Formula One | The season that was — a breath of fresh air and challenge to monopoly

The 2024 Formula One season was a refreshing change from the one-sided domination of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing in the previous year. The 75th running of the championship was far more exciting as seven drivers won a race and a few others in the midfield also impressed and produced incredible finishes. The Hindu ranks the top 10 drivers of the 2024 season.

Max Verstappen (2024 finish: 1st, 437 points): In a sport where having the best car determines success than just having the fastest driver, Verstappen showed the difference a driver can make. While it might be a no-brainer to put the champion at the top of the rankings, who also won the most number of races (nine), the way he went about his season was far more impressive than the eventual result. The 27-year-old maximised his car’s advantage when it was the class of the field, winning four out of the first five races. Once McLaren started to get its act together, Verstappen still won three more races where the former could have and should have won. The Dutchman and his team made the difference in executing the right strategy, and his excellent race craft helped him build a sizeable lead. Even when he went without a win for 10 races, Verstappen minimised the damage in a tricky car that he didn’t particularly like but managed to bank crucial podiums that laid the foundation for his fourth straight drivers’ crown. The icing on the cake was the victory in Brazil in treacherous conditions, where he pierced through the field from 17th on the grid to win the race and reaffirm his status as the best driver on the grid.

Charles Leclerc.
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Charles Leclerc (3rd, 356): This will probably go down as the Ferrari driver’s best season since his debut in 2018. He won three races and scored 12 podiums to finish third in the championship despite the Prancing Horse going through a run of races during the summer with not-so-competitive machinery. The Monagasque driver won at two iconic venues, which were also the two most significant events for him and his team.

His first win of the year came in his home event of Monaco, the most glamorous race on the calendar. Then, after the summer break, Leclerc showed excellent tyre management skills to nick a win from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at Ferrari’s home race in Monza. He closed the season strongly, winning in Austin, followed by podiums in Mexico, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, finishing within 18 points of Lando Norris in second place.

Leclerc could claim to be the fastest driver over one lap, and this year, he has been clinical in races and reduced his mistakes, which has held him back in the past. Had Ferrari given him a competitive car from the mid-point of the year, it would not be wild to suggest he would have given Verstappen a lot more headache.

Lando Norris.
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Lando Norris (2nd, 374): In 2024, Norris realised his dream of becoming a Grand Prix winner and unexpectedly found himself in a title fight against Verstappen. The McLaren driver was brilliant over one lap and had spellbinding weekends, like in Zandvoort, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, where he posted dominant victories from pole position. He obliterated the field and lived up to his billing as an up-and-coming mega-star driver. However, at the same time, there were also major misses on his part despite having the fastest car for most of the season. His errors and a bit of meekness at times made life easy for Verstappen, and the 25-year-old should have taken the title fight down to the wire. The fact that he converted only three of his eight pole positions to victories shows there is still work to do if he has to beat Verstappen. Even in wheel-to-wheel battle, Norris seemed timid against the Dutchman, who often pushes the boundaries of acceptable racecraft. The Briton needs to draw a line in the sand quickly and not let the four-time champion bully him on track.

Oscar Piastri.
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Oscar Piastri (4th, 292): The Australian took a massive leap in only his second year in the sport, winning two races. Significantly, he improved on his apparent weakness in his maiden season. In 2023, his race pace and tyre management were an issue; this year, Piastri has gotten on top of those. Once McLaren got its significant upgrades in Miami, Piastri wasn’t far from Norris.

In fact, during a stretch of seven races in the middle of the year, he collected the most points and was crucial in McLaren winning the constructors’ championship for the first time since 1998. At times, Piastri was too fast for McLaren’s comfort, meaning he took points away from Norris when the latter was mounting his title challenge.

