F1 | 2024 F1 Season Review & Stats Summary

The 2024 F1 season was a long story, the longest ever, but it was also one of the best seasons in recent memory with seven winners, and a halfhearted Championship battle. What isn’t halfhearted is our 2024 F1 Season Review & Stats Summary with so much 2024 F1 content, you may get beached in the nearest gravel trap….

Our 2024 F1 Season Review & Stats Summary is a full recap of the 2024 F1 season according to our year-long reporting, where each race we brought an entire race review with rating, then our Driver of the Race/Year ratings and more.

We have combined the best of both of those worlds for our longest article yet on the longest F1 season ever.

And stay tuned for our 2024 F1 Season Stats coming soon.

2024 F1 Season Review Race by Race

2024 F1 Season Review - 1 Bahrain Grand Prix Summary

2024 Bahrain F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.

Setting the scene – New season, same result as Max Verstappen takes pole position for the first Grand Prix of 2024. But it seems a little closer. Max Verstappen may be two tenths of a second quicker, but only three tenths of a second cover 2nd to 9th. Tenth was one of the surprises of Qualifying in Nico Hulkenberg. The other surprises were the Visa RB Cash App Whatevers weren’t higher than they ended up, and the Alpines were slowest of all. It’s not a bad track for overtaking, and there’s early season nerves and mistakes and unreliability, so fingers crossed for an exciting race.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER LEC RUS SAI PER ALO NOR PIA HAM HUL

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away OK and makes a beeline for Charles Leclerc on the right, who jinks and threatens to spoil the party into the first corner but relents. Further back Lance Stroll is sideways across the exit of turn one so will wait to see who helped him there. Nico Hulkenberg reports front wing damage so suspect it was him, he never has luck in races. Only moves within the top ten on the first lap was Sergio Perez overtaking Carlos Sainz for highest placed Spanish speaking driver and Yuki Tsunoda moving up to 10th at the expense of the Hulk.

ORDER – VER LEC RUS PER SAI ALO NOR PIA HAM TSU

Lap 3 – Overtaking galore….Lando Norris gets by Fernando Alonso into turn one and Oscar Piastri looks keen to double the misery. Just a little further up the road George Russell overtakes Charles Leclerc for second into turn four. Sergio Perez is threatening too. Ferraris look a little slow. All the while, Verstappen is two second up the road.

ORDER – VER RUS LEC PER SAI NOR ALO PIA HAM TSU

Lap 5 – Replays of the start show it was Valtteri Bottas who nudged Nico Hulkenberg up the back who then nudged Lance Stroll into his spin. All three drivers occupy the final three places. Hulkenberg and Stroll incident is under investigation. As might be Lando Norris who has a warning for track limits (twice) already. Oh, and Oscar Piastri gets by Fernando Alonso for 7th.

Lap 7 – Sergio Perez doing his thing on race day by getting past Charles Leclerc for third. Imagine if he could put it together in qualifying all season. Or interchange Nico Hulkenberg for qualifying and Perez for the race, which Helmut Marko suggested in 2023. It’s not a bad idea. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is six seconds ahead of George Russell.

ORDER – VER RUS PER LEC SAI NOR PIAS ALO HAM TSU

Lap 10 – Fernando Alonso is down to 9th after Lewis Hamilton goes by. Logan Sargeant is off the track at turn one. Not sure if it is mechanical or a failure in driver ambition. Replays shows a simple lock up. The big question is not if Logan Sargeant has done something, it is if a Safety Car is coming. The answer to that is no.

Lap 11 – Carlos Sainz overtakes Charles Leclerc into turn one as the Ferraris battle side-by-side inches or even millimetres apart for a few corners. The Ferrari team would have been worried for a brief moment. Sadly the drivers were too professional to run into each other.

Lap 12 – The pit stops of the important drivers begin as George Russell and Charles Leclerc pit for new tyres. Russell drops to 12th and Leclerc is 14th in a Stake/Kick/Sauber/Whatever sandwich and still struggling, his car looks rubbish in race trim. A car that is certainly not rubbish in race trim is Sergio Perez and he and Lewis Hamilton pit a lap later.

Lap 14 – Sergio Perez nails George Russell for what will be second position in a great move. Carlos Sainz is the last Non-Verstappen driver from the top ten to pit. He ends up behind his team mate again.

ORDER – VER ALO ALB PER RUS LEC SAI NOR PIA HAM

Lap 17 – Carlos Sainz takes a dive into turn one and gets past Charles Leclerc for fourth. A second Up Yours to Ferrari and their Non-Sainz future. Charles Leclerc says on radio his car is pulling to the right under braking. It doesn’t look great. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen finally pits and his lead is just over six second to his team mate.

Lap 18 – Carlos Sainz makes it two overtakes in two laps and rises to third position after getting past George Russell reasonably easy.

ORDER – VER PER SAI RUS LEC NOR PIA HAM ALO ZHO

Lap 24 – Not much happening really. So this update is almost pointless. Talking of pointless, there’s discussion on the coverage of a very unhappy Pierre Gasly in the Alpine. No surprise, he is 18th after qualifying on the back row. At the other end Max Verstappen is over 11 seconds in front of his team mate and extending the gap. But the race has settled down now, which is a nicer way of saying that it has quickly become boring. The coverage is showing a Williams v Haas battle. Nuff said. Our last hope is the second pit stops.

Lap 30 – Thank god this race is on a Saturday, given the 1am kick off in the Pacific. It’s going to be a battle to stay awake for the second half of this one. Max Verstappen is 15 seconds in front of Perez. Top ten is mostly the same except for Yuki Tsunoda taking 10th back after Zhou pits.

Lap 32 – The first of the top driver pit stops start with George Russell going first. He drops to 9th.

Lap 35 – David Croft’s excitable delivery wakes us up from a mini nap as Lewis Hamilton overtakes Oscar Piastri for 8th. Make that seventh by lap 39 as he passes Alonso. More front runners pit stops come too. By Lap 39 the last pit stops for the race appear to have been taken.

ORDER – VER PER SAI RUS LEC NOR HAM ALO PIA STR

Lap 42 – Fernando Alonso pits for the second time, maybe he will provide some late race excitement. Most of the top ten is 3-4 seconds behind the car in front, except for George Russell and Charles Leclerc who are battling for fourth and Max Verstappen who is battling himself for fastest lap.

Lap 47 – George Russell runs wide and Charles Leclerc finally gets past after pressuring the Mercedes for ten laps or so. That makes it a 3-4 to Ferrari.

ORDER – VER PER SAI LEC RUS NOR HAM PIA STR ALO

Lap 50 – Seven laps to go and looks like the battles are over for now. Max Verstappen holds fastest lap and is almost 20 seconds in front of his team mate. There is a battle brewing between RB Visa Cash App Whatever drivers for 13th to see which driver will be slightly less disappointed with their weekend. It is Tsunoda ahead of Ricciardo for now. Radio banter about a swap is quickly dismissed by Tsunoda. They end up changing position much to Yuki’s sarcastic thanks.

Last lap – Max Verstappen cruises to victory in the first race of the season, and it was dangerously easy for the Red Bull if you were relying on a substantial battle in 2024. Verstappen won by 12 seconds in 2023 and 22 seconds in 2024. Ouch. Behind him Perez does what he does on race day when he is going OK and get second. Behind that it is almost Noah’s Ark as the teams finish two by two.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER PER SAI LEC RUS NOR HAM PIA ALO STR

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

Who else? Win, pole position, who cares about fastest lap? The expanded calendar allows Verstappen to dream of winning even more races in 2024. If that’s possible. Which it is.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

SERGIO PEREZ – You’d have to say that 5th on the grid was disappointing, but as happens regularly, Perez shines on race day and made some good overtaking moves to end up second. The gap to Verstappen is still big, but next best is where he needs to be in that car.

CARLOS SAINZ – May have been outdone by his team mate in qualifying but Sainz did the job in the race, grabbing the final podium. Enjoyed two separate overtakes over his team mate.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Solid outing as the best Mercedes driver for the race day.

THE GRAPE-EST – ALPINE

Looks like have a new worst team on the grid. Alpines qualified on the back row and were towards the back all race.

DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS

CHARLES LECLERC – Went from second on the grid and likely nearest challenger to Max Verstappen to struggler. Leclerc went backwards throughout the GP and his Ferrari looked terrible in race conditions early, unlike his teammate Sainz who went well. Leclerc did recover to look better in the second half, but the promise of giving Verstappen a title battle appears remote.

NICO HULKENBERG – Another great qualifying turned into a sh!t race after a first corner incident which left him running at the back.

LANCE STROLL – Had a better weekend in 2023 with broken wrists and toes. His 2024 adventures in Bahrain won’t make Netflix.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Is probably happy to be back on the grid full time in Bahrain. But after topping the first practice session it went downhill from there. Missed Q3, made a bad start and tooled around in 16th for most of the race.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 5 / 10

First half of the race was a solid 4.5 / 5, with plenty of action at the top end of the grid (except first). The second half of the race was a struggle.

ANY SURPRISES? – 1 / 5

Not really. Max Verstappen won, and Perez made up for qualifying on race day. We guess the one in the 1/5 is Charles Leclerc’s awful race day early, but even that ended up as expected.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

It’s the first race of the season so the relative performance of the cars and reliability for 2024 is key.

ENDING 2 / 10

The second half of the race was duller than expected. Lando Norris chasing George Russell for 5th was slightly interesting. As were the battling RB Visa Cash App Whatever cars and Yuki Tsunoda on the radio.

OVERALL RATING 13 / 30

Not a classic but it remained interesting enough as the first race of the season.

2024 F1 Season Review - 2 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix Summary

2024 Saudi Arabia F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Despite a civil war threatening to break out within the team, Max Verstappen and Red Bull take pole. But it’s getting closer….sort of. Verstappen took pole position by 0.3 seconds, but 1st to 10th is covered by just 1.1 seconds. Charles Leclerc continued his great form on street tracks by taking second, and the Red Bull quality was underlined with Sergio Perez in third. Fernando Alonso may well be disappointed with fourth, and Oscar Piastri out-qualified Lando Norris as they shared the third row.

Big news though heading into the race was the absence of Carlos Sainz through sickness, and at the latest possible notice on Saturday F2 Ferrari academy driver Oliver Bearman took over and qualified a magnificent 11th. The 18 year old British driver will be challenged with such a fast race on a tough track, but the effort on Saturday was immense.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER LEC PER ALO PIA NOR HAM RUS STR TSU

Pierre Gasly reports a gearbox problem on the formation lap. Given how slow the Alpine is, that could be a sweet mercy. Or Merci….

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets off the line OK but so do Leclerc and Perez and there’s a hint of a challenge as they approach turn one but Verstappen shuts the door firmly. Leclerc and Perez sort-of battle for a few corners but remain as was from the grid. Like most of the field in fact who mostly stay in grid order. Rookie Ferrari driver Oliver Bearman does well holding onto his 11^th grid slot and even trying to force his way past Tsunoda for 10^thshowing no signs of being overawed by the situation. Pierre Gasly becomes the first retirement of the race as his car becomes overawed at the prospect of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix and Gasly’s team tell him to retire. Replays of the race start show Lando Norris jumping the start, as the only other major point of interest.

ORDER – VER LEC PER PIA ALO NOR RUS HAM STR TSU BEA

Lap 2 – Oscar Piastri nails Fernando Alonso into turn one on lap two after looking feisty and keen to pass for the whole first lap. Great start for the Australian after outqualifying his highly rated team mate.

Lap 4 – Well this race could well be over for competition at the front, as Sergio Perez gets past Charles Leclerc for second.

Lap 6 – Just as the race looks like it is settling in to bore us to tears, Lance Stroll runs straight on in Sector 3 and puts his Aston Martin into the barrier at a decent pace. That should bring out the Safety Car, and does. Possibly too early for major strategic tyre changing. Replays show Stroll just clips the inside barrier and breaking his left front suspension before going straight on into the barrier next turn. Ironically the Aston Martin Safety Car, who appears to be giving it plenty at the head of the filed, looks more interested in F1 than Lance Stroll.

SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Lap 8 –A lot of the top ten pit, but not Lando Norris or Lewis Hamilton. Somehow Max Verstappen manages to split Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton despite pitting. It helps to be in a car so far in front. Replays show Red Bull (Perez) will be lucky to avoid a penalty for unsafe release as Alonso is nearly wiped out in the pitlane before his stop.

ORDER – NOR VER HAM PER LEC PIA ALO HUL RUS ZHO

SAFETY CAR EXITS

Lap 10 – The race resumes without incident. Piastri considers a move on Leclerc but abandons. Bearman gets ahead of Tsunoda for 11^th as he continues to shine. Somehow Daniel Ricciardo is dead last after the pit stops. Which should make his team mate happy. And safer for F1 with them separated. Talking of being separated, replays show Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon making contact after the restart. Nothing wrong with their cars immediately.

Lap 13 – Not unlucky for Red Bull Lap 13 is. Max Verstappen gets by Lando Norris for the lead and Sergio Perez overtakes Lewis Hamilton for 3^rd. Perez does have a potential penalty over his head as the stewards message pops up on screen. As does one for Lando Norris’ jump start. Wonder how much Norris and Hamilton regret their non pit stop now.

Lap 14 – Oliver Bearman overtakes Guanyu Zhou to take 10^th place and grab a first F1 point for now. George Russell also overtakes Nico Hulkenberg. A lap later Leclerc passes Lewis Hamilton who is probably starting to struggle on old tyres.

ORDER – VER NOR PER LEC HAM PIA ALO RUS HUL BEA

Lap 15 – Fernando Alonso asks on his radio whether his team has a Plan B, as “they are in another league”. We presume the they are Red Bull, and Verstappen at least is in another league, leaving Lando Norris behind at a second a lap. Maybe Plan B could involve penalties against Red Bull, because Sergio Perez gets a five second penalty for unsafe release.

Lap 18 – Sergio Perez breezes by Lando Norris for second. He is five seconds behind his team mate with a further five second penalty to be added. That officially does the race for the top two positions unless there’s rain, a competitor has voodoo dolls that cause double and instant retirements for Red Bull, or another crash brings out a safety car. Looking at you Logan Sargeant of Kevin Magnussen.

Lap 20 – With things settling down the race at least has a few battles to watch with younger drivers challenging their much more experienced rivals. Oscar Piastri v Lewis Hamilton for 5^th. And Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg for 9^th. The latter does the deed on lap 21 to double his career points tally.

ORDER – VER PER NOR LEC HAM PIA ALO RUS BEAR HUL

Lap 23 – Even the TV coverage is boring itself with this race with the cameras flashing to most Team managers on the pit wall, all looking as bored as the regular viewers at the lack of action. Well aside from Piastri being unable to pass Hamilton. They didn’t show Gunther Steiner, because he got sacked from Haas before the start of the season. He’d liven up this race. As does Kevin Magnussen with a penalty from the stewards.

Lap 26 – Further back the TV has picked up a five car train behind Kevin Magnussen who currently holds 12^th. Yuki Tsunoda gets by briefly and then Magnussen retakes the place, with three other cars almost tripping over behind. Oh, and Daniel Ricciardo has got by Valtteri Bottas for second last.

Lap 27 – Charles Leclerc passes Lando Norris for third, meanwhile Piastri still can’t pass Lewis Hamilton.

Lap 29 – Back to the Magnussen “Express” Yuki Tsunoda passes Magnussen going into the first corner but Kevin Magnussen sticks his car on the inside of turn two and invites Tsunoda to life or peel his car out of the barrier. Tsunoda picks the former, which also allows Esteban Ocon to pass him now. Could be an interesting warm down lap after the flag. Or before. This will surely end in tears for one or more competitors. Daniel Ricciardo has added a carriage too.

Lap 33 – Alex Albon passes Yuki Tsunoda, putting the RB driver one place closer to his team mate, which could provide some fun on and off track.

Lap 37 –To the great relief of Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton pits for new tyres. Hamilton drops to 9^th. Sergio Perez sets a fastest lap to remind us he’s still in the race too. Max won’t let him keep that surely. Lando Norris pits from 4^th a lap later and rejoins just in front of Lewis Hamilton after a “slow” stop of 4 seconds. The double pit stops lifts Bearman to 7^th.

Lap 43 – Lando Norris gets a warning for weaving down the straight from the stewards in his defence of 8^th place from Lewis Hamilton. They are both slowly catching Oliver Bearman ahead, but not rapidly. This looks to be the point of interest for the rest of the race. Hopefully the Ferrari driver hangs on, what a drive.

ORDER – VER PER LEC PIA ALO RUS BEA NOR HAM HUL

Lap 46 – With five laps to go Oliver Bearman is three seconds ahead of Lando Norris who is catching at around 0.4-0.5 seconds a lap but is also defending his place from Lewis Hamilton. Could make the last lap very interesting.

