The 10 best race drives of F1 2024

With a possible 480 individual grand prix drives to potentially chose from as Formula 1’s longest-ever season began in 2024, we’ve sorted the sublime from the simply forgetful now all the races that eventually unfolded are in the history books.

For simplicities sake, we’ve excluded sprints – something we don’t think the drivers themselves will mind given how McLaren’s Lando Norris said “it's a sprint – I only care so much more about the grand prix, as does everyone” after handing Oscar Piastri victory in the final such shorter race of 2024 in Qatar.

Drivers are also restricted to one entry only, which is why Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen only has one below when his title success this year was built on a series of standout drives. In many cases, we asked the drivers themselves and teams for input into our choices, with some being overruled for subjective reasons, plus how well each were scored in Autosport’s driver rankings from every weekend of the season just gone.

In no order but chronological, here are the 10 best race performances we clocked in F1 2024.

Carlos Sainz - Australian GP (1st)

A famous win on his return from appendicitis in Melbourne earns its spot on our list

Photo by: Ferrari

The sole interloper in Red Bull’s hegemonic stranglehold over victories in 2023, Carlos Sainz took just three rounds to shatter the team’s hopes of winning every race this year. You could argue that, had Verstappen’s right-rear brake not caught fire, Sainz’s chances would have been much reduced, but Ferrari’s race pace was on a par with Red Bull’s that weekend and the Spaniard was on the offensive from the front row in the early laps.

He stayed in DRS range of Verstappen and breezed around the outside of the Lakeside Drive stretch to claim the lead on lap two. The Dutchman tried to stay with him, but his brake issue was worsening and a cloud of blue smoke precipitated to consign him to a first retirement in two years.

Sainz then immediately began to build an advantage, helped by Norris holding up Charles Leclerc, and went longer than his nearest rivals on the medium tyres to build his advantage. His pitstop at the end of lap 16 kept him over two seconds clear of his team-mate, although Leclerc nailed a subsequent VSC to put Sainz under pressure. But Sainz weathered the storm, clinching a controlled and commendable win Down Under. JBL

Yuki Tsunoda - Japanese GP (10th)

Tsunoda unleashed RB's potential in a stirring drive to claim 10th at his home GP

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

After the first-lap crash between Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda had a chance to make amends for losing a couple of positions at the initial start among the first-lap disorder. He put a move on George Russell to move up to ninth, having looked lively with soft tyres, although Russell got the place back to prompt RB to pit Tsunoda.

Then came a series of impressive moves, the first being on the 13th lap when the home hero cruised around the outside of Pierre Gasly at Turn 6. 

Tsunoda then got stuck in a train of cars, but RB gave him more to play with during a subsequent pitstop on lap 22 when he followed the cars ahead into changing tyres. This was a stroke of magic; RB’s mechanics were swift, and Tsunoda pounced out of the blocks to clear everybody by the pit exit.

Tsunoda then took huge chunks of time out of the long-stinting Nico Hulkenberg; an 18s gap between the two was closed down over the next 10 laps. Hulkenberg defended well and closed the door into Turn 3, but Tsunoda went around the outside at Turn 6 again to move up to 10th and claim his first Japanese GP point. JBL

Nico Hulkenberg - Austrian GP (6th)

Seeing off Perez in the much faster Red Bull earned deserved plaudits for Hulkenberg

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Hulkenberg’s run to a second sixth place in a week last summer wasn’t flawless, but its feisty ending earns its place here.

At the Red Bull Ring, he started ninth and ran eighth early on after repassing Esteban Ocon, who had steamed ahead at Turn 1. Hulkenberg had endured a scrappy sprint race, but found a big gain in GP qualifying at the first corner, which meant he led Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen for the first time all weekend. They ended up together on track in the GP, after Hulkenberg’s first pitstop was slightly slow and he’d slipped off the road at Turn 3 on his out-lap.

But after both were warned to look after their tyres, Hulkenberg rapidly got past his team-mate, and homed in on and passed Zhou Guanyu, all while showing better pace than Sergio Perez. Twice Hulkenberg undercut the Red Bull driver – Perez had repassed during the second stint – which set up a thrilling late fight.

