Recapped: Everything that happened in F1's unexpectedly good 2024 season

The 2024 Formula 1 season was a glorious surprise, bursting at the seams with intrigue from pre-season right until its final laps in Abu Dhabi. The best drivers again delivered stunning highs – some scaling new peaks from crests others already couldn’t get near. The teams continued to innovate even in this era of prescribed car design regulations. Controversy reigned from start to finish.

The shock multi-team victory battle

While wandering down the Miami Grand Prix pitlane in the shadow of the Hard Rock stadium, it was worth pausing at McLaren’s area of the pitwall. There was an air of excitement overhanging the team. Its pitstop crew was preparing to drill with Lando Norris’s MCL38. The car looked very different now – 10 chassis areas had been upgraded; more sophisticated in every area. Was it a winner at last?

While Oscar Piastri had triumphed in the 2023 Qatar sprint race, he was still early in only his second campaign at the top level. Norris was still searching for the maiden grand prix victory lost in that savage Sochi rainstorm nearly three years earlier. And yet…

Norris had absolutely flown in sprint qualifying for the third Miami GP. But the switch to soft tyres had clearly created something awry for his upgraded machine. It was now so fast that it could knock the fragile Pirelli rubber out of the performance window on this scorching, technical track.

That left Norris at the mercy of a sprint race start shunt, while in main race qualifying he underwhelmed, and Piastri looked like McLaren’s best hope after the exchanges in the GP. The mid-race safety car changed everything. Norris converted his major gain into that breakthrough victory.

“We needed to provide him with winning material,” McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said afterwards. “And as soon as we did it, he achieved it.”

Norris might have doubled up next time out at Imola were it not for one inevitably immoveable object: Max Verstappen in a Red Bull in the lead at this wonderfully old-school venue – back after the terrible floods in the Emilia-Romagna region the previous year.

Norris broke his win duck in Miami as McLaren emerged a serious contender with a package of upgrades

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

When the leaders had switched to the hard tyres, Norris initially came under considerable pressure from Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. But, foreshadowing the Prancing Horse’s season overall, Leclerc’s promise rose and fell dramatically. Now Norris charged, erasing a seven-second gap to Verstappen as the MCL38 gelled its lighter fuel load with the harder rubber and suddenly looked class-leading.

Verstappen, feeling he was suddenly “driving on ice”, grappled to keep his Red Bull ahead. It was all very Imola 2005 or 2006, but in the end Verstappen held on to win a race mere mortals would surely have lost. 

“It didn’t work at all for the hard tyres,” Verstappen said after pairing a night-time sim racing win with this victory. “So, this is something that we need to understand and analyse.”

At this stage Leclerc was closest, but Norris was surging. Canada, next up, highlighted how it was indeed McLaren that was the true challenger

Next time out at Monaco, the season’s main narrative took a pause. Here, Ferrari was on kerb-riding ground loved by its SF-24, and with Leclerc back on the street circuit territory where he so thrives, albeit often suffers poor fortune.

Leclerc stormed to pole and dominated a disrupted race, finally ending the ‘home race’ curse narrative he said he “never believed in” anyway. Piastri was an excellent second, with Carlos Sainz third as Norris and his points haul paid the price for his 0.118s qualifying gap to his team-mate.

As another different team was doing the winning, Verstappen was sixth – a direct result of his wallstrike at Ste Devote in Q3. He blamed this on “pushing flat out” with a “super-tricky” car package he felt was no better on bumps and kerbs than his 2022-23 cars.

After it had swept to a record-setting 22 wins from 23 races the year before – a “rod for our own back”, as Red Bull team boss Christian Horner later claimed – this time there really was the prospect of a challenge in the title race. At this stage Leclerc was closest, but Norris was surging.

Canada, next up, highlighted how it was indeed McLaren that was the true challenger. Ferrari’s weekend was undone first for Leclerc by a surprise qualifying struggle, then when the Monegasque’s engine lost 80bhp early in a wet-dry thriller.