FINAL LAP – Lando Norris appears to be too far away to catch Oliver Bearman ahead for 7^th, which is great news for the rookie. He does hold on by the way. Much further ahead Max Verstappen has seen to the lapped cars and crosses the line for a second straight win for 2024. Not too far behind is team mate Sergio Perez who made up enough time to cover his five second penalty and keep second. Then the rest, with faces full of Red Bull dust.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER PER LEC PIA ALO RUS BEA NOR HAM HUL

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – OLIVER BEARMAN

Becomes Ferrari’s youngest ever driver as he substitutes for Carlos Sainz at the last moment before qualifying. His 11^th place was impressive enough, but he manages to survive the first lap and make some solid progress during the race. Runs 7^th towards the end and holds on despite looming pressure from his experienced countrymen Norris and Hamilton. Considering it is his first race distance in an F1 car, it is truly magnificent. Compare it to a more experienced but lacklustre effort from Lance Stroll.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Pole and Win is usually good for our best of the race. But he can’t win everything. Even though he tends to win everything. His pace looks effortless, and there’s not going to be any season-long challenge from his team mate. This season is over already.

SERGIO PEREZ – Decent effort from Perez as he extracts the maximum allowed. Good pass on Leclerc to get up to second, but by the time that happened his team mate was too far away. He just needs to qualify second to be any chance.

CHARLES LECLERC – Qualified second, as he continues to do well on street track qualifying, finishes third, and sets fastest lap for fun on the final lap, which is the maximum available in current mode.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Despite wasting a lot of time and too much time behind Lewis Hamilton, Piastri did outqualify his highly rated team mate and fourth is a decent finish.

NICO HULKENBERG – 10^th place and a point could be very handy for Haas by the end of the season.

THE GRAPE-EST – LANCE STROLL

Bins car like a rookie, which is bad news when there’s a genuine rookie in the field doing a much better job. Lucky he knows someone who owns a team.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

PIERRE GASLY – Car’s gearbox breaks on the opening lap, which probably comes as relief.

VISA CASH APP RB – Where’s the pace? These RB cars were meant to be mini Red Bulls, but that’s appearing like BS. Qualified OK in 10^th and 14^th but towards the back of the field for over half the race and look no faster than last year. Daniel Ricciardo even has a late-race spin. Good news for Sergio Perez’s career we presume.

KICK SAUBER STAKE – Slowest cars on the day by the looks, and a trouble pitstop for Zhou steals any hopes of points.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 2 / 10

A reasonably tame first lap, a few battles that took forever for a pass, a lower midfield train, Lance Stroll crashing. It wasn’t high on action.

ANY SURPRISES? – 1 / 5

Oliver Bearman doing so well was a surprise. Red Bull scoring a 1-2, Charles Leclerc being best of the rest and Lance Stroll crashing is hardly surprising.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5

The manner of the victory and ease of the Red Bull pace almost officially declares this season to be over.

ENDING 3 / 10

A little excitement as we wondered if Oliver Bearman would hold onto 7^th place on his debut for Ferrari, ahead of Lando Norris who was around two seconds behind. That about sums up the action later in the race.

OVERALL RATING 9 / 30

What’s worse than a reasonably dull race? One that starts at 3am. At least it was a Saturday night.

2024 F1 Season Review - 3 Australia Grand Prix Summary

2024 Australian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Max Verstappen took pole position again, but the Ferraris seem closer, and McLaren closing the gap to them. Sergio Perez qualified third but was dropped three places for blocking Nico Hulkenberg early in qualifying. Mercedes don’t look great, and Lewis Hamilton missed Q3. Worse than that is Daniel Ricciardo, who is under pressure already in the RB, and ended up second last on the grid. Which became last when Zhou started from pitlane. A pre-race shot of Liam Lawson shows him as impressed with RB as Helmut Marko was with Ricciardo.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER SAI NOR LEC PIA PER RUS TSU STR ALO

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away well enough, as does Carlos Sainz and they remain 1-2 through the first corner. Despite the excitable shouting of David Croft there’s no misbehaving into and out of the first corner. Further around the lap George Russell is in front of Sergio Perez. A few minor changes in the midfield, but it was a first lap of as little action as we’ve ever seen in Melbourne. That will probably change.

ORDER – VER SAI NOR LEC PIA RUS PER STR TSU HAM

Lap 2 – Carlos Sainz takes the lead!!!!! Just seconds after declaring the race is over with Max Verstappen already in front of the race on lap two the Ferrari driver nails the Red Bull into the fast sweepers down the back straight. Word on the street is Max Verstappen made a mistake, which seems unlikely.

Lap 4 – Max Verstappen is on the radio is saying his car is loose. Maybe it’s not used to not being in front. Or maybe that feint plume of smoke coming from the back left wheel has something to do with it. And it is smoking big time as he comes down the back straight and he is slowing!!!! The Red Bull is broken, it does happen. Verstappen enters the pit lane with a burst of brake dust, and his wheel also is on fire. Needless to say his race is over, as is his 43 race run of no retirement.

ORDER – SAI NOR LEC PIA RUS PER STR TSU HAM ALO

Lap 6 – Someone is not used to losing…..Max Verstappen looks furious as coverage shows him in the pits. He wouldn’t have had much fun driving F1 in the 1980’s where every second race your car broke. I’m sure Christian Horner will get the blame, and maybe he should. No doubt Netflix will be there lapping it up.

Lap 8 – The first pit stops for tyres have begun with Lewis Hamilton’s slightly more interesting than Kevin Magnussen’s. George Russell pits a lap later.

Lap 9 – Nice little battle forming between Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri for 2nd to 4th. A lap later Leclerc and Piastri pit for new tyres and drop to 7th/8th. Meanwhile Carlos “Utah” Sainz is a comfortable 2.6 second up the road.

Lap 11 – The pitstops have allowed a few little moments of sunshine for midfield and below battlers, with Pierre Gasly hassling Nico Hulkenberg for 5th place. This becomes a few places lower as Leclerc and Piastri come barging through.

Lap 15 – Lando Norris and Sergio Perez pit. Perez comes out alongside Lewis Hamilton which gives us a little taste of excitement as they race for a few straights.

Lap 17 – Carlos Sainz pits from the lead and comes out just behind Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile in another part of town, Lewis Hamilton’s car is shown to be cruising. Not as in under control like his Mercedes dominating days but going slow like the car is about to sh!t itself. Which it does officially as Hamilton retires his car. This temporarily brings out the Safety Car which kept Alonso behind Utah Sainz for a bit longer until Alonso pits.

Lap 20 – Sergio Perez is doing his usual thing on a Sunday, and that’s put in one of those good drives through the field after making a mistake in qualifying. It takes a couple of laps but he flies past George Russell with ease. George Russell remarks on the radio that the Red Bull is like a rocket ship. Which is true as Max Verstappen’s went up in smoke like a few rocket launches have done in recent years.

ORDER – SAI LEC PIA NOR ALO PER RUS STR TSU ALB

Lap 29 – The McLaren drivers swap positions as Oscar Piastri hands over third to Lando Norris, whose job now is to harass Ferraris. There’s a win up for grabs for a change, so progress will be interesting. Although Leclerc is just under three seconds up the road and Sainz another seven. A lap or two later and Norris is nearly three seconds ahead of Piastri, so decision is justified.

ORDER – SAI LEC NOR PIA PER ALO RUS STR TSU HUL

Lap 34 – Lando Norris under 1.5 seconds behind Leclerc who has just complained about tyres. And then the Ferrari pits and Piastri didn’t, so a little mix up of strategy works for the neutral who doesn’t care who wins now Max Verstappen is out. Not that we don’t like Verstappen, just a different winner would be good.

Lap 36 – Sergio Perez pits from 5th. He drops to 8th. Which really isn’t that exciting.

Lap 38 – Cameras showing a Kick Sauber pit stop, which means on track action must be low. It does show some kind of nuts or similar rolling away after the stop. Hopefully not the wheel nut. By the way, the Valtteri Bottas car share ads on TV/Internet are well worth a look.

Lap 40 – Oscar Piastri pits, as does Lando Norris a lap later. Piastri puts a good move on Alonso a few laps later. Piastri is quality.

Lap 42 – Carlos Sainz pits from the lead, and this should be the final pit stops for the important people. He returns to the track with plenty of leg room to second placed Leclerc.

ORDER – SAI LEC NOR PIA RUS PER ALO STR TSU HUL

Lap 48 – Looking for things to write about with ten laps to go. Carlos Sainz is over five seconds in front of Leclerc in second and another four back to Norris. Some other notables are Yuki Tsunoda in 9th, Haas drivers 10th and 11th, and Daniel Ricciardo 13th.

Lap 50 – The final semi-important battle of the race appears to be coming from Alonso-Russell where the two are separated by a second.

Lap 55 – Goerge Russell continues to harass Fernando Alonso but Alonso is too crafty. Wondering if George Russell will somehow choke and bin his Mercedes. The answer is yes.

FINAL LAP – As the cars prepare to soak up the glory, coverage switches to a Mercedes across the track and on its side. It’s George Russell who has lost it big time and the car flips on its side at slow speed after getting tangled up with the broken wheel and tethers. This brings out the Virtual Safety Car, which allows Carlos Sainz to cruise to victory for Ferrari ahead of his team mate. A sensational result for Ferrari and neutral fans around the world.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – SAI LEC NOR PIA PER ALO STR TSU HUL MAG

Note: Fernando Alonso was handed a 20 second penalty well after the race for dangerous driving causing George Russell’s accident.

FINAL ORDER (Final) – SAI LEC NOR PIA PER STR TSU ALO HUL MAG

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – CARLOS SAINZ

Missed the last race because of his appendix, and watched on as an 18 year old did a super sub job. So a win in Australia is big news for him and F1 fans in general. He did it easy too, staying out in front without trouble after he overtook Verstappen on lap 2.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

FERRARI – A 1-2 and decent job in qualifying means not only best of the rest is available, but maybe even challenging Red Bull.

LANDO NORRIS – Another very solid weekend for Norris who started third and finished third.

OSCAR PIASTRI– A fourth place finish in his home race equals the record of Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo, and was the maximum he could enjoy. The no-fuss way he let Norris through without complaint will come back to his advantage later in the season and shows a maturity of a driver who is prepared to wait.

YUKI TSUNODA– Stood up against his team mate this weekend. Made it into Q3 while team mate Ricciardo spent most of his Saturday and Sunday towards the bottom of the grid.

HAAS – Double points finish, all the better for being at the track where Gunther Steiner is there doing interviews, including the winner’s wrap up.

THE GRAPE-EST – LOGAN SARGEANT

It a weekend of many grape weekends, it’s hard to go past the only driver not to get to experience a whole weekend. The American, who we routinely cane for being below average was pretty hard done by when his team took his car off him for Saturday and Sunday after teammate Alex Albon rubbished his in Free Practice. Nice to know what the team think of you then.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Was given a pre-race serving from Helmut Marko that he hasn’t been fast enough, and next to no chance of that Red Bull drive. He responded with a 18th on the grid (after being docked a time good enough to make Q2). In the process was outqualified by his team mate who then went on to score Championship points, while he was at or towards the back of the field for most of Sunday.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – A car failure on lap three after already having been passed for the lead. Yeah, safe to say a bad weekend for someone who usually wins everything. It’s just a temporary handicap to allow F1 fans to enjoy more of the season, so Verstappen will only win the Championship with three races to go not five.

SERGIO PEREZ – A rare car failure for his teammate left first place and beyond well open for the number two Red Bull driver to have a great result. But Perez turned third on the grid to sixth in qualifying due to a penalty, then finished 5th. Which isn’t bad, in anything other than that Red Bull. Although he looked quite quick in the early-mid stages of the race with some overtakes, he fell back into obscurity.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Ruined a good weekend of beating Lewis Hamilton with an amateurish mistake on the second last lap. Ended up on his side, as his crashed Mercedes had its semi-detached car wheels underneath it.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Off the pace for most of the weekend. Missed Q3 and was lower top ten for a lot of the race. Car eventually packed it in as a small mercy. Think we saw a comment from somewhere that it is his worst start to the season. Probably right.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10

Enough action throughout most of the race to keep you involved, although the first corner was more boring than usual with everyone behaving.

ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5

A car failure for Red Bull and it is Max Verstappen. Yeah, would only get more surprising if Daniel Ricciardo won.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

Again a car failure for Max Verstappen is a big deal. And for F1 fans in general it gives hopes that the Red Bull isn’t going to stroll (not that one) away with the championship/s in 2024.

ENDING 6 / 10

The George Russell v Fernando Alonso battle was interesting enough but probably only worth a 4/10, until on the last lap where Russell binned his car and ended up on side.

OVERALL RATING 23 / 30

Good race for one without rain, and the new Ferrari one-two gives hope for the rest of the season.

2024 F1 Season Review - 4 Japan Grand Prix Summary

2024 Japanese F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – It’s a Red Bull 1-2 with Max Ve3rstappen looking comfortable again. Sergio Perez stepping up helps him keep his seat for 2025 and Lando Norris did an outstanding job to secure third. Further back there looks like not much between Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Fernando Alonso. Under pressure RB driver Daniel Ricciardo qualified 11th behind his team mate and local hero Yuki Tsunoda. Race day is dry and hot, which is a surprise according to forecasts a week ago and the rain we saw on Friday. Fernando Alonso is the lone warrior on soft tyres in the top 10 drivers.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA HAM LEC RUS TSU

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen is good away and the top drivers behave themselves for the first sweeping corners. Further back not so much. There’s two cars into the barrier after the third turn, buried in nicely. Drivers are OK and the panning camera reveals it is Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo in the melee. Replays show both RBs had shocking starts, Riccardo’s worse than Tsunoda’s. This put Ricciardo in the Alpine-Stroll region, and he had Albon racing up on the outside of turn three and squeezed him off the track, but not before the Williams tapped the RB and they both crashed into the barriers. Should be classed as a racing incident, but Albon could have realised there was no more room earlier.

RACE RED FLAGGED

The damage to the tyre barriers is big, so this will be a long wait. Lucky it is a daytime grand prix for some. Unlike for the UK viewers, as Sky’s UK Broadcasters continue to point out how early in the morning it is. As a resident on the other side of the globe they need to quit their griping, as this side only get three daytime grands prix.

The wait for restart is around 30 minutes. Plenty of time for shots in the crowd of Japanese F1 fans. They love their F1. Anyone, and everyone gets some support.

ORDER – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA HAM LEC RUS HUL

RACE RESTARTS

Lap 3 – Start number two gets underway, and same as the first start up the front as the front runners behave themselves again but this time the midfielders leave each other alone. So with the racing on track a little plain, it’s over to strategy and Alonso is on soft tyres compared to the rest of the top drivers. Mercedes are on hards, and Tsunoda is on softs too. He overtakes George Russell quickly not long after the restart. Replays of the race restart show the Alpines hitting each other. Always up for some intra Alpine spice.

ORDER – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA LEC HAM RUS

Lap 8 – Yuki Tsunoda already in for new tyres after a five lap stint on the softs. Alonso is dropping off too but staying out for now. Not quite working out then. Valtteri Bottas was in to rid himself of soft tyres a lap earlier. Tsunoda rejoins in 16th.

ORDER – VER PER NOR SAI ALO PIA LEC HAME RUS STR

Lap 10 – Thank Christ this race is on during the day, because there is very little happening. Max Verstappen is three second ahead of Perez, and there’s similar gaps going through the field, except for Alonso slipping further back on soft tyres and holding up a few cars behind. To emphasise the point of stuff-all happening, we are taken to Logan Sargeant overtaking Pierre Gasly for 13th. Gasly must be having a bad day then.

Lap 12 – First of the front runner pitstops start. First Lando Norris then Oscar Piastri. Fernando Alonso not long after that. Lando leaves the pits in 10th place, just ahead of the midfield crew. Piastri rejoins lower down but makes light work of some of the midfield cars in quick time.

Lap 13 – Lewis Hamilton suggests on team radio to let George Russell past. That’s a first for F1 drivers in general. Russell does get by into the chicane. Amazing.

Lap 15 – The question to whether Guanyu Zhou is still in the race is answered. He now isn’t as his Sauber is retired with gearbox problems. He was in last position.

Lap 16 – Perez and Sainz pit, they hit the track in 5th and 6th, behind the hard-tyred Mercedes cars and Norris whose early pit stop has worked out well. And Max Verstappen of course. Max pits the next lap and comes out behind Leclerc and Russell. Not behind Russell for long as he gets by him quickly. Norris passes Hamilton at the same time. It’s starting to get hard keeping up. A bit like Daniel Ricciardo v Tsunoda. Meanwhile a nice move from Bottas on an Alpine into turn one reminds us that he can still be good, and there’s plenty of good racing right now.