Ahead of the final lap, Hulkenberg’s wild moment at the final corner meant he skated his right-rear through the gravel trap leading onto the main straight, which gave Perez the chance to attack on the outside of Turn 3 with DRS. Hulkenberg, however, would not be denied. He lifted off earlier than Perez to ensure he got DRS to swoop back ahead in Turn 4, where he also stole to the inside to stop any response. AK

Lewis Hamilton - British GP (1st)

Hamilton drove superbly at Silverstone to defeat Norris and see off Verstappen on his ageing softs, securing his penultimate Mercedes win

Photo by: Erik Junius

The opening half of the season was stuffed full of heartwarming moments, including Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 win in nearly 1000 days.

Hamilton worked hard to stay with polesitting Mercedes team-mate Russell early on, even while grappling with understeer. When the rain came down he pounced, before McLaren pair Norris and Piastri moved to the front.

McLaren’s reluctance to pit Norris and Piastri together got Hamilton back ahead of the Australian when the leading runners stopped for intermediate tyres. He now chased Norris and closed in as the track dried, before seizing the initiative as the first of the leaders to take slicks. McLaren then erred again in putting Norris onto the soft tyres; Hamilton also took softs, but had no choice.

When Norris slid long on his marks in the pits, that eased Hamilton’s undercut, but it was the seven-time champion who made the difference. He somehow kept his softs alive when the McLaren’s faded – and Verstappen came charging back on hards – for his ninth Silverstone F1 victory. AK

Charles Leclerc - Italian GP (1st)

Metronomic consistency allowed Leclerc to pull off a surprise one-stop strategy to win at Monza

Photo by: Ferrari

The scene was set for Norris to carve chunks from Verstappen’s points lead on what was Red Bull’s weakest weekend of 2024, but his ambitions were undone and Leclerc’s transformed at the second chicane on lap one.

Piastri’s surprise attack had polesitter Norris’s sister McLaren sideways and Leclerc’s Ferrari getting past to run second on the exit.

McLaren undercut Norris back ahead of Leclerc at the first pitstops, by which point Piastri enjoyed a 3.4-second lead. This had swelled when Leclerc’s medium tyres degraded more aggressively as he chased the leader in the dirty air.

Yet as Piastri and Norris pushed on under the spectre of potential team orders, Leclerc was aided by Monza’s new track surface rubbering up and temperatures falling under sudden cloud cover. While McLaren was two-stopping, he was going to the end on his hard tyres, gaining an 18.5s lead over Piastri when the Australian came in for a second set of medium rubber just after Norris.

Piastri came piling back, but Leclerc’s metronomic 33 laps in the 1m23s bracket provided the critical edge. AK

Oscar Piastri - Azerbaijan GP (1st)

After his first win had been clinched in messy circumstances in Hungary, Piastri showed his true mettle by holding off Leclerc in Baku

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

McLaren’s hand was forced on the 15th lap. Piastri was losing ground to polesitter Leclerc, and Red Bull attempted to thrust third-placed Perez into the reckoning by pitting him on the 13th lap for the hard tyre. Piastri needed two things: one, his own stop for hards; and two, the out-of-position Norris to hold Perez up.

Norris did his job over the old town section, buying just enough time for Piastri to emerge clear. Before the pitstop, Piastri was six seconds down on Leclerc but, after the Ferrari responded, the gap was just north of a second – with the yet-to-stop Albon between them.

Piastri cleared Albon a lap later, then set to work on Leclerc, getting to within DRS range by the end of lap 19. The move was perfectly crafted. With a surplus of top speed, there were still three tenths between them at the braking zone; Piastri bled off the brakes and fired his car down the inside.

Leclerc turned the screw over the next 20 laps, but Piastri soaked up ladles of pressure to take his second grand prix win. JBL

Lando Norris - Azerbaijan GP (4th)

Unfortunate Q1 elimination left Norris with plenty to do in Baku, but his recovery was impressive

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

Norris’s race was something of a coda to Piastri’s. Their stories crossed only when Norris had to delay Perez to ensure his McLaren team-mate had enough time to pit and retain track position.

An ill-timed yellow flag in qualifying had hurt Norris greatly. He had to abandon a lap that might have broken him free of Q1 relegation. A clutch of pitlane starters promoted Norris to 15th, and he took a contra-strategy, starting on the hard tyre.

Norris was up to 12th by the end of the first lap, but a dice with a wounded Tsunoda and battle with Oliver Bearman cost time – he was down more than 18 seconds by the end of lap five. Norris kept plugging away on the hards, keeping Perez behind for a couple of laps to play the team game, but got stuck behind Albon’s rapid-in-a-straight-line Williams for perhaps too long.