Verstappen found a way to keep winning even as McLaren's challenge grew more fierce, keeping Norris at bay in the title race

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Verstappen ended up winning a race polesitter George Russell had commanded early on, his Mercedes showing its prowess in cool conditions. There were errors from all the leaders, and McLaren missed a small window to get Norris another win on the final switch to slicks, after he’d this time encountered misfortune with the timing of the safety car.

“It’s nice to be so close once again,” Norris nevertheless reflected. “We’ll keep fighting.”

In Spain, further narratives intertwined. Here, with Norris having surged to a brilliant second F1 career pole, the start undid the British driver. On the long run down to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s first corner, Norris did as he’d vowed late in 2023 and fought Verstappen hard despite their enduring friendship, squeezing Verstappen towards the pitwall.

But both were passed by Russell’s even better getaway. Verstappen’s brilliance was demonstrated by his quick passing of Russell to lead home Norris. “We had just enough in hand,” Horner said afterwards.

That Spanish GP start began something of a trend for Norris, while McLaren’s mistakes continued at the British GP and were surrounded by even bigger ones from Verstappen in both Austria and Hungary. In the former, he and Red Bull reprised their 2023 form in crushing the opposition by 0.4s in GP qualifying, while Norris had been furious with himself in allowing Verstappen space to repass for the lead in the sprint and Piastri had piled past too.

Verstappen then looked in complete control at Red Bull’s home race until the second and final round of pitstops. Here, a slow left-rear change meant much of his previous near-7s lead was almost fully erased. Norris had already been gaining while running the harder rubber that, by now, it was clear that the McLaren MCL38 loved and the Red Bull RB20 struggled on.

Norris was naughty in abusing track limits in his frantic chase – and he wasn’t innocent in the battle that subsequently unfolded – but it was Verstappen who squeezed the McLaren on the outside line at the sharply uphill Turn 3 and was subsequently penalised when they finally collided. Both picked up punctures, but Verstappen got double lucky: while he made it back to the pits and would finish fifth, Norris took no further part.

“[Verstappen’s aggressive tactics] have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past when there was some fights with Lewis [Hamilton in 2021] that needed to be punished in a harsher way,” a furious but still analytical Stella said afterwards.

Verstappen and Norris scrap got physical in Austria after multiple attempts at passing from the McLaren driver, who was unable to continue

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

At Silverstone, Mercedes again starred in temperatures nearly 15C cooler than in Austria the week before, with Russell again on pole and Hamilton alongside him on the front row. In a dry-wet-dry thriller, Hamilton took an emotional first win since the Saudi Arabian GP in December 2021, while McLaren made two critical strategy errors that wrecked its mid-race 1-2 and Verstappen rallied to reclaim second.

In Hungary, McLaren mistakes and Verstappen’s own errors interwove. Norris started on pole ahead of Piastri, with Verstappen (who would again stay up late sim racing this weekend) livid that Red Bull’s major downforce-adding upgrade (which did away with the high-waisted, drag-saving cooling gulleys it had run to this point) had not made it clearly class-leading.

In the race, things erupted at the first corner, when another so-so start second phase for Norris meant Piastri attacked and got ahead at Turn 1. Here, Verstappen aggressively charged, then passed Norris by taking to the run-off on the outside.

Norris headed for his holidays feeling he “just needed to reset”. When these ended with Verstappen’s home race at Zandvoort four weeks later, McLaren unleashed another major upgrade package

Red Bull decided it was better to let Norris past, with Verstappen blasting this and his subsequent strategy as he fell behind Hamilton and then clattered him on the approach to Turn 1. This turned a likely third into fifth, but again Verstappen was fortunate that things weren’t worse, the RB20 impressively robust in its survival as it slammed back to earth.

Up front, Norris had given McLaren a very public problem in deciding not to quickly pull over and hand Piastri back the lead after undercutting him at the pitstops in order to cover off Hamilton’s early second service. Norris’s engineer Will Joseph pleaded with his charge to play the long game, saying at one stage “you’re going to need Oscar and you’re going to need the team” – a long team orders saga was suddenly erupting.