Lap 17 – Perez get by Hamilton in 130R. Woof and Wow. That’s only at 200 kph + into that corner where he overtook. Sergio is in one of those moods by the looks, which often happens in a race. Rarely in qualifying. A lap later Perez steal Russell’s 4th place into the same corner. Perez in the zone.

ORDER – LEC VER NOR PER RUS HAM SAI ALO PIA MAG

Lap 21 – It almost comes as a surprise but Max Verstappen takes first place from Charles Leclerc, almost forgetting he wasn’t leading the race for a change. Leclerc has yet to pit and is doing a good job. Further back Carlos Sainz gets past George Russell, while his team mate Lewis Hamilton is on the radio to his team questioning the strategy.

ORDER – VER LEC NOR PER SAI RUS ALO HAM PIA MAG

Lap 23 – Lewis Hamilton’s prayers are almost answered as his team mate George Russell pits for new tyres. Lewis comes in on lap 24.

Lap 24 – Lewis comes in on lap 24. Not long after he has pit does a bunch of midfield cars for new tyres all at the same time. Five cars jostling for post-stop positions. The RB of Yuki Tsunoda did the best job, making up a place for the local hero.

ORDER – VER LEC PER NOR SAI ALO PIA RUS HAM HUL

Lap 26 – Perez attacking Charles Leclerc who is doing a super job on his old tyres keeping the Red Bull at bay. But not long after typing that line the Ferrari goes a little wide after the turn into the underpass and he loses second to Perez. Lando Norris hounds him for the rest of the lap, which then includes the pit stop as Leclerc and Norris pit. George Russell split the two drivers as they rejoin.

Lap 28 – Lando Norris nails George Russell in a brilliant move in to turn one. Quality overtake. Max Verstappen comes on screen, only to remind us he is 10 seconds up from Perez. Easy like a Sunday morning for Max at the moment.

Lap 34 – Bit of a lull in the racing, so thankfully Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso decided to pit. They both drop down the field for now. Waiting and watching to attack. Perez lives up to that by getting past Lando Norris the next lap. Max Verstappen also pits for a second time and is second behind Carlos Sainz for now. Sainz is on the radio to his team about a pit stop, the team tell him to stay out. Sainz runs wide at the chicane in celebration. Sainz pits on Lap 37 rejoining in 7th.

Lap 36 – Sergio Perez makes a nice move on Charles Leclerc. Perez racing well and started from a decent qualifying position.

ORDER – VER PER LEC NOR RUS HAM SAI ALO PIA TSU

Lap 38 – Oscar Piastri hassling Fernando Alonso for 8th. A bit quieter a weekend for the Australian than in 2023 where he secured a podium. At least he’ll take out the best Australian result from the Grand Prix. Award for biggest catch of a mistake goes to his team mate Lando Norris whose car fishtails for a bit under the tunnel. Norris saves it nicely.

Lap 40 – Lewis Hamilton pits from 9th and rejoins 9th. A bit of a gap between the haves, have nots, and have everythings today.

Lap 42 – Logan Sargeant goes off at the second Degner curve near the crossover. He runs wide but avoids the barrier. Then, covered in dust, rolls back onto the circuit. Which is a bit risky given it is a fast, blind corner. All the drama leaves the American last, which is at least familiar territory. But an upgrade on the Australian Grand Prix, because he has a car.

Lap 44 – The Ferraris and Lando Norris in a group fighting for the final podium. Sainz picks off Norris for 4th easily enough, then sets about annoying his team mate. This is where different strategy is playing out. Leclerc done so well on the one stop. DRS helps Sainz fly past Leclerc into turn one on lap 46 to steal third.

Lap 48 – Oscar Piastri still fighting Fernando Alonso for 6th, and George Russell has joined the party. Piastri and Russell were almost joined at the chicane on lap 50 as Russell takes a dive down the inside but it isn’t enough to take Piastri’s place but enough to force him wide over the chicane. Piastri stays in front for now. But can’t hold on forever, as Russell overtakes him around the outside of turn one after making a little mistake.

FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen wins easy, setting a fastest lap just before the race finishes, no doubt a rapid Up Yours to the rest of the F1 field. Perez completes a 1-2 in his best drive for the season. Carlos Sainz continues to defy the driver market with a handy third place.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VEE PER SAI LEC NOR ALO RUS PIA HAM TSU

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

A win from pole position, with a fastest lap thrown, it sounds like a copy-paste from so many races over the past few seasons. But after Australia where his Red Bull suffered a rare break down it will be reassuring for him to be back at the front. And convincingly so. And the neutral fans will have to suck up the business as usual.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

SERGIO PEREZ – Did all he has to, with pushing Max Verstappen in qualifying, and a fine race to collect second place. With no Red Bull family driver really pushing their claims, it’s his seat to lose at the moment.

CARLOS SAINZ – Well, Perez’s seat is safe from red Bull drivers but external, like Carlos Sainz. The soon to be out of work Ferrari driver put in another great shift to take the final podium.

CHARLES LECLERC – Drive a great race without the reward it probably deserved being on a different strategy. Made the odd mistake which cost him higher places, but at least was having a proper crack.

FERNANADO ALONSO – More points for Fernando Alonso, who is constantly out-driving that Aston Martin.

YUKI TSUNODA – Grabbed the final World Championship point, made Q3, beat his team mate in qualifying, his team mate then went into the barriers on the opening lap. Yep, a pretty good day out for him. Might not be enough for a Red Bull ride, but plenty good enough to keep an RB.

THE GRAPE-EST – DANIEL RICCIARDO

Came into the weekend under pressure, and while this may have been a better weekend than the Australian Grand Prix, he continues to be outpaced by Yuki Tsunoda. His 11th was just short of Tsunoda’s 10th and meant he missed Q3 again. Both he and team mate Tsunoda made terrible starts and ended up in the traffic, Ricciardo’s worse start saw him in the lower midfield pack and collide with Alex Albon and finish his afternoon. One wonders if a first lap exit was a mercy as his poor start probably meant he probably would have battling 12th to 17th.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

ALEX ALBON – Involved in Red Flag crash, another big crash in consecutive weekends. At least he didn’t take his team mate’s car this time.

GUANYU ZHOU – Won the race’s most obscure driver with a solid midfield effort of anonymity until he retired in the pits to the surprise of many who had forgotten he was in the race.

LOGAN SARGEANT – Looking to get his marching orders from Willaims with an off in the race.

ALPINE – Drivers hit each other on the restart and they scored no points. At least Esteban Ocon made it out of Q1.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 8 / 10

Not a great deal of action at the front at first, as the Red Bull’s drove into the distance, but pit stops saw the racing come alive with different tyre strategies playing out for the rest of the afternoon.

ANY SURPRISES? – 1 / 5

No, not really.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5

Red Bull 1-2 is ominous, so important that they will probably win everything if they don’t retire. The battle for next best looks a moving feast for the season.

ENDING 6 / 10

Whilst the race winner question had no need to be answered, the position lower down were fought keenly until the end.

OVERALL RATING 18 / 30

This looked a real dull race in prospect in the early laps but came alive with the tyre strategy. It was the same old winner at the front, but the rest of the podium was a moving feast for most of the race. Not a classic, but a decent afternoon of viewing.

2024 F1 Season Review - 5 China Grand Prix Summary

2024 Chinese F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Max Verstappen takes pole, again, but it was a late rush where Alonso, Norris all had chances at first on the grid. Carlos Sainz spun at the last corner bringing out a red flag but the car was not damaged too badly and he continued after the break. In other interesting qualifying news Lewis Hamilton lines up 18th on the grid after a shocker in Q1. Daniel Ricciardo outqualified Yuki Tsunoda for the first time in the season but will need a decent race result to keep the wolves at bay.

This was all after a sprint race dominated by Max Verstappen eventually. But this was after Lewis Hamilton led for quite a while and Lando Norris threw away his Sprint Race pole at the first corner. The race will be remembered for a huge battle for third involving Fernando Alonso, the two Ferraris and Sergio Perez. A taste of what F1 could be without Max winning everything.

As for race day it is overcast with a chance of some rain. They say 10% but it looks more than that. Will it be enough to stop Max Verstappen? No, but it might slow Sergio Perez enough to have a battle for second. We will see.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER PER ALO NOR PIA LEC SAI RUS HUL BOT

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen get away well enough and chops off Sergio Perez enough. Enough for Fernando Alonso to sneak up the inside of Perez into turn two in a typical bold Alonso move (on Perez). Further behind the Ferraris bottle it and both lose places to George Russel and Nico Hulkenberg. Although Leclerc steals back his place into the hairpin. Same with Sainz a little later. Lance Stroll made up a few places nicely and as ever Daniel Ricciardo fluffs the start and ends up just one place ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in 15th. That won’t help keep his seat. In back of the grid news Lewis Hamilton is only 19th after the first lap. Ouch for the Mercedes.

ORDER – VER ALO PER NOR PIA RUS LEC SAI HUL STR

Lap 4 – The race itself might regret Alonso getting ahead of Perez, as he seems to be bunching up the top eight behind him. Meanwhile Max Verstappen is cruising out in front by over three seconds and going about a second a lap at this stage. Not that Perez would have done much more about Verstappen. And like the sprint race, who cares about Max Verstappen winning when you get great battle with Fernando Alonso involved.

Lap 5 – Sergio Perez slips past Fernando Alonso for second. Too easy. Damn you Red Bull for building rocket ships. Talking of overtaking a nice move from Lewis Hamilton on Kevin Magnussen for 17th.

Lap 6 – Interesting caption on the coverage as the two Red Bulls are shown a long way in front on the long back straight. It pointed out who Verstappen and Perez are. One would have thought with any knowledge of F1 for the past three season that such labelling wasn’t necessary. A random Kick Sauber mention as we’ll probably forget they’re in the race after this. Valtteri Bottas is 10th and local hero Guanyu Zhou is second last aka 19th.

Lap 7 – Fernando Alonso is overtaken by Lando Norris for third. Maybe Lando and his McLaren can give us a race considering he was plenty fast in sprint qualifying. In less exciting overtaking news an Alpine was trying to get past a Williams for something.

Lap 9 – With DRS assistance Charles Leclerc powers past George Russell into turn one in a beautiful move. Soft tyre driving Yuki Tsunoda and Guanyu Zho change tyres. Lewis Hamilton does a lap later too. Bit of a write off this weekend now. Although, he has second place in the sprint race as something to take home. He advised on radio that the soft tyre was “The Worst Tyre Man”. Which is either a fair description of the compound or a very unfair description of a human impersonating a tyre man.

ORDER – VER (+7 seconds) PER NOR ALO PIA LEC RUS SAI STR BOT

Lap 12 – In other someone trying to make a race of this news, Charles Leclerc is on a bit of a charge, charging down the inside of Oscar Piastri for 5ht at the hairpin on the back straight.

Lap 13 – In pitstop news Pierre Gasly and Alpine have a shocker with almost being sent out with a loose wheel. Also a bit loose is Yuki Tsunoda and a Kick Sauber almost colliding in pit lane. Alonso and Russell have pit too dropping to 9th and 10th. All the stops leave Daniel Ricciardo in rare 7th territory.

Lap 14 – Max Verstappen pits. As does Sergio Perez. Ahh, the luxury of having one driver much better than the other. They both take hard tyres. This leaves the McLarens out there with the Ferraris. Verstappen and Perez rejoin 4th and 6th for now.

Lap 16 – Max Verstappen sets fastest lap and overtakes the yet-to-pit Charles Leclerc for second. Just in case you were wondering who was going to win this race. Sergio Perez serves up more of the same v Leclerc a few laps later to double down on the Red Bull dominance.

Lap 20 – Verstappen breezes past Lando Norris and re-takes the lead. There may be more to this race with one stops v two stops. But realistically Red Bull and Verstappen are playing with the field. And to a lesser degree, Sergio Perez. In other swapping Red Bull news, Daniel Ricciardo is “faster than his team mate” and goes past for 14th. One place behind Lewis Hamilton. Between 13th, 14th, Alonso in 5th and Nico Rosberg in the commentary box, those drivers have won the last nine Chinese Grands Prix.

Lap 21 – Valtteri Bottas’ car is smoking and stopped on the edge of the circuit. With a Yellow flag turn into a Safety Car for our interest? Stand by…..Yes. Sort of. At least Bottas leads to something interesting happening in a race. No offence to him.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Lap 22 – Much pit lane action. Including Lando Norris for his first of the race. Norris keeps a podium spot by exiting in third behind the Red Bulls.

ORDER – VER (+22 seconds) PER NOR ALO LEC RUS PIA SAI HUL OCO

FULL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

The full safety car is deployed when it becomes clear that the vacated Kick Sauber of Bottas won’t budge.

Lap 23 – Both Red Bulls pit now the full Safety Car is called. So too does Fernando Alonso. Red Bulls take hard tyres, Alonso soft. Verstappen keeps his lead but Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc who pit before the Safety Car splits the Red Bulls.

ORDER – VER NOR LEC PER PIA SAI ALO RUS RIC STR

Lap 25 – Oscar Piastri pits and ends up 8th in front of Daniel Ricciardo for a nice Aussie moment. Talking of the Aussies Ricciardo’s team mate pit for tyres and he didn’t. An interesting late race tussle for the final point coming and ending in tears? We’re calling it right here.

In tactics news, everyone is on hard tyres except for Fernando Alonso (Soft – will regret) and Daniel Ricciardo (Medium). Most on the hard are likely to need another stop. So softer tyres look like a disadvantage for now. Until the rain comes. We hope.

SAFETY CAR ENDS

Lap 26 – All is well on the restart, until halfway around the lap shows Yuki Tsunoda with a busted rear wheel. Followed by Kevin Magnussen with a busted front wheel. Then footage of Lance Stroll running up the behind of an RB, which turns out to be Daniel Ricciardo. A lot to dissect here. So Kevin Magnussen clips Tsunoda during the restart lap – Tsunoda out and Magnussen pits. The Lance Stroll-Daniel Ricciardo incident was before the Safety Car restart, with Stroll running up the back of Ricciardo at the hairpin. Stroll calling Ricciardo an idiot for braking. Well that does happen into a hairpin, and since you can’t overtake under the Safety Car, going slower under the safety car should be expected. Maybe for a normal F1 driver. Maybe his Dad can fix it. This leaves Ricciardo 9th and Stroll pits.

SAFETY CAR DELPOYED

SAFETY CAR LEAVES (After too long)

Lap 32 – Daniel Ricciardo is the big loser on the restart dropping from 9th to 13th. His car may not be perfect after being rammed by Stroll. His slide through the field means he will soon be in Stroll’s company at the tail of the field.

ORDER – VER NOR LEC PER ALO SAI RUS PIA HUL HAM

Lap 36 – At the front Max Verstappen is leading comfortably enough – 2.6 seconds in front of Lando Norris who is similarly distanced from Charles Leclerc who is under pressure from Perez and Alonso – whose soft tyre gamble probably isn’t working out.

Lap 39 – Sergio Perez takes the final podium spot off Charles Leclerc who is quickly onto the radio about tyre strategy. Bit late now for the Ferrari man. Talking of Ferrari Carlos Sainz is under pressure for 6th from George Russell.

Lap 44 – As ever Fernando Alonso takes it into his hands to entertain F1 fans by pitting for new Medium tyres with 12 laps to go. 12 laps? Bloody hell, this is going to be a long-ish time. Further to the front, the remaining battle of interest is whether Sergio Perez can catch Lando Norris for 2nd. That doesn’t happen as by Lap 52 Norris is 11 seconds ahead of the Red Bull.

ORDER – VER NOR PER LEC SAI RUS PIA HAM HUL OCO

Lap 48 – Fastest lap setting Fernando Alonso passes Nico Hulkenberg for 9th. Probably only Lewis Hamilton’s 8th or Oscar Piastri’s 7th left to steal. Hamilton is closing in on Piastri. He takes Hamilton within a lap. A lap later Alonso gets past Oscar Piastri. Lord knows where he could end up now. Six laps to go.

ORDER – VER NOR PER LEC SAI RUS ALO PIA HAM HUL

Lap 52 – Fernando Alonso is nine seconds behind George Russell in 6th. But catching at four seconds a lap according to TV. Sadly Alonso’s Lap 52 is only 1.3 seconds quicker than Russell. So maybe fast enough for 6th?

Lap 54 – Guanyu Zhou is given some fresh tyres to have a bit of late race run. He overtakes Kevin Magnussen for 14th.