But there were weekends like Barcelona, Zandvoort, and Singapore where he struggled for pace compared to his teammate. While he was robust in battling other cars, he also got in some tangles later in the season and would want to address those. For 2025, Piastri will want to improve his qualifying record against his teammate to take the next step and not play second fiddle to his teammate as he had to do this year. But overall, he had a fine second year, and if he can show the same level of progress next year, he could be a force to reckon with.

George Russell.
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George Russell (6th, 245): For the second time in three years, Russell got the better of his illustrious teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Though both drivers won two races each, Russell generally had the upper hand, especially in qualifying (19-5). In fact, Hamilton’s second win came courtesy of Russell’s disqualification at the Belgian GP, where the latter had won an impressive one-stop strategy before his car was found to be underweight. However, Russell also had a few anonymous races and finished just 22 points ahead of Hamilton, who had mentally checked out after deciding to end his 12-year-stint at the team at the end of the year. Russell is now the clear team leader for Mercedes and needs to prove that he can be Hamilton’s successor and guide the German giant back to winning ways.

Carlos Sainz.
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Carlos Sainz (5th, 290): The Spaniard had the most challenging job among the drivers in the top four teams. Before the start of the season, Sainz was out of a job after Ferrari hired Hamilton for his seat in 2025. It meant the 30-year-old was driving for his future and, considering the pressure, showed an excellent account of himself. His win in Australia, coming weeks after undergoing an appendix surgery, displayed his tenacity. When the Ferrari was unpredictable, Sainz showed great adaptability, but once the Scuderia became competitive, he fell short against Leclerc just a bit consistently.

Lewis Hamilton
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Lewis Hamilton (7th, 223): The seven-time champion started the season with a bombshell announcement that he would join Ferrari in 2025 which signalled that he had lost faith in Mercedes’ ability to give him a car that could fight for the championship. Russell outperformed the 40-year-old at the start of the year, though the British legend came back strongly during the summer. The highlight of his season came at his home track of Silverstone, where he took a record ninth British GP win. But post the summer break, the momentum swung back to Russell. Fans and Hamilton himself will hope for better days at Ferrari, which is on an upswing.

Nico Hulkenberg.
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Nico Hulkenberg (11th, 41): The German driver has long been considered to have failed to deliver on his potential. It hasn’t helped that his raw speed has not always worked well in the Pirelli era, where there is more premium on being softer to the tyres than the ability to get every last tenth of the car. Once Renault (now Alpine) dropped him after 2019, it appeared his career was over. Though he did well as a stand-in during the Covid years, he has found a second wind at Haas. This year, he completely demolished his teammate Kevin Magnussen and almost helped Haas move up the table in the constructors’. He also was a bit unlucky in that he finished 11th, just outside the points six times. If not for Alpine’s 2-3 finish at the Sau Paulo GP, Haas would have finished sixth in the championship. He will now race for Sauber in 2025 before it becomes the works Audi team in 2026, and the German driver will lead the iconic brand’s F1 challenge.

Fernando Alonso.
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Fernando Alonso (9th, 70): The two-time champion had a miserable time in his second year at Aston Martin as the squad failed to build a decent car. At 43, the Spaniard showed he had not lost his speed by wringing consistent points finishes out of uncompetitive machinery, especially in the early part, by dragging his car into the top-10 in the first seven rounds. Last year, Aston fought for podiums consistently in the first half before trailing off towards the end, and that downward trend continued in 2024.

Still, if not for Alonso’s heroic efforts, who contributed nearly 75% of the team’s tally, the British outfit would not have finished fifth in the constructors’ table.

Yuki Tsunoda.
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Yuki Tsunoda (12th, 30): The Japanese driver was saddled in a tricky car but continued to improve his stature in the sport through his impressive performances for the second year. Tsunoda comfortably saw off the challenge from Daniel Ricciardo, scoring points consistently and pretty much ended the latter’s career. Once Liam Lawson replaced Ricciardo, Tsunoda comfortably out-qualified the New Zealander and won their intra-team battle. But despite doing all he can, it is not clear yet that he will be considered for promotion to Red Bull Racing.