The second McLaren was well behind as Norris’s enduring, although reduced this year, tyre management superiority came to bear. But after he eventually pulled over, neither driver looked happy with Piastri’s maiden GP triumph. “I guess Lando was trying to make the point,” Stella said afterwards.

Before things could simmer over the summer break, F1 headed back to Spa and returned the Red Bull RB20 to its preferred, fast-corner, high-speed setting. Verstappen was again stunning in the wet qualifying, but for the second year in succession (and third overall) ceded the pole to Leclerc. This was because the engine he’d been using back in Montreal in FP2 had suffered an energy recovery issue and so his parts pool needed widening. Again, Spa was the best place to take the grid penalty.

Piastri took his first win after a tense team orders saga in Hungary while Verstappen raged on the radio

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

The closing up of the F1 field of late was really highlighted in this contest, which Mercedes dominated, again benefiting from coolish temperatures and a track with long straights. Hamilton battled ahead of Leclerc from starting third – Sergio Perez’s second place starting position was an immediate irrelevance – and then was in command on the conventional two-stopper.

But Russell was suddenly a factor on a surprise one-stopper and he cycled to the lead. In the pack behind, Verstappen rapidly rose from starting 11th and, despite Red Bull’s pace advantage being so reduced, at least beat Norris, who’d made two more significant early errors. The result changed when Russell was disqualified for his car and driver weight combination being 1.5kg too light, which handed Hamilton his 84th and final Mercedes F1 win.

Norris, meanwhile, headed for his holidays feeling he “just needed to reset”. When these ended with Verstappen’s home race at Zandvoort four weeks later, McLaren unleashed another major upgrade package. This added critical front suspension and rear wing developments around a minor floor design tweak, and with all this Norris blasted to a brilliant pole.

Yet again, Norris had a poor start, with Verstappen ahead and Red Bull buoyed since it felt, in the words of motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, that “if he wins the start, we can win the race”. But Norris stayed close, then struck and cruised to a 22.9s winning margin. “At the moment we don’t,” Verstappen replied when asked whether Red Bull had a car that could win again in 2024.

At Monza, the focus was back on McLaren’s team orders (or lack thereof), as Piastri’s attack at the second chicane surprised polesitter Norris and let Leclerc get ahead into second. Had McLaren been clear that there was to be no such battle between its two cars, allowing them to run 1-2, then it could have contained a brewing threat from Ferrari…

Leclerc stunned on a one-stop strategy that many teams had been considering but were not convinced about due to the recent resurfacing of the Italian circuit. The Ferrari man produced a metronomic final stint to claim a famous win ahead of the again downcast McLaren pair. “So special,” Leclerc said after his 33 laps in the 1m23s bracket to win by 2.7s.

After McLaren issued a somewhat confusing team orders update ahead of Baku – Stella saying it would “bias our support to Lando”, who insisted he wouldn’t simply be handed wins – Piastri and Leclerc were again the protagonists.

Here Verstappen was, amazingly, eclipsed by Perez, who again blotted a promising copybook by crashing with Sainz late on. Norris, meanwhile, had his hopes dashed by having to lift for a yellow flag in Q1. He nevertheless held up Perez to aid Piastri’s challenge mid-race when on the contra-strategy, and would take a brilliant fourth from starting 15th, passing Verstappen on his way up the order. The Dutchman was behind with an “incredibly unpredictable and difficult” car he’d called a “monster” in finishing a relatively anonymous sixth at Monza.

Even when Red Bull was not at the races, Verstappen kept scoring points - though was disappointing in Baku

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Up front, Leclerc dominated initially after claiming a fourth straight pole on the streets of the Azerbaijan capital. But Piastri erased his lead by stopping first, then dived past, with Leclerc assuming he’d get another chance to sneak back ahead. That opportunity never came. His many attempts to repass were thwarted due to what became one of the year’s many tech spats.

This was how the McLaren MCL38’s wing slot gap was marginally opening with no DRS activated – dubbed a ‘mini-DRS’ – to boost top speed. McLaren agreed to modify its wings next time out in Singapore and made further changes later at Austin.