FINAL LAP – the TV cameras pick up Max Verstappen for the standard last half a lap honour as he cruises to yet another win, but first in China. Something about a Rd Bull in a China Shop could be added here. Behind that lame pun is Lando Norris’ fine second place.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR PER LEC SAI RUS ALO PIA HAM HUL

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

Pole, win, Sprint Race win and an extended Championship lead. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Max Verstappen makes it look so easy. And it probably is for him. Didn’t get fastest lap. Can’t have everything. This time.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

LANDO NORRIS – A sprint race pole (forget about dropping it on first lap of that) and a very solid actual Grand Prix continues a good season. Second place and keeping Max Verstappen is a decent effort and a worthy reward.

SERGIO PEREZ – A solid race weekend of next best will keep the vultures away from his seat for a few more races yet.

FERNANDO ALONSO – Continues to out-perform the car. And defy his age. Thank god he has been re-signed for two more seasons. And pit late for new tyres.

NICO HULKENBERG – Points in his car is a good effort.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Out-qualifies his team mate. Sort-of out races him despite another crap start. His team mate is punted off after the first safety car. This is after being better than Tsunoda in the sprint race. The fact he dropped a pile of spots after the second restart and retired after being slammed from behind by Stroll is a bit of a downer, but progress none-the-less. My, how long we have sunk for some good Ricciardo news.

THE GRAPE-EST – LEWIS HAMILTON

Knocked out in Q1 qualifying, made slow progress during the race. Probably not where he wanted to be. Ended up in the points after spending half a race complaining about how bad his car was. Our guess is he’d rather be in a Ferrari. A few points not enough to save him from the race weekend.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

YUKI TSUNODA – Outqualified by his team mate for the first time this season. He did get ahead of him in the race after Ricciardo ran a long first stint.

LANCE STROLL – Thrashed in qualifying but Alonso (who reports say was being talked about being pushed out by some Aston Martin sources). Then is OK in the race until he runs up the back of Daniel Ricciardo before the Safety Car leaves. Aston Martin truly wasting a second car.

VALTTERI BOTTAS – A retirement to cap off obscurity. Pity, we like his new Aussie influenced attitude.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 5 / 10

Enough Safety Car and differing pit stop strategy to break up the race nicely enough.

ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5

A few Safety cars for interest, breaking up the Red Bull dominance. A good mix of contenders behind the Red Bulls. But ultimately a Red Bull display.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 2 / 5

Red Bulls are faster than everyone. Sergio Perez being a good guide. The race is on for second this season.

ENDING 5 / 10

Thank god for Fernando. Alonso on fresh tyres offers something at the end. Like he usually does. Outside of that, some backmarker overtaking scraps.

OVERALL RATING 15 / 30

Fair to say it was a decent race. Did we miss the Chinese Grand Prix since 2019. Probably not. Will we remember this one. Probably not.

2024 F1 Season Review - 6 Miami Grand Prix Summary

2024 Miami F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Max Verstappen won the Saturday sprint race from pole position but seemed genuinely surprised with taking the pole at least. Lando Norris looked like he might take that pole and possibly a win but he ended up in the upper midfield. This proved a bigger problem when he was caught up in an Aston Martin squabble and was eliminated at the first turn. So Max Verstappen winning with ease from Leclerc and Perez isn’t news, but Daniel Ricciardo qualifying and finishing 4th was. Pity he couldn’t get it done in proper qualifying and was eliminated in Q1. The Mercedes look genuinely fourth best, much to the complaints of at least one of their drivers. McLaren and Ferraris look capable of taking second, with McLaren here in Miami with one and a half cars worth of upgrades. Although not an upgrade, was Ferraris pissweak effort to add blue to their car. Small things we know, but if Max Verstappen stays in front at the start small things are probably all we’ll have.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER LEC SAI PER NOR PIA RUS HAM HUL TSU

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away perfectly, and Carlos Sainz zooms past Leclerc. Talking of zooming, Sergio Perez outbrakes himself into the first corner and with tyres smoking almost takes out his leading team mate. In the aftermath Oscar Piastri has moved up three places into third and Leclerc gets back past Sainz who is now 4th. Perez is left to fight with Lando Norris. Further back the Alpines race hard without crashing into each other, which is nice. Replays show Lewis Hamilton running George Russell wide in turn three and Russell losing places. Replays also show that Perez was millimetres off being the least popular driver in Holland and at Red Bull.

ORDER – VER LEC PIA SAI PER NOR HUL HAM TSU RUS

Lap 2 – Nico Hulkenberg sneaks by Lewis Hamilton for 7th. Oscar Piastri sets fastest lap. And is catching the Ferrari of Leclerc in front. Some kind of start for the Australian. Unlike the other Australian who is dead last.

Lap 4 – Oscar Piastri passes Charles Leclerc for second place into the hairpin on the back straight. Max Verstappen is two seconds in front. And the McLaren is faster. But Verstappen is probably just playin’.

Lap 7 – Carlos Sainz is on the radio “I feel like I have pace here”. Which translated from F1 to English is “Tell Leclerc to get the f— out of the way, please”. Talking of moaning on radio, Lewis Hamilton is back in front of Nico Hulkenberg for 7th. Lewis complaining that he almost had a big crash with Hulkenberg as he tried to pass. He’s probably right. But next glance at the TV Hulkenberg is back in front. It’s lap 10 by the time Hamilton is back in front again. The train of cars behind the Haas means Hulkenberg may not drop just the one position.

Lap 9 – Oscar Piastri is holding his own in second, but Max Verstappen edges the gap a little bit at a time. The interval is 2.6 seconds. Both Ferraris hounding the McLaren and each other, with Sergio Perez a safe 1.6 seconds behind them.

ORDER – VER PIA LEC SAI PER NOR HUL HAM RUS TSU

Lap 12 – With not much else happening, George Russell releases himself from the Hulkenberg train with a fine overtaking. The Haas pits at the end of the lap and stays in front of Stroll and Albon who were the first to pit. That’s a long stint if one stopping. And they aren’t fast enough to make a two stop work.

Lap 14 – Lando Norris is right on Sergio Perez’s tail, giving us a battle of consequence to follow. McLaren looks plenty quick. Imagine what Piastri can do when he gets the full upgrade. This pair are four second behind the Ferraris.

Lap 15 – Verstappen, Piastri and Leclerc all set fastest lap as the pace heats up before the critical tyre stops. Critical, because there won’t be much overtaking on track.

Lap 19 – Carlos Sainz has dropped off the battle for second. A tactic for saving tyres/car? We’ll see, as his team mate makes the first pit stop of the Ferraris. He comes out in between the Mercedes drivers in 5th/7th. Sergio Perez had previously pit but is behind the Mercedes and Yuki Tsunoda.

Lap 21 – Charles Leclerc makes easy work of passing Lewis Hamilton for 5th. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen radios in about hitting a bollard. Replay show he certainly does. Cutting the awkward chicane and hitting it front on. He wonders, like we all do, about damage to his car. The bollard remains in the middle of the track, so there could possibly be some kind of Safety Car to pick it up. Indeed there is.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Track marshalls clean up the errant traffic device quickly, as quick as the teams pit for new tyres. As does the Virtual Safety Car itself. It ends after about 30 seconds.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR ENDS

Lap 23 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres regardless. This leaves Oscar Piastri in front of the Miami Grand Prix. He, Sainz, Norris, Mercedes and Tsunoda are yet to pit for top ten cars. Lando Norris sets a fastest lap to prove a point.

Lap 27 – McLarens are flying with Lando Norris the fastest man on track, and Oscar Piastri actually edging out a slightly bigger gap to Max Verstappen.

Lap 28 – Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz pit for new tyres. Piastri comes out behind not only Verstappen but Leclerc too. Just Lando Norris out in front yet to pit.

Crash! Logan Sargeant is involved. Kevin Magnussen is involved. Kevin Magnussen is at fault. Putting on a half arsed overtake without being near enough ahead. Or not ahead at all. Ironically Magnussen keeps going and Sargeant doesn’t as his car is in the wall.

SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

This gives Lando Norris a huge advantage for his pit stop. He’s out in front and cars behind will be slow. Norris pits and keeps the lead. But….the Safety Car has picked up Max Verstappen and slowed the field….So……Does Lando Norris slow? Or does the field get let by, therefore making the Safety Car a bit of a nonsense. Or if Lando Norris has to go around the track and then get in front, will he effectively be a lap in front? Well, either way, Lando Norris is on track to win a race.

ORDER – NOR VER LEC PIA SAI PER TSU HAM RUS OCO

SAFETY CAR ENDS

Lap 33 – The race restarts, Lando Norris leads. He was quick before the Safety Car, so here goes. He keeps his lead as the race restarts, as do all top drivers keep their spot. Yuki Tsunoda and Lewis Hamilton having a good battle for 7th – Hamilton eventually wins with a forceful move a few laps later. Lando Norris killing it, he pulls out a DRS-defying lead of over a second.

Lap 34 – Carlos Sainz attempts a move on Oscar Piastri into the back hairpin but Piastri shows his ice-coolness and rebuffs. Although Sainz spends the next few laps complaining about Piastri on the radio. Talking of rebuffing, Lando Norris is flying out in front – 1.5 second in front.

Lap 37 – Lando Norris 2.2 seconds in front and edging out by 0.2 per lap to Verstappen. Then he sets fastest lap. Things are looking real good.

Lap 40 – Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri swap places a few times. Sainz into the back hairpin and there looks like a touch. Piastri gets back past Sainz on the pit straights but goes wide at turn one and loses the place. Before the lap is done he loses two places to Perez and Hamilton. And gets a broken front wing for his troubles, plunging him lower than Ricciardo territory.

Lap 43 – 15 laps to go and Lando Norris leads by just over three seconds, and Max Verstappen is complaining about his car on the radio. Only bad luck or bad driving will harm him now.

ORDER – NOR VER LEC SAI PER HAM TSU RUS OCO ALO

Lap 46 – TV fixated on the battle for 9th between Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with Alonso eventually winning. Meanwhile, out in front Lando Norris is 5.5 second to the good. Which is good.

Lap 51 – An All-Australian battle for 16th lights up the screens for a while. Piastri flying before that with a fastest lap.

Lap 52 – Not long to go and Lando Norris is six seconds in front and cruising. He, and we, can all taste that first win.

Lap 54 – Alex Albon locks up and loses four places in one mistake. We almost forgot he was in the race. He’s now last.

Lap 55 – Oscar Piastri takes Daniel Ricciardo’s 15th place. Double good news for McLaren, Norris is one lap closer to maiden victory.

FINAL LAP – Lando Norris wins his first Grand Prix. He dominated the post Safety Car period and deserved his win. Max Verstappen’s bad day still means second place and extended lead in the Championship. But after this race, who is his long-term Championship is?

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR VER LEC SAI PER HAM TSU RUS ALO OCO

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

A first win finally, and a result to match the potential in pace seen throughout the weekend. He may have got a little lucky with the timing of the Safety Car but he was the fastest man on the track just before and after it.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

OSCAR PIASTRI – Made a great start and took advantage of Perez’s efforts at the first turn to end up third from sixth on the grid. Takes second from Charles Leclerc and looked comfortable enough in second and the lead when he got the chance. Pit stops didn’t quite work out for him, but an impressive drive all the same. His work on keeping Carlos Sainz was superb and highly frustrating for the Ferrari driver. Sainz’s work on Piastri’s front wing with that pass is highly frustrating for Piastri.

YUKI TSUNODA – Solid weekend after his team mate took the attention with his fourth place in the sprint race. Made Q3 while Ricciardo was cut in Q1. Ran in the points throughout and matched pace of the Mercedes. A tsolid job done again.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Although he didn’t win, he still took a Sprint Race win and pole. And second place in the proper race is all good. Hit a bollard in the race for a rare mistake.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Ended up closer to the front in the race than he probably though possible.

ESTEBAN OCON – Racing for points in the Alpine is a decent effort.

THE GRAPE-EST – LOGAN SARGEANT

It must suck to be not that great at the best of times, but to do it at your home Grand Prix sucks even more. His exit into the wall wasn’t his fault at least, but still an unwanted end result.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Deserves to be in previous category for his outstanding 4th work in the Sprint Race, but you’re only as good as your last race, and he was indeed last in the race for a while after being cut in Q1. Meanwhile his team mate is fighting for points.

SERGIO PEREZ – Almost wipes out his team mate at the first corner. Was a little lacklustre in the race.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – Picked up more penalties than Messi this weekend.

ASTON MARTIN – Not a great weekend for their drivers. Alonso better than Stroll of course. And as ever, Alonso still gets 9th place.

DANICA PATRICK – Offers zero as a F1 pundit. And that should be the amount of air time she gets.

FAKE MARINA – The Miami track is very meh. But particularly bad is the fake marina inside one of the turns.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 6 / 10

A good amount of action throughout the field, with the Safety Car mixing things up a little.

ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5

A non Red Bull dominating out in front. Yeah, that’s a surprise in F1 these days.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

Still early days, but the improved form of the McLaren with its new upgrades means there could be more competition at the sharp end. Is this the turning point?

ENDING 7 / 10

Whilst not overly exciting for on track action at the end. Booting home a new race winner and one that isn’t driving a Red Bull is always exciting.

OVERALL RATING 23 / 30

Easily the best Miami Grand Prix of the ones so far. A new winner helps.

2024 F1 Season Review - 7 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Summary

2024 Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Max Verstappen takes pole position again, pulling out a pole lap from seemingly nowhere, as he looked to be out of sorts for a lot of the weekend. His nearest challengers were the McLarens and Ferrari with Oscar Piastri second best but dropped three places for impeding Kevin Magnussen. Further back the RBs look like they are close to being genuinely faster than Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda was 2nd in Q2 and Daniel Ricciardo made Q3 for the first time this season. Nico Hulkenberg also showed some speed during qualifying. Fernando Alonso had a shocker, crashing in P3 and missing the Q1 cut.

Talking raceday, the Italian National Anthem sung by kids with a violin accompanying is plenty good. Plus a change in the commentary box as David Croft takes the weekend off. It might be a slightly quieter start to a Grand Prix then.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER NOR LEC SAI PIA RUS TSU HAM RIC HUL

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away OK and Lando Norris, who looks to get a slightly better start, threatens for a hundred metres or so to challenge but falls into line into the first chicane. Falling into line is the rest of the top five and it’s down to Lewis Hamilton in 7th for the first movement from the grid position. Nico Hulkenberg delays his Sunday slide backwards through the field by climbing to 8th ahead of Tsunoda. Sergio Perez gets ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who loses a few places off the start as per usual. Everyone else behaves, and even Logan Sargeant is ahead of Fernando Alonso in 19th. For now.

ORDER – VER NOR LEC SAI PIA RUS HAM HUL TSU PER

Lap 4 – The top five staying as is, but Lando Norris is hanging on to the back of Max Verstappen, staying around the one second mark behind. Oscar Piastri is harassing Carlos Sainz. McLarens looks quick, and maybe it’s Piastri’s turn to get lucky from fifth on the grid.

Lap 7 – Nothing further to report on here really. Max Verstappen edges out further to Lando Norris to 1.8 seconds, with similar gaps back through the Ferraris. Only Oscar Piastri is within a second of the car in front of the front runners. Hopefully Oscar remembers the Sainz-Miami shenanigans, but if he can get past he looks to have super pace.

Lap 10 – Alex Albon pits for tyres, and moments after his exit is shown to be crawling around the circuit, with a loose wheel perhaps. He pits the next lap for four tyres and four wheel nuts. That might be unfair to the Williams pit crew. Maybe not, by Lap 17 the FIA stewards are investigating.

Lap 12 – Both RBs pit where Ricciardo wins something for a change and is the first RB driver to get serviced. They rejoin in 15th/16th but have clean air to go at their own speed, which is hopefully top six speed. It was fast enough for Yuki Tsunoda as he leapfrogs Nico Hulkenberg after the Haas made its pitstop.

Lap 17 – The top five remains unchanged, as does the TV footage too, as the Ferrari of Sainz continues to lead the McLaren of Piastri. It doesn’t help the perception of a dull race if you show the same thing for so long.

Lap 18 – The Sainz-Piastri battle is broken up with footage of Sergio Perez running wide into the gravel. That won’t help his cause for all those F1 fans calling for #PerezOut.

ORDER – VER NOR LEC SAI PIA RUS HAM PER STR OCO

Lap 21 – Max Verstappen says on team radio that one of his front tyres is no good. Maybe it will fall off and we will have a race on our hands.

Lap 23 – Lando Norris pits from second, so the first of the heavy hitters. Bad news for Norris is that he ends up behind Sergio Perez. A lap later Norris flies past into the first chicane and resumes his afternoon as second best. Oscar Piastri pits on the same lap and comes out behind Lance Stroll. Similar to Norris, a lap later Piastri has gained a place and is in front of Stroll. Again similar, Norris and Piastri trade a fastest lap.

