as well. The two later intentionally swapped positions giving Lando a P6 finish.

Las Vegas Grand Prix – Verstappen’s 4th Title

In the race consisting partially of the world-famous Las Vegas Strip, Max Verstappen won his 4th World Title from a P5 finish. Meanwhile, Norris finished where he started: P6, after suffering from the FIA’s declaration of McLaren’s rear wing as illegal for its flexible nature before the Grand Prix. McLaren completed the weekend with 608 points, while Ferrari had 584, and Red Bull: had 555.

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To end the Drivers’ fight, Verstappen, 62 points ahead, had to finish in a higher position than Norris if Lando finished in P2. If Norris finished in P3, Verstappen would need to follow him up in P4 with the fastest lap point. If Lando finished in P4 through P7, Verstappen would secure the championship from the trailing finishing position assuming Lando did not get the fastest lap. If Norris finished in P8, Max would win with a P9 finish or P10 and fastest lap. Any low-finishing position from Norris and Max would win the championship from any position. Verstappen set himself up for success by qualifying P5 just ahead of Lando in P6.

When the lights went out, Leclerc moved down the inside of Gasly and Sainz for P2 and continued to put pressure on Russell for the lead during the opening laps. His strong efforts soon meant that quick tire degradation dropped him back to P3 behind his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen had now passed Gasly and was behind Leclerc. He overtook the Monegasque for P3 on lap 8 and stole P2 from Sainz on lap 10 but soon lost it to Hamilton who drove from P10 to P2 after mistakes in Qualifying. Sainz followed Hamilton by overtaking Max on lap 41 and on lap 46 Leclerc sent an identical move to his teammate’s down the inside of Verstappen.

Verstappen finished P5 and Rolls Royce to chauffeur him and his race engineer GP behind the podium finishers to a stage on the water in front of the Bellagio; there he did a post-race interview hosted by 2009 World Champion Jenson Button and famous actor Terry Crews.

Qatar Sprint – McLaren 1, 2
In the Sprint in Qatar held on November 30th, Mclaren achieved a 1, 2 after an excellent show of respect from Norris to Piastri on the final lap.

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Norris started on the pole with teammate Oscar Piastri in P3, the Ferraris in P4 and P5, and Verstappen down in P6. Piastri overtook Russell on the first lap for P2 and retained the position despite strong efforts from the Mercedes.

Max dropped to P7 off the line after being passed by Hamilton, and then to P9 after snaps of oversteer. He later overtook Gasly’s Alpine to finish the race in P8, while up front Lando, under no orders, let up for Piastri to overtake him coming out of the final corner.

“Circumstances have changed things so…Oscar helped me and gave me that opportunity in Brazil and I’ve repaid that favor” Lando stated in a post-race interview.

Qatar Grand Prix – Ferrari Gets Closer
The penultimate race of the season was dramatic in Qatar, held on December 1st. There were many overtakes at the front of the field during the opening lap and chaos hit the track when a rogue wing mirror gave 2 cars punctures and cost Lando his race. In the end, Verstappen got his 9th victory of the season, yet Red Bull dropped out of the Constructors’ competition. McLaren completed the weekend with 640 points to Ferrari’s 619, continuing their fight to Abu Dhabi.

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When the lights went out, Russell lost pole to Verstappen’s move in turn 1. Norris (starting P3) jumped on the opportunity to overtake the pair of them coming out of the corner, but the left-hand turn 2 meant Verstappen retained the lead with the inside line followed by Norris and Russell down to P3. Just behind the frontrunners, Leclerc went around the outside of Piastri in turn 1 to pull even giving him the inside line for turn 2 and P4. Piastri retook 4th in turn 1 of lap 5.

On lap 30 the right wing mirror flew off of Albon’s Williams on the start/finish straight which was only dealt with by a Double Yellow Flag initially. Lando gained a large amount of time to Verstappen by not lifting for the flags on the straight which gave him a 10-second stop-go penalty through the pit lane. A Safety Car finally controlled the race after Bottas drove over the mirror leaving debris that gave Hamilton and Sainz punctures.

As the Safety Car returned to the pits at the end of lap 39, Norris had an opportunity to overtake Verstappen in turn 1. Max forced Lando around the outside but Lando backed out before going off track. He served his stop-go penalty on lap 46 and recovered to 10th with the fastest lap of the race. Meanwhile, Verstappen won followed by Leclerc and Piastri. Despite Verstappen’s win, Red Bull officially dropped out of the fight for a P1 or P2 finish in the Constructors’ with 581 points.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – McLaren’s Constructors’ Title
In the season finale on December 8th, with the Constructors’ Championship on the line, McLaren had a dream qualifying session setting expectations high for a Constructors’ win. The race was much more competitive between McLaren and Ferrari than expected after Piastri was taken out of the race early on and Leclerc charged through the pack. But when the fireworks erupted, Norris and Piastri had managed to earn McLaren their first Constructors’ Title in 26 years.

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Lando started on the pole followed by Piastri, with the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz in 3rd and Charles Leclerc down in 19th after a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding the 2 energy stores allowed to a car each season.

When the lights went out Verstappen (starting P4) jumped a place on Sainz and sent a move down the inside of Piastri. The two made contact coming out of the corner resulting in both cars getting spun. Verstappen received a 10-second penalty for the incident and Piastri was left in last by a large margin. To put more pressure on McLaren, Leclerc made it up to 8th place by the time a Virtual Safety Car was declared on lap 2. Piastri pitted for new tires earlier than planned after a lock-up sent him into the back of Colapinto. For a further setback, he was given a 10-second penalty for the contact.

As the Sun set over the Yas Marina Circuit, Leclerc was up to P4. He pitted on lap 21 and was in P3 after gaining time to Russell before Mercedes called him to the pits. Sainz made his stop from P2 on lap 26, and Norris made a perfect 2.0-second stop on lap 27 retaining his lead over Sainz. On lap 54, Piastri passed Albon to get into P10 which he held to the line. In the final lap, Lando crossed the finish line after building up almost 6 seconds to Sainz.

Norris and Piastri earned 26 points for the Papaya team while Ferrari managed 33 to cut the deficit down to 14 points ending the season at 652 to McLaren’s 666. McLaren were officially Constructors’ Champions. Norris finished the final race with 374 and Verstappen: with 437.

Looking Toward 2025

After the race, Lando said that the following year “will be my year,” alluding to a Drivers’ Championship win in 2025. Lando has grown and matured the past season, from snagging his first-ever win in Miami to battling for the Drivers’ title to helping his team win the Constructors’ Championship. With the top driver for the fastest team focused on a 2025 championship sweep and all of the driver changes going into next season, 2025 is bound to be an eventful year for Formula 1.

The Spartan Speaks

The Spartan Speaks

The Spartan Speaks

2024 Formula 1 Season Finishes in Exciting Title Battles

The Spartan Speaks

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