In Singapore, with McLaren having established that its tyre warm-up procedures were to blame for its earlier start issues, Norris bounced back to dominantly win ahead of Verstappen, who gained from Piastri and the Ferrari drivers messing up qualifying. “A few too many close calls,” said Norris, who nearly lost his lead in two small wallstrikes as he continued to push while well ahead.

More poison was evident out on track at Austin, where Verstappen returned to winning ways in the sprint

The year’s other off-track imbroglios centred on two other critical car design areas. The first concerned front wings, which appeared to flex a lot more on many cars in 2024, with the FIA seeming to allow greater tolerance of such aero-elasticity. This had been central to Mercedes’ post-Monaco gains, with the W15 first getting what technical director James Allison said was a “consistent and predictable” handling boost.

Later, at Austin, Ferrari would introduce an identical front wing shape it therefore didn’t have to declare as an upgrade, but was also intended to aid the SF-24 in this hot-button topic and duly did.

Ahead of October’s Austin race, a storm on a tea tray unfolded when Red Bull was accused of running a trick ride height altering device in a spat dubbed ‘Bib-gate’ – using the name for the aero part fitted at the front of the floor. The team was later cleared by the FIA after it inspected the device’s design at Red Bull’s factory and concluded it wasn’t used in an illegal manner. Nevertheless, the incident highlighted how toxic this season had become.

More poison was evident out on track at Austin, where Verstappen returned to winning ways in the sprint. He then shoved polesitter Norris off at the start. This allowed Leclerc through to a lead that he would never really lose, with Sainz backing him up in second – the Ferrari back to full strength after its Barcelona floor upgrade had robbed its drivers of confidence and lap time through the mid-season.

Leclerc took advantage of Verstappen's aggression against Norris at the Austin start to kickstart Ferrari's recovery

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Late on in Texas, Norris and Verstappen clashed controversially again. Verstappen turned defence into attack at Turn 12 in a move clearly inspired by his defence against Hamilton in Brazil in 2021. With both cars off in the run-off, Norris overtook off-track and was later penalised, handing third back to Verstappen.

They clashed yet again the following week in Mexico, where McLaren finally unleashed a first major floor upgrade since May’s Miami GP, having decided to wait amid the issues all its rivals had experienced in this area. Here, Ferrari won again, this time after Sainz’s assured qualifying, early repass on Verstappen, then smart drive on the low-grip track.

Norris engaged Verstappen again in Mexico City, and critically got his front wheels ahead at the apex of Turn 4, so when his rival again went overaggressive in defence on the inside he was penalised. By the time that had come through, he had also ruthlessly taken Norris off three corners later and so had to cop a second 10s addition.

“It was not fair, clean racing,” said Norris. “He got what he had coming to him.”

Norris had chased after Leclerc to take second behind Sainz, with McLaren feeling that his by now familiar late-race pace was good enough to win but for his earlier delays in battle.

In Brazil, Piastri handed Norris the sprint win – after McLaren had again seemed to dither, and with the timing of a virtual safety car activation drawing ire from Red Bull fans. Verstappen was also penalised for trying to jump Piastri before this was fully ended.

He lined up 17th for the GP after a crash-fest qualifying, but then triumphed magnificently, with pass after pass sealing a famous wet-weather win. Norris had claimed pole, but another poor start meant he trailed Russell for most of the race’s first half, although he did get ahead before the red flag that boosted Verstappen and his podium-sharing Alpine accompaniments.

The stage was set for a tense final triple-header to finally see who would be crowned champion. Except, of course, it wasn’t…

How Red Bull’s early-season dominance did the real damage

Verstappen and Red Bull were unstoppable in the year's opening stanza, allowing him to build a gap that could never be bridged

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The talk about the RB20’s new cooling arrangement didn’t drown out the Horner behaviour scandal at the Red Bull season launch, and in any case it didn’t turn out to be the first step of the ‘zeropod’ design Mercedes had been seduced into trying with the W13 in 2022. But the early iteration of Red Bull’s challenger continued its opposition-crushing 2023 form in the opening rounds.