Lap 25 – Leader Max Verstappen pits and the Red Bull comes out in fourth behind the Ferraris and the Hamilton Mercedes. A lap later Charles Leclerc pits and he comes out behind Sergio Perez. He’s not behind for long as a lap later the Ferrari overtakes the number two Red Bull, as Piastri does a lap after that. With their pace they have probably jumped Sainz. Which is exactly the case when Sainz pits on Lap 27, the Ferrari ends up behind Leclerc, Piastri and Perez.

ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA PER SAI RUS STR HAM MAG

Lap 29 – Replays of a pair of good overtaking moves by Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg on Logan Sargeant. Which is a surprise. Sargeant is still circulating.

Lap 31 – Both Sainz and George Russell have got past Sergio Perez now, with Perez realistically racing Daniel Ricciardo for the last Championship point. He is an un-pitted 7th, Ricciardo has pitted once and is 14th.

Lap 35 – Just over half distance and Max Verstappen still leads and has over six seconds in his back pocket to Lando Norris who is complaining on the radio about the car’s pace. The only foreseeable battle on offer for the rest of the race will be Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri for the final podium spot. Lewis Hamilton v Sergio Perez rages for a lap or so, with Red Bull ensuring Perez loses as many places and as much track position by keeping him out on track. The Mexican finally pits on lap 38 and he drops to 11th and behind Ricciardo.

ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA SAI RUS HAM TSU HUL RIC

Lap 40 – Perez gets in front of Daniel Ricciardo for the final point. Then Perez makes it past Nico Hulkenberg for another point. He’ll get Tsunoda before time too. He should, he has the best car. He does on Lap 42. The Mexican is now on one of those rolls he gets into on a Sunday from time to time. Usually after stuffing up qualifying.

Lap 42 – Lando Norris is on the radio advising that he is struggling for pace. It shows in the lap times as Leclerc closes to within a second of Norris. At least we have a battle to watch and attempt to shake off the sleep nods as the clock on this side of the world passes midnight.

Lap 44 – Fernando Alonso sets fastest lap from 19th place. Lance Stroll gets past Ricciardo and Hulkenberg to take 10th. By Lap 51 Stroll is up to 9th. A good run for Aston Martin then.

Lap 48 – The Norris-Leclerc battle has settled down a bit with 15 laps to go. Verstappen is six seconds out in front and cruising. Piastri and Sainz are slowly drifting back

ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA SAI RUS HAM PER TSU STR

Lap 51 – Norris has reduced the gap from over six seconds to under five seconds, and Verstappen admits that his tyres aren’t working great. Do we have a sensational finish coming. By Lap 54 the gap is 3.7 seconds. So the answer is maybe. And hope so.

Lap 53 – Mercedes even seems bored by the race and pit George Russell for new tyres. He comes out 7th, so only drops one spot behind his team mate. He sets a fastest lap on lap 54 which will give him one of the two points he lost by pitting.

Lap 55 – Lando Norris takes a full second out of Max Verstappen’s lead and is now just 2.4 seconds behind the Red Bull. The race for the lead is on. Stand by for a 2024 sensation.

Lap 57 – Lando Norris continues to close, with six laps to go the gap is 1.6 seconds. DRS is available soon at this pace.

Lap 59 – Lando Norris drops back slightly from Max Verstappen, so looks like the battle for the lead is over without a mistake being made.

Lap 61 – Three laps to go and Lando Norris finds a little more time, the gap back to 1.3 seconds now. 1.1 seconds by the end of the lap, and Verstappen is running out of battery.

Lap 62 – Lando Norris almost runs wide into the gravel in his efforts to steal first place from Verstappen. He just fails to get within a second on the final DRS opportunity.

FINAL LAP – Norris does get within a second as they tour around the Imola circuit for the final time, but it is not enough, and Max Verstappen holds on for another 2024 win, but only just. Another fine showing from Lando Norris who finishes second and McLaren in general as Oscar Piastri finishes 4th too. Leclerc takes the final podium spot with Carlos Sainz 5th.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR LEC PIA SAI HAM RUS PER STR TSU

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

Second best on the track, but best in our books for the Great v Grape. Looked to be under pressure from Charles Leclerc in the second half of the race, but then goes onto harass Max Verstappen for the win. Looks like he will be an increasing factor for the rest of the season.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – A win from pole seems good enough to most for a great-est rating, but Lando Norris’ drive in the end pipped the Championship leader. And Max can’t win everything all the time.

CHARLES LECLERC – A solid weekend more than anything without getting too excited. Ferrari form looks good enough, but potentially behind McLaren now.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Without the penalty would have started from second on the grid, so who knows what could have happened. About what actually happened, he came fourth in a strong drive. A win is coming this season, and you can be sure he will simply shrug it off.

LANCE STROLL – Two points and some good overtaking from a modest grid position. Flogged his team mate in a comparison of achievement. Decent race for the Canadian.

YUKI TSUNODA – Another point for RB with his team mate out of the points, and Tsunoda outdrove Red Bull driver Sergio Perez for large chunks of the race. MAybe not Red Bull worthy yet, but at least Liam Lawson won’t take his seat.

THE GRAPE-EST – FERNANDO ALONSO

Small crash in P3, didn’t make Q1 cut, spent a lot of the race towards the back of the field. Not great for someone who has over-achieved so much in the past few seasons.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

ALEX ALBON – Sent out from his first pit stop with a loose wheel. Then later on became the first and only retirement of the race. Luckily he has re-signed with Williams.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Yes he made Q3 for the first time, but still qualified behind his team mate and didn’t get any points. He needs a Monaco podium to save his career.

SERGIO PEREZ – We’re not fooled by the Sunday recovery. Underwhelmed in qualifying again and looked to be getting no points at one stage. Did a good job in the end, but he should be further towards the front.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 6 / 10

Pretty dull first half of the race until the pit stops. From there it seemed the action started to flow with a bunch of cars getting past Sergio Perez who had yet to pit but was far enough behind to get in the way of the top five drivers. Then the action of when Perez had pitted and overtook some cars himself. Followed by the battle for first at the end. Just better than average, hence the 6/10.

ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5

The genuine McLaren pace was a bit of a surprise, as in the new upgrades appear to be giving them Championship challenging pace.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

A second race where Lando Norris could have won, and not forgetting that Oscar Piastri qualified second. Have we reached a turning point where McLaren are now not just a clear best of the rest but are genuine title contenders. Maybe going overboard, maybe not. Talking of overboard, it’s off to Monaco next.

ENDING 9 / 10

A battle for the lead over the final 10 laps. That will do us for late action.

OVERALL RATING 23 / 30

It looked like a dull race, but opened up at half distance and had a great ending. And it looks like there might be a compeditive season in 2024 after all. Even for first.

2024 F1 Season Review - 8 Monaco Grand Prix Summary

2024 Monaco F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – In a riveting qualifying session Charles Leclerc took pole position, which in fairness looked highly likely throughout. Hopefully he starts the race, unlike one year where he won pole and never started. Behind him it could have been anyone, and it was. Oscar Piastri took second ahead of Carlos Sainz, while Red Bull struggled. Max Verstappen lined up a mopey sixth and Sergio Perez, well he ended up 18th. That became 16th after both Haas’ were disqualified from qualifying for rear wing errors. That might seem harsh, but back in the day they would have been excluded from the whole meeting. Maybe F1 didn’t want to exclude another American team in F1. Race day is dry, so the mixed up grid will take some shaking with very limited overtaking available. Safety Cars could be key. As is the start. Carnage awaits we think.

GRID (Starting Order) – LEC PIA SAI NOR RUS VER HAM TSU ALB GAS

Lap 1 – Pole sitter Charles Leclerc gets away well up the very short sprint to the first corner and keeps first place. Behind him Carlos Sainz almost gets the better of Oscar Piastri up the inside but the McLaren fights back and keeps second around the outside. A few seconds later as they go up the hill the Ferrari has pulled over and is out of the race. Further around Piastri is really harassing Leclerc. Then comes the Red Flag….wouldn’t have thought for Carlos Sainz surely, as he pulled off the track out of harms way. The McLaren and Ferrari appeared to slightly touch, enough for Sainz’s car to be affected. Some would say payback for Miami for Piastri. But that is surely not the reason for a red flag?

No, cameras pan back to the hill after the start where there is two Haas cars and the remnants of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, missing four wheels, front and rear wings, and most of the rest. He’s OK, his car most certainly isn’t. There are bits of car everywhere, much like the F1 equivalent of a back yard covered in prickles. The accident was Kevin Magnussen’s fault, as he tags the rear left of a slow starting Perez, and the Red Bull clips the other Haas of Hulkenberg, and all three cars are likely to not make the restart. Guanyu Zhou is probably thanking himself for making not a great start as he was far enough behind to slow down and avoid it all.

More replays while we waited show the two Alpines coming together, with Ocon launching in the air as they approached the tunnel. Solid driving – pushing your team mate into the wall near the ocean front and then clipping the tyre because you didn’t do that good enough. Clowns. Could be another two cars stuffed. How wonderful for action fans that some of the drivers have left their brains behind today.

With a barrier needing fixing and track needing sweeping it will take a while. Let’s see whose car is good enough to start.

RACE RED FLAGGED

So the race will restart from a standing start, and from the same order as the first start. Carlos Sainz is the luckiest man on the grid so far as he gets to restart from third despite retiring from the first start. The crashed cars do not restart. That includes Esteban Ocon after his team mate bashing effort.

Meanwhile in front of the grid news the McLaren and Ferrari have restarted on the hard tyre instead of the medium from the first start. Which means technically they don’t have to stop now. Further behind Mercedes and Max Verstappen are on the mediums now. Interesting.

(Starting Order Again) – LEC PIA SAI NOR RUS VER HAM TSU ALB GAS

The second start gets underway as Leclerc leads away well again, and unsurprisingly Sainz behaves a little better this time, helped with a better start from Piastri. No dramas further back this time as the field appears to get through the first flying lap of the GP ok.

ORDER – LEC PIA SAI NOR RUS VER HAM TSU ALB GAS

Lap 6 – The front three are pulling away a little, with small gaps opening up to Norris then Russell then Verstappen. The only Red Bull left is already 6.6 seconds and in sixth, behind the leader on the third full racing lap since the restart. Bit of a change to the usual.

Lap 10 – Ten laps in, and time to check the gaps at the front. As not much has happened otherwise. Piastri is just within a second to Leclerc. Sainz is almost a second behind Piastri. Norris is just over a second behind Sainz. George Russell is a full six seconds behind Norris with two more to Verstappen, who is already being told to conserve tyres.

This race is going to need pit stops and/or rain. But still, it’s Monaco, so watching the skill and scenery is enough at this hour.

ORDER – LEC PIA SAI NOR RUS VER HAM TSU ALB GAS

Lap 14 – Oscar Piastri sets a fastest lap then sets about chasing Charles Leclerc. He’s close enough to ask for directions, but better keep to himself as Carlos Sainz is sniffing equally behind him.

Lap 20 – Not much has changed in the top four currently, with the gaps going back and forth. Notably George Russell in 5th is a full ten seconds + behind.

Lap 26 – One third distance gone now, and the gaps between the top four have become slightly bigger, all between one and two seconds. George Russell is 13 seconds behind in fifth. Given these cars might go all the way without a pit stop for tyres, this could get very dull. We need a below average driver to do something stupid and cause a Safety Car or something. Thankfully both Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant remain in the race. Talking of below average, we almost forgot about Daniel Ricciardo. He’s 13th and in a train of drivers being held up by Fernando Alonso of all people. One does wonder how long Ricciardo has left based on the amount of screen time Liam Lawson has got this weekend.

ORDER – LEC PIA SAI NOR RUS VER HAM TSU ALB GAS

Lap 43 – Still the same order except for a pit stop for Lance Stroll. Not sure if anyone from outside the top ten have also pitter as we fell asleep. If they did who cares. Stroll comes out in just enough time to be lapped. The top three are separated by just over two seconds and Norris is bucking the trend to be nearly one second behind Sainz.

ORDER – LEC PIA SAI NOR RUS VER HAM TSU ALB GAS

Lap 50 – Something interesting – Lance Stroll has a left rear puncture and he just makes it into the pitlane without causing some kind of safety car.

Lap 52 – Ahh, a pit stop. Something. It’s Lewis Hamilton coming in for new tyres. Why not, he’s 40 odd seconds ahead of Tsunoda in 8th. A lap later Max Verstappen pits too. They put on hards. How boring.

Lap 54 – An overtaking move!!!! It’s Valtteri Bottas passing Logan Sargeant into the Mirabeau corner for 13th. Good stuff and brave.

Lap 56 – Lando Norris is really on Carlos Sainz’s tail for third now. With the gap to George Russell almost a pit stop away, the top four can consider a tyre stop. Norris may not need one. But it would sure be interesting.

Lap 58 – Lance Stroll is charging through the field with an overtake in the tunnel. Amazing move.

Lap 63 – Max Verstappen putting George Russell under big pressure with new tyres. Max put on fresh hard tyres, while George Russell’s tyres are a race old. Imagine if someone put softs on up the front.

Lap 69 – Ten laps to go and the Norris > Sainz battle has slowly become a Piastri > Sainz battle. The Australian driver is struggling a little and is under a second in front. Meanwhile Norris is staying close to Sainz as well. This could be interesting as Piastri must now defend for his second place, that he thoroughly deserves. For the record Leclerc is seven second up the road. Verstappen is still within a second on Russell too.

Lap 73 – Piastri seems to be really struggling right now but thanks to Monaco should be hard to pass. The worry is Sainz isn’t the cleanest overtaker in the business. Hopefully Piastri can hold on.

Lap 76 – Three laps to go and second and third still up for grabs. It should remain as per grid, but who knows how desperate Sainz and Norris are to advance. Given Max Verstappen is behind and Championship improvement is available they might not be too bold.

FINAL LAP – Charles Leclerc cruises around the final lap and takes victory on his home track winning comfortably. Piastri holds on for second just ahead of Sainz and Norris. Max Verstappen settles for sixth in between the two Mercedes. That’s now four different winners this season and three different winners in the last three races. The 2024 season starting to build into something good.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – LEC PIA SAI NOR RUS VER HAM TSU ALB GAS

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – CHARLES LECLERC

On it all weekend, took pole with a Verstappen-like ease, and he backed it up in the race leading all the way. Finally winning from pole position and on his home track. Let’s hope this Ferrari pace keeps up away from the street circuits.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

OSCAR PIASTRI – Second on the grid and best of the rest for a lot of the weekend. Looked fast and doubled down in the race this time, which has been a little bit of a weakness in 2024.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Another race of over-shadowing his illustrious team mate.

YUKI TSUNODA – Made Q3, beating his team mate in the process. Sergio Perez had a shocker of a weekend, meaning the Red Bull drive for 2025 is a little closer. Plus a solid top ten driver on Sunday. He has certainly seen off Daniel Ricciardo, which is his minimum 2024 goal.

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

Red Bull struggled for sure around Monaco, hell even Max Verstappen could only manage sixth on the grid. But the car isn’t 18th quickest like Perez’s effort in qualifying. His reward for qualifying so low was to be among the Haas cars who were banished to the back of the grid. He was then taken out by one of those Haas cars up the hill on lap one and ran into the other Haas. Race over.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

HAAS – Strange that F1 thinks the Andretti team will devalue F1, when Haas pull off a weekend like they did. Decent qualifying ruined by an illegal rear wing, followed by a race ending crash for both drivers a few hundred metres into the race. Possibly bonus sh!tlist points for Kevin Magnussen who could be suspended for a race given his license points means one more bad penalty could see him hit the maximum allowed, given it looks he was fault for the crash on lap one with Perez.

ESTEBAN OCON – Ridiculous move on his team mate on lap one saw his car launch in the air, but land safely. It had damaged the car enough to ensure he didn’t make the restart.

FERNANDO ALONSO – Eliminated in Q1, ran in the lower midfield for most of the race. Especially disappointed when he looked like he could be a bit of a wildcard this weekend.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Proved he and his Red Bull are human after all. Well, one of them isn’t, but the car was certainly not as dominant as per the previous two and bit seasons of racing. Sixth on the grid was an ok effort, but who knows how long his downturn will last.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Needed a big Monaco Grand Prix. Eliminated in Q2 when his team mate made Q3. Tsunoda claimed points, Ricciardo was stuck in a traffic jam out of the points. Not enough for a Red Bull drive in 2025. Nor an RB drive in 2024.