Once released, his charge was renewed – and his pace was good enough to leapfrog a number of cars to sit well within the top 10 after pitting. Norris then scythed away at a 15s gap to Verstappen in 12 laps to clear the Dutchman for sixth, which was converted into fourth after Perez’s late clash with Sainz. JBL

Max Verstappen - Brazilian GP (1st)

Verstappen's charge to victory in Brazil will be one of the year's best-remembered performances

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

This will go down as one of the great wet-weather drives of F1 history. Verstappen’s rise from the teens to 11th at the end of the opening lap – including a first corner move on team-mate Perez he later claimed not to have even seen – drew inevitable comparisons with Ayrton Senna’s start at Donington Park in 1993.

He overcame Hamilton in a flash of spray at the Senna S, and was soon past Gasly and Fernando Alonso – his pass on the Aston Martin driver coming at a rare hunting ground for the Dutchman: Turn 4.

It was at Turn 1 where he really shone, with the confidence to swoop from far back on rival after rival. Only Leclerc offered stiff resistance, edging Verstappen wide in their battle here, which had the Red Bull driver hypocritically calling foul. It didn’t matter, the Ferrari soon pitting for more intermediate tyres.

When long-time leaders Russell and Norris pitted a few laps later this aided Verstappen’s surge, and he was now second behind Ocon's Alpine before red flags due to Franco Colapinto crashing under the safety car, which had been called when the rain intensified at half distance.

Verstappen, who was being dropped by Ocon before this, was able to change tyres without losing places, as did the Alpine driver. A second neutralisation was required when Sainz crashed, and Ocon and Verstappen led the pack at each restart.

At the second, Verstappen dived from so far back on Ocon but still seized the lead at Turn 1, his rise complete. He then reeled off 14 fastest laps to win by a massive 19.5s, in the process effectively sealing the title over Norris. AK

Esteban Ocon - Brazilian GP (2nd)

Ocon didn't see out the year with Alpine ahead of his move to Haas, but his last hurrah with the Enstone squad was a memorable one

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

This was the race that took Alpine out of a fight over eighth-best team and rocketed it into contention for a more lucrative sixth. After qualifying fourth in the Sao Paulo rain, the Frenchman held his spot behind the third-placed Yuki Tsunoda, but was unable to break down the RB driver’s stout defence on the wet track.

Ocon was unleashed when the leading trio of Russell, Norris and Tsunoda made their pitstops; the Alpine driver elected to stay out despite the worsening conditions, and was up on Verstappen by over 8s before the safety car emerged – upgraded to a red flag when Colapinto crashed.

Undaunted, Ocon retained the lead on the eventual restart and began to pull away from Verstappen. He was almost 4s to the good when Sainz’s brief tangle with the wall brought out another safety car.

This erased the gap and, on the restart, Verstappen seized the moment at Turn 1 to squeeze past Ocon. With team-mate Gasly behind, Ocon held position. Although it wasn’t a second F1 win for Ocon, he led home an unthinkable 2-3 that ignited Alpine’s hitherto miserable season with three rounds to go. JBL

George Russell - Las Vegas GP (1st)

Russell won three times on the road in 2024, but Las Vegas was his pick of the bunch

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The long-list for this ranking included Russell’s lost Spa victory, because his ability to keep his tyres alive on the surprise one-stopper and resist Lewis Hamilton at the flag was majestic. But he was equally assured, better all round – and this time legal – in Las Vegas.

After claiming pole position – Hamilton felt he blew it with costly Q3 errors – Russell aced the start on the ultra-low-grip track surface in cold conditions, and saw off Leclerc’s Turn 1 attack a few laps later with aplomb. Russell then raised his pace and, on medium tyres, opened a critical 8.0s gap to the rest by the first round of pitstops.

After moving onto the hard tyres, Russell continued to command at the front – so dominant that he was barely shown on TV cameras. Come the final stint, again on the hards, Hamilton’s impressive rise from starting 10th to second featured the seven-time world champion eating into his team-mate’s lead, which had reached 11.2s. But this plateaued even before Hamilton slid off in front of the Sphere and Russell’s winning margin ended up as 7.3s.

“I think we won the race in stint one,” Russell said afterwards. “To be honest, stint one was exceptional. And I knew from there on in the only way we would probably lose the victory is if I grained the tyres and opened them up. So, it was just a case of managing my pace, managing in the right corners and bringing it home.” AK

Russell didn't put a foot wrong in the cold conditions after staving off Ferrari's early attack

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images