The car’s laptimes in testing had been amazing, Verstappen starting the three-day stint in Bahrain with the biggest first day lead in 11 years. But that betrayed a hint of the reliability struggles that would follow, with Perez suffering a brake fire and loss of drive in separate incidents.

Verstappen took excellent wins in Bahrain and Jeddah, plus at Suzuka and Shanghai (where he took the first of four 2024 sprint wins) – either side of Sainz’s Melbourne win a fortnight on from the Spaniard missing the Saudi round due to appendicitis. Verstappen’s Australia challenge ended when he suffered a brake fire, the first of his reliability gremlins.

That a challenge occurred at all was down to McLaren’s Miami upgrade gains and Red Bull’s Imola floor upgrade narrowing its set-up window

An engine air leak in Mexico practice meant his Brazil start was five places lower than it might have been, but he took his refreshed power unit to the title a race later in Las Vegas.

Norris’s challenge had basically been seen off in Verstappen’s Interlagos win, as it left him facing a 62-point gap with only 86 left up for grabs. Before Miami, Norris had trailed by 52 points. It had then gone up and down and he’d only closed from the 78-point post-Belgian GP difference to 47 after Mexico – all those issues adding up to make his always faint title challenge even harder.

That a challenge occurred at all was down to McLaren’s Miami upgrade gains and Red Bull’s Imola floor upgrade narrowing its set-up window. It took until October’s United States GP for a Red Bull floor revision to recover some of its lost ground on handling.

But as Verstappen celebrated a title of which he was immensely proud in Sin City – so described because of the off-track issues that had blighted Red Bull ever since pre-season – the team was on the brink of elimination from the race for the constructors’ crown. This was all down to Perez’s poor form.

As bad as the handling swings got for Verstappen, he still took nine GP wins. Perez, meanwhile, returned just 35% of his team-mate’s points haul (his lowest in their four years together), missed Q3 on nine occasions, and didn’t win once – even when Red Bull needed him to in Australia and Belgium. McLaren and Ferrari therefore gleefully fought for team glory in the remaining races, once the former had forged ahead of Red Bull on points in Baku.

After seeing off Norris in Barcelona, Verstappen had to wait until Qatar to win again in the dry

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mercedes’ pale challenge had also been derailed with a floor upgrade going wrong – its coming at Spa in July and proving a headache for four rounds until it was abandoned before Singapore – and it only won once more. This was Russell’s dominant triumph in yet more cool conditions in Vegas.

Norris gave Piastri his sprint win back with the title pressure gone in Qatar, where Verstappen and Russell fell out spectacularly over a GP qualifying impeding incident for which the champion was penalised. He still won the penultimate event as Norris’s ongoing hard-tyre prowess was neutralised because he’d failed to spot waved double yellow flags for wing mirror debris approaching the first corner.

As in 2023, punctures were a negative topic here, with the latest thinking for what occurred on the machines of Hamilton and Sainz attributing this to either them striking different debris on badly worn tyres or just the high wear level on the demanding layout.

In Abu Dhabi, McLaren locked out the front row as Verstappen’s wild attempt to thwart them with a lower drag rear wing was undone by gusts of wind at the Yas Marina track. He then had one final McLaren collision and penalty for his clash with Piastri at Turn 1, which was really a racing incident. This piled pressure on Norris to deliver McLaren’s first constructors’ title in 26 years, with Sainz swarming for Ferrari and Leclerc gaining in the early chaos after lining up 19th due to needing an engine battery replacement before FP1.

But Norris, who’d aced a start at last, soaked up the pressure to win. He pulled away decisively again when running harder tyres, claiming a fourth season victory and with it the prize for his team, which now loads expectations for a full-season title tilt in 2025.

After Verstappen clinched the drivers' crown in Las Vegas, there was joy for McLaren in Abu Dhabi after seeing off Ferrari for the constructors' crown

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images