CARLOS SAINZ – Harsh? Probably. But he was behind his team mate all weekend, got lucky with the second start and is running out of good teams to drive for in 2025.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 3 / 10

First lap crash that caused a red flag was a good start, as was the brief battle between Piastri and Sainz. Then we got a second standing start for fun. That was the extent of the action.

ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5

Well qualifying was surprising enough with Max Verstappen and Red Bull so far off the pace. It is probably just this circuit where the other teams are ahead, but still promising that Red Bull won’t win all of the remaining races.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

Similar to above, this race and weekend as a whole showed that Red Bull are beatable, and that there’s more than one driver and/or team that can take it to Red Bull.

ENDING 6 / 10

The Piastri / Sainz / Norris battle at the end was a nervous watch for those with an interest. Plus some back market overtaking was welcome relief.

OVERALL RATING 17 / 30

A race bookended well, but plenty dull in the middle. That’s Monaco.

2024 F1 Season Review - 9 Canada Grand Prix Summary

2024 Canadian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Qualifying continues to be the big entertainer in 2024 with a new name at the top of the timesheets in the form of Mercedes driver George Russell, but only just. He set the exact same time as Max Verstappen, but takes pole because he did it first. Behind that samey pair, is the samey pair of McLarens in 3rd and 4th. In 5th is RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, in a decent response to 1997 World Champion questioning Riccardo’s worth to F1 now and ever. The Australian may not have won a Championship but he did win F1 races over more than two seasons, but we’ll leave that grudge match points decision until after the race. Behind the non-Championship winning Ricciardo are the Championship winning Alonso (6th) and Hamilton (7th), with the Aston Martin driver back doing what he does best, and Hamilton wondering why his Mercedes wasn’t further ahead. The disappointment really starts in 11th and 12th as the Ferraris were off the pace, baffling the driver who won in Monaco. But the ultimate disappointment was Sergio Perez, who celebrated his team’s risky decision to re-sign him for two more seasons by qualifying 16th. The Canadian Grand Prix is usually an action packed race, and with a slightly mixed grid it should produce something special.

And raceday is wet with everyone except the Haas cars starting on intermediate tyres. Haas cars on full wets and it proves to be genius. Rain shouldn’t last all race, but looks like it’s going to be wet for a long time.

GRID (Starting Order) – RUS VER NOR PIA RIC ALO HAM TSU STR ALB

Lap 1 – The cars take off soooooo slowly and creep through the first few corners and everyone behaves through the first half of the lap and stay mostly in grid order, with Daniel Ricciardo dropping a few places. The big mover is Kevin Magnussen on the full wets, up six places on the first lap and is 8th at the end of lap one. Only issue on lap one is a clash between Gasly and Perez but both continue. And Perez continues a miserable weekend.

ORDER – RUS VER NOR PIA ALO HAM MAG RIC STR LEC

Lap 2 – It is now pouring with rain and the full wet tyre is the one to be on. To prove this point Kevin Magnussen is up to 5th by the end of lap two, passing Fernando Alonso at the final chicane. His team mate Nico Hulkenberg is now up to 10th as well.

ORDER – RUS VER NOR PIA MAG ALO HAM RIC HUL STR

Lap 4 – A drier line is starting to appear and so the Haas’ premium advantage might be over soon, but they are currently faster than the race leader and sitting in 4th and 8th, a result that wouldn’t happen in the dry or on inters. In non Haas news, Leclerc is getting messages from his team that there is an engine problem but told to keep pushing, not much of a weekend for him so far.

Lap 6 – The sun is out now around certain parts of the track, so the surface will come back to the cars on inters. Logan Sargeant celebrates by missing a corner but avoiding the barrier, for now. Alonso and Hamilton both run wide at the final and first corner respectively battling for 6th place.

Lap 8 – Kevin Magnussen pits for inters. Given how quickly the track has dried here over the weekend perhaps he could have tried to hang on until dry tyres were the bees knees.

Lap 10 – Stewards notice comes on screen that a false start for Daniel Ricciardo is being investigated. That guy has no luck. Or former Canadian World Champion fans. A dry line is increasingly becoming apparent. Looking forward to the first maniac to have a go. Probably Alonso. Closer to the front George Russell has done a super job leading Max Verstappen by a second with the McLarens six then five seconds further back. Nico Hulkenberg is now holding up half the field on the full wets in 7th. Daniel Ricciardo gets past the Hulk at the end of lap 12. He’ll need to get a move on, he receives a five second penalty for whatever the false start was.

ORDER – RUS VER NOR PIA ALO HAM HUL RIC STR LEC

Lap 13 – Nico Hulkenberg comes in for inters, and meanwhile George Russell is told on the radio that more rain is expected in 20 minutes. Making it very interesting as the cars starting on inters will start to struggle as the track get quite dry. The cars will need the dry tyres just in time for the rain to get here. (Rubbing hands in excitement).

Lap 14 – Lando Norris has halved the gap to the leading pair and is the fastest driver on the circuit. He was 1.4 second faster on a single lap at this stage.

Lap 17 – Max Verstappen runs wide at the first corner and now Lando Norris is on his tail. There is quite the dry line appearing at the moment but there’s more rain in ten minutes. What joy as without that threat most of the cars would be in for those dry tyres by now. Oscar Piastri has woken up and sets a fastest lap.

Lap 20 – Lando Norris uses DRS and passes Max Verstappen for second into the final chicane, and a little further behind his team mate continues to set fastest lap just after Lando has set one and has halves the gap to the top three. McLarens on fire right now.

Lap 21 – Lando Norris does it again into the same corner and takes the lead of the Canadian Grand Prix. Inspired by Norris, Max Verstappen takes advantage of George Russell cutting the final chicane and takes second off George Russell, the Mercedes driver dropping from first to third in one corner.

ORDER – NOR VER RUS PIA ALO HAM RIC STR ALB TSU

Lap 24 – Lando Norris is a full seven second in front now, as Oscar Piastri doubles down on the McLaren speed by getting within a second of George Russell’s third place.

Lap 25 – TV cameras pan to Logan Sargeant, who has gone into the wall. Normally everyone would dive into the pits but they are still waiting for this rain…..Lando Norris doesn’t pit but 2nd to 4th do. AS do the cars further behind too. They all put on inters. Has Norris been dudded here? He pits at the end of lap 26 but loses to the lead to Verstappen and Russell. Piastri looks like he could have passed Norris has yielded. Such a team player.

SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

ORDER – VER RUS NOR PIA HAM ALO TSU STR OCO RIC

SAFETY CAR ENDS

Lap 29 – The Safety car leaves just as it looks like the rain is about to hit. That’s great news for F1 fans longing for more action. That’s bad news for Ferrari who look to have put Charles Leclerc on dry tyres. Enjoy that Charles. The race restart with everyone tip-toeing through the first corners again.

Lap 30 – The rain is here now and poor Charles Leclerc is struggling. He pits at the end of lap 31 for better tyres. Not struggling is Alex Albon who takes both 10th and 9th in one move into the final chicane.

Lap 34 – A look towards the front of the race and the top five all have just over a second gap to the car behind, with Oscar Piastri looking the quicker of the lot. That group of five are approaching Charles Leclerc to lap him. Poor Charles.

Lap 38 – Sergio Perez overtakes Kevin Magnussen for 15th. Which is a timely reminder that the Mexican is still in the race.

Lap 40 – So the track is starting to get quite dry again, and so the exciting part is ahead of strategy and bravery. Lewis Hamilton is now the fastest driver on track. Talking of track, Pierre Gasly is about the become F1’s guinea pig as he puts on slicks. Nothing to lose so why not.

Lap 42 – Lando Norris runs wide at the first corner to no penalty in position. But the group of 2nd to 5th are very tight now. Charles Leclerc is put out of his misery as the team tell him to retire the car. He’ll probably be very thankful.

Lap 43 – Lewis Hamilton pits for dry tyres. Such bravery as he was looking fast on those inters. He drops to 10th as some of the midfield cars like Sainz and Ricciardo also grab dry tyres. Meanwhile

Lap 44 – Oscar Piastri pits for dry tyres but the cars in front of him do not. Now, this could play into the Australian’s hands as the dry shod cars are starting to fly. Piastri doesn’t lose a place and remains fourth.

Lap 45 – Max Verstappen and George Russell pits and Lando Norris doesn’t. The pair stay just in front of Oscar Piastri who has a lap more heat into his tyres. Lando Norris stays out in front on the inter tyre for one more lap. He has a 20 second gap to Verstappen in second so appears that he will keep first place.

Lap 46 – Lando Norris pits for dry tyres. Does he keep the lead of the Canadian Grand Prix. No. Norris nearly loses it coming out of the pits and Max Verstappen blasts past. And now has George Russell and Oscar Piastri on his tail.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS PIA HAM ALO TSU STR OCO ALB

Lap 49 – George Russell passes Lando Norris into the final chicane with the help of DRS, taking second place. Further in front, Max Verstappen is complaining on the radio that he can’t ride the kerbs. So although it appears he is cruising in front, this could still get interesting.

Lap 51 – George Russell runs wide and almost drops it into the wall and loses second place to Lando Norris.

Lap 53 – TV pans to Sergio Perez driving around with a smashed up rear wing. A little later we see Carlos Sainz doing burnouts on the grass and Alex Albon into the wall. Not sure if they are all related, but the combination sees the Safety Car deployed. Replays show Perez losing it at the slowish chicane halfway around the lap and reversing into the barrier. Replays also show that the Sainz and Albon incidents were related. Sainz spun at the same corner as Perez dropped it, but the Ferrari collected the Williams as it rolled backwards. Bad luck for Albon, bad driving from Sainz. Missed in all the action of the above that Piastri is ahead of Russell for third.

SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

ORDER – VER NOR PIA RUS HAM ALO STR TSU OCO RIC

SAFETY CAR EXITS

Lap 58 – The race restarts and there should be no more weather, so it’s a straight 12 lap sprint to the finish. And nothing of note on the restart as the drivers behave themselves.

Lap 63 – Oscar Piastri somehow stays ahead of George Russell as they battle for third. Looks like contact into the final chicane, or should have been given how close they were. George Russell loses out and cuts the final chicane and loses fourth place to Lewis Hamilton. Piastri was only asked on radio about team orders and speed vs Max Verstappen just before.

ORDER – VER NOR PIA HAM RUS ALO STR OCO TSU RIC

Lap 66 – Lewis Hamilton gets past Oscar Piastri for third place. George Russell double Mercedes joy a lap later. The Mercedes are now flying but maybe too far back to cause further damage ahead?

Lap 67 – Yuki Tsunoda drops in at the chicane before the hairpin. How he doesn’t wipe out another car in the midfield train as he spins backwards across the track is amazing. A Haas goes very close.

Lap 69 – George Russell overtakes Lewis Hamilton in a bold move into the final chicane.

FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen cruises to victory as the Mercedes squabble behind in third, and they almost catch Norris in second.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR RUS HAM PIA ALO STR RIC GAS OCO

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

Still doesn’t get it all his way, as it now appears to be the 2024 story, but he’s still plenty good enough to take the decisive lead and do it easy enough in front when he gets there. The car is no world beater this season, you need only to look at his team mate to see, but Verstappen gets the Max-imum.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Still doesn’t get it all his way, as it now appears to be the 2024 story, but he’s still plenty good enough to take the decisive lead and do it easy enough in front when he gets there. The car is no world beater this season, you need only to look at his team mate to see, but Verstappen gets the Max-imum.

LANDO NORRIS – Another second place, and he led for a while too. Looks like he will be Max’s closest Championship contender on all tracks and more wins to come.

GEORGE RUSSELL – He took pole and did lead quite a few laps of the race. And was comfortable in second place after overtaking Lando Norris, Then he ran wide and lost that spot to Norris, dropped behind Piastri, then dropped behind Hamilton. But somehow late in the race made up for all that with some key passes and ends up on the podium. Although, you have to argue, that a better driver in his scenario in the race would have pushed MAx Verstappen for victory.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Received an all-time spray from Jacques Villeneuve who not only questioned his current value to F1 but also called his entire career into question. Harsh stuff. The RB driver responded with 5th on the grid and maintained a solid 7th during the first half of the race, after dropping his usual spots from the grid. Gave up five seconds and a few places at the first pit stop because of a penalty for false start but at least proved his worth to a few people. Still finished eighth and ended up with a weekend H2H double over his team mate.

ALPINE AND ASTON MARTIN – Double points finishes for both teams a welcome return to some form.

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

Do Red Bull have buyers remorse already? They should. Why sign him at all, let alone two seasons, and off the back of Monaco. Maybe they need more money to pay for Christian Horner’s ego. Perez had another shocker in Canada, bowing out in Q1 and making minimal progress during the race. Then his race ends after spinning backwards into the wall. Quality. Another two and a half seasons for Red Bull. Enjoy.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

CHARLES LECLERC – His Ferrari was off the pace in qualifying causing him to bow out in Q2. Then little progress in the race, followed by being put on slick tyres at exactly the wrong time dropping him to last. He is told to retire the car at half distance. Some kind of weekend after dominating in Monaco.

LOGAN SARGEANT – Simply not good enough for F1, and Williams have nothing to lose by putting the young Mercedes protege Kimi Andrea Antonelli in the car soon. Or anyone else. The American did better in qualifying but ended his race in the barrier, after trying to do the same earlier in the race.

CARLOS SAINZ – Didn’t have the headlines grabbing bad race, but it was pretty ordinary. Stuck in midfield racing and running into Alpines and Kick Saubers. Then finishes the weekend off nicely by spinning and collecting Alex Albon and ruining his race as he rolls backwards.

ALEX ALBON – Possibly loses a points finish by trailing Carlos Sianz when he spins off. Pulled off a great double overtaking move earlier in the race, so dishonourable mention not his fault.

YUKI TSUNODA – Not a great weekend for re-signed Red Bull drivers. Outqualified by Ricciardo for the first time. And although he was ahead for a lot of the race, Tsunoda spun out of points and was lucky not to have been cleaned up, while his team mate came 8th.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 9 / 10

Rain brings action, and strategy of being on the right tyre at the right time. Overtakes for the lead, double overtakes through the field. A few drivers going off track, one into the wall. Just what you expect from a wet race/Canadian race.

ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5

The Haas’ surprised early being on the full wet tyres and carved up through the field. But not a great deal of surprise factor after that. Verstappen good, McLarens fast, Perez hopeless…..Although, the Ferrari’s lack of pace was quite the surprise.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

Max Verstappen coming back into form is important, as again it appears the car isn’t perfect, especially on these non permanent tracks. McLaren’s pace in all conditions is note-worthy as the nearest consistent challengers. Mercedes uplift and Ferrari’s downturn in pace is also interesting in the overall 2024 picture. Wondering if both will continue as the F1 circus heads back to Europe.

ENDING 6 / 10

Exciting enough racing towards the ends as places 2nd to 5th were decided. Some midfield mayhem too kept one interested right until the end. But it was a race that didn’t need too much added to the ending.

OVERALL RATING 22 / 30

A great combination of a good track for action and wet weather. Didn’t mix up the end result too much, but plenty in between to reward those who got up early or stayed up late to watch.

2024 F1 Season Review - 10 Spain Grand Prix Summary

2024 Spanish F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – So the 2024 season continues to evolve and qualifying is no longer the domain of Max Verstappen as Lando Norris pips the Red Bull for pole position. McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri may well have been a threat too but slid wide on the second last corner of his last lap and starts 9th. Mercedes put behind them sabotage claims over Lewis Hamilton to qualify 3rd and 4th with the sabotagee ahead of George Russell. The next two rows are a bit of a surprise with Ferrari slightly off the pace and the Alpines now surprisingly quick in 7th and 8th. Sergio Perez continues to underwhelm qualifying 8th but dropping to 11th after receiving a penalty from the Canadian GP for driving his busted car back to the pits. Talking of the pits and underwhelming the latest upgrade for the RB team has seen them plummet to the second slowest car with Daniel Ricciardo 18th, one place behind Yuki Tsunoda. We figure that means it’s Ricciardo 1 Villeneuve 1 now.

It’s a long drag down to the first corner, and there is usually one or two cars eliminated on the first lap. Stand by for who. Or who else other than Lance Stroll. Race day weather is hot and windy. Who will that favour? We will find out soon.

GRID (Starting Order) – NOR VER HAM RUS LEC SAI GAS OCO PIA ALO

Lap 1 – Lando Norris makes a good start from pole position, Max Verstappen makes a better start, and George Russell makes the best start and sweeps through on the outside to take first. Lando Norris drops to third, his team mate is up to 8th with Nico Hulkenberg the big mover and up three places. All the drivers make it through the first lap without issue. Amazing start and first corner move from George Russell though, from fourth on the grid. Replays show the Mercedes driver took advantage of Norris pushing Verstappen onto the grass which cost them both, one only temporarily.

ORDER – RUS VER NOR HAM LEC SAI GAS PIA OCO HUL

Lap 3 – Red Bull come over the radio and advise Max Verstappen that the best time might be now to overtake George Russell and Verstappen duly obliges by passing the Mercedes into turn one at the start of lap 3 and half a lap later he’s already more than a second ahead. Well, this could be a boring race.

Lap 4 – Carlos Sainz overtakes Charles Leclerc, which appears to make Leclerc a little unhappy as they were close to touching. Sainz is also unhappy for the same reason. Maybe we’ll see some Ferrari intra-team hate.

ORDER – VER RUS NOR HAM SAI LEC GAS PIA OCO HUL

Lap 7 – In back of the grid news Guanyu Zhou overtakes Yuki Tsunoda for 16th, making the RBs the second worst car of the race as well as qualifying. Further ahead Fernando Alonso is 14th in his home race, after losing out at the start. A little further ahead of that is Sergio Perez making little impression in 11th. The midweek news that Perez’s contract is not two seasons but a one season plus an option for the team for the second makes more sense. Or more sense than giving two seasons. And less sense at re-signing him at all.

Lap 10 – Max Verstappen is 2.5 seconds ahead of George Russell and looking ominously confident. Behind that McLarens are beginning to pressure the cars in front with Lando Norris on Russell’s tail and Oscar Piastri glued to the Alpine rear of Pierre Gasly. Meanwhile the pitstops have been with Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda and Guanyu Zhou.

Lap 12 – Sergio Perez overtakes Nico Hulkenberg for 10th. And secures himself a Championship point. For now. He pits on lap 14 and drops to 15th.

ORDER – VER RUS NOR HAM SAI LEC GAS PIA OCO PER

Lap 15 – Kevin Magnussen gets a five second penalty for a false start, which will result in a zero net effect on his point scoring today.

Lap 16 – George Russell and Carlos Sainz pit for tyres. The Ferrari pit work is three seconds faster and the cars exit the pit lane almost side by side. Mercedes have thrown away some advantage of the early stop and undercut. Lewis Hamilton pits a lap later and ends up behind Sainz.

Lap 18 – Max Verstappen pits, Lando Norris takes the lead for the first time in this race. No worries on the Red Bull pitstop, it’s quick and he exits fourth behind Oscar Piastri. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz are arguing over 6th and almost touch. The Mercedes gets past the Ferrari into turns one and two on lap 19 but Sainz claims there was a touch and Hamilton runs him wide. Sainz would know about both. Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc is the other front runner not to pit yet with the McLarens. A pit stop will cost Lando Norris 22 seconds and drop him to seventh, so a one-stopper may be on the cards now for both McLarens.

ORDER – NOR LEC PIA VER RUS HAM SAI GAS OCO PER

Lap 22 – Max Verstappen breezes by Oscar Piastri who must take offence as he pits at the end of the lap and drops behind Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg and lands 11th. Which is upgraded to 10th when he easily passes the Hulk.

Lap 23 – Lando Norris pits at the end of lap 23 and comes out behind Carlos Sainz. Temporary leader Charles Leclerc thinks that is a decent idea and pits a lap later and splits the Alpines on his return. That means all drivers have now pit and all drivers that started are still in the race.

ORDER – VER RUS HAM SAI NOR GAS LEC OCO PER PIA

Lap 26 – Lando Norris is showing some race pace now, setting fastest lap/s and breezing past Carlos Sainz and closing overall to Max Verstappen. Norris thinks he can win, and who are we to argue about that from our lounge at quarter to midnight. In other fast McLaren news Oscar Piastry rises to 9th after passing Sergio Perez into turn one. And gets Ocon a few laps later. If McLaren go longer on this second stint it could be an exciting finish.

Lap 32 – Lando Norris overtakes Lewis Hamilton for third place without a hint of sabotage. George Russell is only just up the road too. Piastri passes Gasly for 7th a few laps later. McLarens are on the move.

ORDER – VER RUS NOR HAM SAI LEC PIA GAS OCO HUL

Lap 35 – It’s a ding dong battle between Norris and Russell. Norris goes around the outside of Russell around the outside of turn three only for Russell to sneak back around the outside of the next corner which leads to the inside of the next. But Lando Norris settles the argument for good up the inside of turn six after that and keeps the position by the end of the lap. George Russell pits a lap later with Carlos Sainz.

Lap 42 – Back markers now in the way of the leaders which adds a potential another level to this race. Down the field a lot of the upper/lower midfield and below are making the second stops.

ORDER – VER NOR HAM LEC PIA RUS SAI PER GAS ALO

Lap 44 – Lewis Hamilton puts on a new set of softs for the last stint. As does Max Verstappen a lap later. They end up 7th and third respectively. This gives Lando Norris his chance and he starts flying. As do Russell and Verstappen as the fastest laps are recorded.

Lap 47 – Piastri pits and drop from 5th to 8th. More importantly Lando Norris pits from the lead and drops to second just in front of George Russell as they go through the first corner. So 18 laps to go and we have the stage set for Norris to chase Verstappen for the win.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS HAM SAI LEC PER PIA GAS OCO

Lap 51 – Lando Norris is six seconds behind Max Verstappen but eight tenths quicker on the lap. A big finish is coming. George Russell is struggling on his hard tyres and Lewis Hamilton overtakes him after spending a few laps on his tail to take third place.

Lap 55 – The Norris to Verstappen gap has stabilised and it looks like there won’t be a grandstand finish. Searching for other action, the Ferraris are getting close and Sergio Perez made a third pitstop to overtake some midfield cars. Charles Leclerc eventually gets in front of Carlos Sainz and chases George Russell.

Lap 58 – Hold the phone, if you were holding one, Lando Norris sets fastest lap and has cut the lead to Verstappen to under five seconds (4.7).

Lap 61 – Five laps to go and the lead is 4.3 seconds. So close and coming down but not quick enough.

Lap 65 – The Norris-Verstappen gap is down to 2.7 seconds so there’s still hope, but maybe Max is playing.

FINAL LAP – Norris gets into No Cigar territory and Max Verstappen holds on for victory. Lewis Hamilton gets some 2024 joy with a podium at a track he’s dominated in the past. Charles Leclerc pressures George Russell but falls short. Sergio Perez steals 8th place from Pierre Gasly on the final lap.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR HAM RUS LEC SAI PIA PER GAS OCO

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

Takes his second pole position with a lap he describes as a piece of art. Loses his lead at the start but an alternative strategy keeps him at the front of the battle for most of the race. His late race charges are becoming something to look forward to on race day. Norris is a bit like a modern day Nigel Mansell, without all the moaning. And tremendous moustache. He looks clearly the next best behind Max this season, and more race wins are coming.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Has to settle for just a win and not a win from pole. He was trumped at the start by George Russell but didn’t take long to assert his authority and sail off into the distance.

ALPINES – Have gone from slowest car in the field to solid point scoring machines. Not many points as they aren’t that fast but at least they are scoring and not running into each other.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Appears to overcome sabotage by beating his team mate on race day and secure the final podium.

THE GRAPE-EST – FERNANDO ALONSO

Missed Q3 at his home race. Pushed wide at the first corner and needs to take the escape lane. Spends most of his afternoon in the non-points section of the midfield, and behind Lance Stroll.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

WILLIAMS – The slowest car for a lot of the weekend, and Alex Albon was barely faster than Logan Sargeant. And he runs wide trying to overtake Yuki Tsunoda late in the race ruining any potential joy for him and the team.

RB – New upgrades have had a negative effect and the RBs were the second worst car for most of the weekend. At least the lack of speed can’t be blamed on Daniel Ricciardo as both drivers are slow. Although the Australian goes on a bit of a run of overtaking towards the end, but 15th isn’t where they want to be.

SERGIO PEREZ – Almost a permanent fixture in our disappointments. Misses Q3 and hangs around the upper midfield for most of the race. A bit of a waste of the best car really.

FERRARI – Not a great race day or qualifying. Hard to think this was a car dominating Monaco not so long ago.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10

A decent amount of overtaking and tyre strategy to keep one interested throughout, despite Max Verstappen being a little hard to catch in front.

ANY SURPRISES? – 2 / 5

The Red Bull still won is no surprise, but George Russell’s start certainly was, and was the Alpine’s improvement in pace.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

Another win to Max Verstappen isn’t important, but the pace of the McLaren and in particular Lando Norris is. Norris took pole and was the second fastest on track during the race, so if he can win some of the next few races it may put some Championship pressure on Max Verstappen.

ENDING 6 / 10

Lando Norris’ pursuit of Max Verstappen gives enough laps plenty of interest. But it always seemed inevitable that the Red Bull would hang on.

OVERALL RATING 19 / 30

Not bad for a Spanish Grand Prix really.

2024 F1 Season Review - 11 Austria Grand Prix Summary

2024 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Saturday’s Sprint Race saw Max Verstappen take out the win, but it wasn’t without pressure from McLarens who are a clear second best right now. Lando Norris even had the audacity to overtake Max Verstappen for the lead only to throw it away not long after and lost second place to teammate Oscar Piastri in the process. That’s how they finished. Mercedes and Ferraris filled positions 4 to 7 with Sergio grabbing the final sprint point, in an otherwise pointless effort.

Onto Race Day and it is hot and windy. Which probably doesn’t suit any car in particular, except maybe the car that is out a mile in front. That car might be Max Verstappen who took another pole position from Lando Norris and should have been Oscar Piastri up there too, but he had his time harshly deleted for track limits, despite being on the corner with the new gravel traps. Piastri starts from seventh, which is disappointing, but still better than Perez. Guanyu Zhou starts from pitlane.

Note to organisers of other races, Austria does national anthems best. An electric guitar-heavy version followed up by Queen’s We Will Rock You. Standard set for 2024 and beyond.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM LEC PIA PER HUL OCO

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen flies from pole and leads into the uphill turn one and finds enough time to chop Lando Norris. This drops him closer to the Mercedes behind while Max disappears. Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc appear to touch at turn one, and they race each other for most of the first lap and the Ferrari pits for a broken front wing but no damage for Piastri. The Australian looks more at fault than Leclerc. The rest of the field behave themselves. Daniel Ricciardo loses a place at the start, continuing his record of not gaining a place at the start this season.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS HAM SAI PER PIA OCO HUL MAG

Lap 3 – The Mercedes battle it out and Hamilton takes third position at turn three, only for George Russell to take the place back a corner later. Maybe it was sabotage. Maybe George Russell is better.

Lap 6 – Replays time as the cameras show Sergio Perez running Oscar Piastri off the track but not sure what the stewards have thought of that yet. What the replays have missed is Carlos Sainz getting in front of Lewis Hamilton. We presume a correction from the stewards enquiry from earlier in the race. Sainz v Hamilton continue to battle it out for fourth place for the next few laps.

Lap 9 – Front runners check and Max Verstappen leads by 3.3 seconds to Lando Norris who himself has almost three seconds to play with to George Russell. Sainz remains in front of Hamilton and Perez is now behind Oscar Piastri.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM PIA PER HUL OCO GAS

Lap 11 – Bored of being stuck in the midfield train starting at 8th placed Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo pit for tyres. Hulkenberg pits a lap later with Fernando Alonso. They all rejoin around the same spot, and ahead of Charles Leclerc who had to pit on lap one due to the touch with Piastri. A few laps later Williams’ Alex Albon overtakes the Ferrari, underlining the awful day out for Leclerc.

Lap 15 – The Haas drivers are continuing their battle for 14th/15th. This will be for the last of the points positions by race end, so worth fighting for.

Lap 22 – The front runners start their pitstops with Piastri inheriting the lead for a little while as he pits last of the group. He rejoins in 6th after eventually stopping for tyres.

Lap 25 – Lewis Hamilton receives a five second penalty for crossing the white line when heading into the pits. It’s harsh but fair. Double the fun for Alonso who receives a ten second slot for an incident with Guanyu Zhou. It won’t cost Alonso any points as he wasn’t getting any before the penalty.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM PIA PER HUL MAG RIC

Lap 29 – In welcome news for anyone who wants a non Red Bull win, the radio reveals gearbox troubles for Max Verstappen.

Lap 30 – TV Cameras show Charles Leclerc, who we had forgotten was in the race. May as well have, as he is still only 18th.

Lap 37 – More fun between the Alpines, as recently re-signed for 2025 Pierre Gasly is ran off the track by the recently told you’re-not-here-next-season Esteban Ocon at turn three. For 11th place. The battle continues for a little longer and ends in Gasly’s favour. Surely Ocon isn’t stupid enough to cause an accident here. He’s still got potential drives elsewhere for 2025 as it stands.

Lap 43 – The closest gap in the top seven is Oscar Piastri chasing Lewis Hamilton as is one and a half seconds away. Further ahead Max Verstappen leads by 6.5 seconds, Lando Norris leads Russell by 10 seconds. Further down the field and the midfield cars have started their second pit stops.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS SAI HAM PIA PER OCO TSU STR

Lap 46 – George Russell in the first of the front runners to make a second stop. Meanwhile Max Verstappen is really struggling on his tyres. But it’s not affecting his lead, which has increased since we last shared it above.

Lap 49 – Oscar Piastri overtakes Lewis Hamilton into turn three with a neat move. The McLarens are doing better on their tyres than others, or based on radio recordings their drivers just moan less.

Lap 52 – Max Verstappen and Lando Norris pit for a second time, and Oscar Piastri does so as well. The Red Bull pitstop is nearly four seconds slower than Lando Norris, so the McLaren of Norris is only three seconds behind, plus Verstappen locks up going into turn four and looks ragged. Game on at this point.

Lap 54 – Lando Norris closes to within a second and DRS is now available to him. He is right on the Red Bull’s tail as they approach some backmarkers to lap.

Lap 55 – Lando Norris thinks about a big dive down the inside of Max Verstappen into turn three but pulls out late. Norris complains about Verstappen moving under braking, but he should expect that. Lapped cars temporarily halt the action.

Lap 58 – Lando Norris is back within DRS range and again the McLaren thinks about a move but retreats. Probably wise. You can’t afford a half-hearted move against Max. But……Lando Norris receives the Black and White flag for track limits. Any more and he’ll receive a penalty.

Lap 59 – Lando Norris dives up the inside of turn three but runs wide and has to hand back the position. Problem is, it’s another off track excursion and could see him punished as per the black and white flag warning. The battle continues. But the Stewards are looking into Norris’ off track limits.

Lap 62 – Norris has the fastest car right now but can’t get in front. He probably needs to do it quickly if he can as he will probably get a time penalty for track limits. Further back his teammate is right on Sainz’s tail.

Lap 63 – Lando Norris gets in front of Max Verstappen at turn three and pushes Max wide. But Verstappen sticks his foot on the throttle and simply powers back past Norris and re-takes the lead.

Lap 64 – CONTACT!!!! Norris tries to go around the outside of Verstappen at turn three and they collide. It’s not massive but Verstappen has the right rear puncture and Norris has a broken front wing at least. And a puncture. And, and Norris receives a five second penalty for track limits as well. Norris drives probably too fast with a broken car. Unbelievable. So much action. George Russell takes the lead. Replays show that Max Verstappen moves to the left as Norris tries to go around the outside. So blame is slightly at the door of Red Bull. Pitstop drops Max Verstappen to fifth but Norris retires with too much damage. But…Max Verstappen gets a ten second penalty for the accident.

Lap 65 – Oscar Piastri drives around the outside of Carlos Sainz and takes what is now second place. Piastri is only three seconds behind George Russell. A debut race win is there for the taking.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED AND ENDS

ORDER – RUS PIA SAI HAM VER HUL PER MAG RIC GAS

Lap 68 – Just over three laps to go and George Russell in 2.6 seconds ahead of Piastri, so that debut win will have to wait for now you’d think. Some big points coming the way of Haas in 6th and 8th, and some cheer for Daniel Ricciardo in 9th.

Lap 70 – Two laps left and the gap between Russell and Piastri is two seconds. Closer but still not enough.

FINAL LAP – George Russell crosses the line to win the Austrian Grand Prix, a little bit lucky but was quick enough and in the right place to take advantage. Oscar Piastri tried hard and was under two seconds behind when the race ended. Carlos Sainz rounds out the podium. Max Verstappen finishes fifth on the road and keeps the place despite the penalty. Nico Hulkenberg keeps Sergio Perez behind him and seals sixth.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – RUS PIA SAI HAM VER HUL PER MAG RIC GAS

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – GEORGE RUSSELL

A race win he was likely not expecting. But he continues to outshine his illustrious teammate and put himself in the right place to take advantage.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

OSCAR PIASTRI – Second place in the Sprint Race, second in the proper race, but it is a case of what could have been after he was penalised for track limits in qualifying. No doubt he would have been at least third and therefore had an easier race. As it was he impressed enough and grabbed second place after the Verstappen-Norris crash. But a case of what could have been if not for that qualifying penalty…..

NICO HULKENBERG – Sixth place is a great reward for The Hulk.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – A convenient bunch of points as other drivers are whispered to be in Haas’ plans for 2025.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Maybe not career savings, but possibly career extending. What looked like a Silverstone exit might be a summer break exit now with this 9th place. Ahead of his team mate in qualifying and race. But he needs more. We need more. Everyone except Jacques Villeneuve needs more.

THE GRAPE-EST – CHARLES LECLERC

Seventh in the Sprint race, sixth in qualifying, a small clash with Oscar Piastri at the first corner of the real race sees him drop to the back of the field, and he made little progress throughout the early stages but did improve to finish 11th. But that’s pretty weak in a car that’s miles better than the midfield. It was long ago he won the Monaco GP in dominant style and was second in the Championship. Now he’s a Perez levels.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

SERGIO PEREZ – Another underwhelming weekend. It’s easy to pick on him, but with his teammate cruising so far in front, Perez’s efforts in the second car are really wasting time. It will end up costing Red Bull the Constructors title. He ended up 17 seconds behind his team mate who had a crash, extra pitstop, slow second pit stop, and a ten second penalty.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Went from cruising to win, to a bad pitstop putting him under massive pressure, then being under massive attack (not the band) from Norris which ultimately leads to contact and he drops to fifth as a result. For this race it is a big loss of points, but the longer term view is he isn’t going to get things his way from here on. Blamed for the incident too.

LANDO NORRIS – Another weekend of lost opportunity. Should have won the Sprint Race and made a mistake which saw him lose second place to his team mate. Was fast in the second half of the race and pressured Verstappen for the lead, but ultimately made contact and retired from the race with damage.

FERNANDO ALONSO – Set fastest lap but must be wondering where all that Aston Martin pace has gone. Not to Lance Stroll either.

SAUBER – Slow as.

LOGAN SARGEANT – Spent most of the race in last position and is lucky the Mercedes protege Antonelli isn’t going better in F2.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 8 / 10

There’s enough racing and overtaking throughout the field to keep one awake. It’s a good track for it. But getting an on track genuine battle for first is something to treasure, and one that ends in a clash is too good.

ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5

The late race battle turns into contact and allows a surprise win for George Russell.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

The season importance note here is that McLaren’s pace makes them at least the second fastest car, if not nudging Red Bull. With over half a season to go, there’s a great base for a welcome Championship challenge. Plus the clash between Norris and Verstappen might spice things up to go along with the closeness in teams.

ENDING 10 / 10

The battle for first was good enough, but then when they clashed it sealed the deal for a ten.

OVERALL RATING 27 / 30

The race of the season so far, but will the fallout lead to even better races to come. We hope so.

2024 F1 Season Review - 13 British Grand Prix Summary

2024 British F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – It doesn’t get more British than a British 1-2-3 in qualifying, as a resurgent Mercedes locks out the front row like the olden days with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was possibly sabotaged. Third was Lando Norris to round out the Brit-cheer. Whisper it, Max Verstappen was only fourth. Don’t whisper it, Sergio Perez stunk in the wet start to qualifying spinning off and ending his session in 19th. In between Ferrari look a little ordinary or fourth best, take your pick. One of the heroes of qualifying was Nico Hulkenberg who will start 6th on the grid and is the highest placed Ferrari-engined driver and will probably hang on for tenth in the race. If he finishes. There’s always a chance of rain as shown throughout the weekend and it hovers out in the distance on race day. The race usually doesn’t need it, but it always welcome. As for tyres Zhou and Ocon are on Softs, and Perez is on Hards. The rest are on Mediums. Perez starts from pitlane, while Pierre Gasly dives into the pits before the race starts.

GRID (Starting Order) – RUS HAM NOR VER PIA HUL SAI STR ALB ALO

Lap 1 – The Mercedes’ make good starts and keep position but behind Max Verstappen does a better job than his mate Lando Norris and takes third into the Village complex. Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon make the worst starts dropping multiple places, while Charles Leclerc is up to 8th after a disappointing qualifying. The rest of the field behave themselves with no other issues. Pierre Gasly is already out of the race as he never returns from the pits.

ORDER – RUS HAM VER NOR PIA SAI STR LEC HUL ALO

Lap 4 – No change since the start but George Russell is looking increasingly comfortable out in front, as his team mate Lewis Hamilton is also doing keeping Max Verstappen behind and out of DRS range. First lap replays show Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso making decent contact because of Nico Hulkenberg running wide and re-joining in front of the Aston Martin.

Lap 6 – Radio advises that rain could be coming as early as Lap 16. That’s great for the race but sucks for the number two drivers out there when it comes to tyre changes. Well, except Red Bull as their drivers aren’t so evenly matched, or evenly good.

Lap 9 – The track temperature is going down, which is playing into the hands of Mercedes who are still looking comfortable – Max Verstappen is 2.4 seconds down the road and struggling. A cynic would ask when the sabotage will happen to Lewis Hamilton but stand by with rain due soon.

Lap 13 – The first pit stop happens and it is the Kick Sauber of Guanyu Zhou, which will likely be one of the only times they feature on TV so soak it up.

Lap 14 – An overtaking move! It’s Charles Leclerc on Lance Stroll for 7th, but you can’t be too choosy. Although if we are greedy we can look forward to Max Verstappen v Lando Norris for third. Norris is really giving it to Max at the moment.

Lap 15 – It’s starting to drizzle now, almost right on time. Not like the fantastic song Ride on Time by Black Box. And towards the end of the lap Lando Norris dives down the inside of Max at the Stowe corner and they manage to race without running into each other. A great move by Lando Norris and a continued sign that Max Verstappen is truly struggling.

ORDER – RUS HAM NOR VER PIA SAI LEC STR HUL ALO

Lap 17 – It’s raining a bit more now, with rain jackets going on in the grandstand, but no change of attire for the drivers yet, with no one silly enough to put on wet tyres yet. Although if someone was to do something stupid with strategy, it’d be Ferrari. Towards the end of the lap it’s another McLaren on Red Bull move – this time it is Oscar Piastri on Max Verstappen for fourth.

Lap 18 – Lewis Hamilton has closed right in on George Russell for the lead as lap times in general have dropped by three seconds as are the damp conditions. Again towards the end of the lap there’s another big change of position, this time it is Lewis Hamilton on George Russell for the lead. Hamilton flying in the conditions and speeds off from his team mate.

Lap 19 – It’s starting to rain heavier now and both Mercedes go off at the first corner and run wide, which allows Lando Norris to close and pass George Russell for second place.

Lap 20 – Lando Norris tracks Lewis Hamilton for lap 19 and nails him into the first sweeper on Lap 20 for the lead. That’s three different leaders in three laps, all of them British. Further back Oscar Piastri overtakes George Russell for third place. The McLarens are flying now. To prove this Piastri gets past Lewis Hamilton for second place before Lap 21 ends too. It’s a McLaren 1-2. Further back some of the field have jumped to wet tyres and Lewis Hamilton’s team are suggesting it. Those on wet tyres are struggling as it isn’t quite wet enough. What did we say about Ferrari? They stay out on the inters even though the track is dry – for Leclerc anyway as he is hopelessly slow. Leclerc is still ahead of Perez, so make of that what you will.

ORDER – NOR PIA HAM RUS VER SAI HUL ALO STR TSU

Lap 23 – Good news if the previous rain wasn’t wet enough. There’s apparently more rain coming in four minutes. Proper rain. 30 minute block. Good stuff.

Lap 25 – Lando Norris laps Sergio Perez who is still on Inters. And Charles Leclerc is lapped too by the top three. And Leclerc runs wide.

Lap 26 – Oscar Piastri is right on Lando Norris’ tail for the lead, and Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz dive in for wet tyres. The Mercedes stay out with the McLarens for now. It is getting almost too wet to stay out on dry tyres.

Lap 27 – Lando Norris and the Mercedes pit for wet tyres, but Oscar Piastri stays out and takes the lead. Not sure how happy he’ll be with that. But now it is drying out and he has an 11 second lead on his team mate. Down to even seconds halfway around the lap. And Norris almost catches him before the lap was over. Piastri pits at the end of the lap, but his chances of winning are done. Harsh on Piastri as he rejoins in 6th place behind Sainz, he was arguably faster than Lando Norris before the tyre stops. Norris leads again.

ORDER – PIA NOR HAM VER RUS SAI HUL STR ALO TSU

Lap 30 – Time to take a breath. Lando Norris leads from Lewis Hamilton who is marginally faster but three seconds behind. Max Verstappen is slowly drifting from Hamilton and is over six seconds behind, with pole sitter George Russell closing in.

Lap 34 – George Russell dives into the pit, which we are thinking is tyres but it is to retire the car. Unsurprisingly he is devasted and comes as quite the surprise as he was pressuring Max Verstappen for third before that.

Lap 36 – Lewis Hamilton is within two seconds of Lando Norris and catching. Rain has stopped. Sun is out. The race is going to be a battle of the Brits. Just the way Sky F1 like it.

ORDER – NOR HAM VER SAI PIA HUL STR ALO TSU ALB

Lap 38 – Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo pit for dry tyres and their trend setting is quickly copied by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen and loads more. Oscar Piastri pits too, before Norris which almost makes up for the first stop, although not quite as the pit stop was a touch long.

Lap 39 – Lando Norris pits from the lead and the McLaren rejoins behind Lewis Hamilton. Did the later or slower pit stop cost him. Well obviously yes. The slower pit stop was Lando’s fault a little as he went too far into his pit box.

ORDER – HAM NOR VER PIA SAI HUL STR ALO TSU ALB

Lap 41 – With just over ten laps to go the race has some interesting strategy to play out. The top two are on soft tyres. Max Verstappen is on hard tyres and sets a fastest lap. Only to be quickly outdone by Oscar Piastri who is on medium tyres. Sainz is om hard tyres. And Perez? He’s on Who Cares tyres. Lando Norris is both 2.5 ahead and behind the nearest cars. Piastri is ten second behind Max Verstappen’s third place and ten seconds in front of Carlos Sainz.

Lap 45 – Lewis Hamilton is holding on for now, he is slightly quicker than Lando Norris, but both are slower than Max Verstappen. The key decider will be if Lando Norris slows down his best mate for his fellow British or doesn’t fight too much. Maybe we can have another Austria-like clash.

Lap 48 – Max Verstappen is right on Lando Norris’ tail now, definitely within DRS zone which Verstappen uses to close in and power around the outside of Norris who was powerless to a degree. Verstappen is 3.3 second behind with just over three laps to go. Could we see an old fashioned Hamilton-Verstappen on track scuffle?

Lap 50 – Na, Max Verstappen has only closed within 2.8 seconds by the start of lap 51, so not even he with the robotic super powers of F1’s finest could do it. Or will he? No.

FINAL LAP – To the immense cheers of the crowd, Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix as he keeps Max Verstappen at bay on the lesser of the tyres for the conditions. He grabs a Union Jack off a marshall for his triumphant slow down lap. The win brings Hamilton to tears, which is different from a few years ago when he won everything and it bored F1 fans to tears. Max does a decent job but falls just short. Lando Norris keeps the crowd happy but not himself with third. Oscar Piastri was catching him, but a case of what could have been again in fourth place. Another good haul of points for the popular for Hulkenberg.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – HAM VER NOR PIA SAI HUL STR ALO ALB TSU

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – LEWIS HAMILTON

A welcome return to the top step of the podium and won his home Grand Prix for the ninth time, which sets a new record for any driver at the one track. A solid weekend all round, qualified second, in the top three for most of the race, held his nerve at the end for the win.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

NICO HULKENBERG – Qualified sixth and raced in the top ten throughout despite a slightly ordinary first half of a lap. Getting a glimpse of the Hulk most people and Sauber love.

LANDO NORRIS – Led a lot of laps and looked comfortable doing. His overtaking for the leads were brilliant. Got done by the second pitstops for dry tyres and lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Did very well in the end to be pressuring Lewis Hamilton for the win. The Red Bul looked a little out of sorts at times, and indeed only qualified 4th. But a good result for an off day.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Dudded with the wet tyre call, but he showed plenty in the race, and his time will come for a win this season.

ALEX ALBON – Points for WIlliams is always a good achievement.

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

When rumours begin to circulate that you could be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo you know you aren’t going very well. Spinning out in wet qualifying in Q1 whilst 19th was amateur hour, especially when you watch the efforts of the Formula 2 drivers in the wet race on the same day. Of course made progress during the race from the pit lane, but he should. He has one of the best cars on the grid. His race was slightly underwhelming until his team changed him to Inters and stuck with them, ensuring his car was more undriveable than usual.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

PIERRE GASLY – Pulled into the pits on the Warm Up lap and never returned. A Lap 0 DNF. A few months ago we’d say that is a mercy killing and probably did. But the Alpine has got better recently. Although, probably still wouldn’t have scored points.

CHARLES LECLERC – Made up for missing Q3 with a good start and was up to 7th before the rain came. Then he put on the Inter wet tyres earlier than most and was lapped by the leaders earlier than most. Monaco must seem a long time ago.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Was a good weekend before the Sunday as he took pole in front of his home fans. He led convincingly in the early stages but lost positions as the rains came, and pit stop disadvantaged him. Then his car broke. Receives the Dishonourable Mention for the end result than the performance.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Talk that Sergio Perez could be replaced by himself this weekend. Problem is the Aussie isn’t driving any better. Outqualified by his team mate, lost standard places at start, finished lower midfield. Only consolation is he beat Perez.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 9.5 / 10

Rain, multiple passes for the lead, front runners all in close competition, no Red Bull out in the distance. You’d be hard to please if it didn’t tick the racing box.

ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5

Maybe a season ago this race would be a 5/5, but the 2024 season is opening up nicely. That’s not to say there weren’t any surprises. Mercedes taking the front row in qualifying shows they are almost back. And the lack of pace of the Red Bull (of Verstappen) was a mystery too.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4.5 / 5

There’s genuine competition at the front at every race now it seems. With any-old result qualifying forwarding that new randomness into decent races.

ENDING 7 / 10

The excitement of the rain dried out along with the track, but all the front runners being on different tyres and travelling at different speeds made for an exciting finish. It didn’t get too close in the end but was exciting enough. And a great ending if you are a Lewis fan. We aren’t so a 7 will do.

OVERALL RATING 25 / 30

Another great British Grand Prix and some real promise for a super competitive second half of 2024.

2024 F1 Season Review - 14 Hungary Grand Prix Summary

2024 Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – It’s a McLaren one-two as the orange cars of Lando Norris followed by Oscar Piastri defeat the man with the orange fans – Max Verstappen who qualified third in wet then drying qualifying session. Behind them there’s mild surprise as the Aston Martins and RBs fill positions 7 to 10. The big surprises, and one becoming less so, is George Russell and Sergio Perez being knocked out in Q1. Russell looked to be at least in the conversation for pole position but he went out too early on the drying track and ended up 17th. Sergio Perez responded to the pressure of keeping his Red Bull seat by putting his car into the barriers and 16th place. His career at Red Bull and F1 in general must be hanging by a thread. One more bad race and he’s probably done.

On the race day Sunday it is hot and dry, and some drama with pole sitter Lando Norris who has his car being worked on frantically before the start, it’s good to go though. as are we…..

GRID (Starting Order) – NOR PIA VER SAI HAM LEC ALO STR RIC TSU

Lap 1 – Pole sitter Lando Norris gets away ok and quickly turns his attention onto his team mate Piastri to the right pushing him close to the wall, but the Aussie keeps his foot on the gas and keeps his McLaren right on the inside of turn one. Meanwhile Max Verstappen has snuck up on the outside of Norris, and it looks like three cars wide into turn one, it can’t happen without accident surely. It doesn’t, but Verstappen is pushed wide and Norris is compromised but the Red Bull ends up second and Lando Norris holds onto third. Meanwhile Piastri has disappeared up the road – is 1.5 seconds ahead at the end of the first lap. Winners and losers for Lap One are Albon and Magnussen as winners up four and five places respectively, while Sainz dropped back, and as ever Daniel Ricciardo lost places at the start.

ORDER – PIA VER NOR HAM LEC ALO SAI STR ALB MAG

Lap 2 – Piastri continues to lead like he was born to do it, meanwhile the radio comms between Norris and Verstappen equally claim that the turn one action was unfair. Stewards are investigating, Max going wide and gaining an advantage that is.

Lap 4 – Red Bull get on the radio to Max to advise him to let Lando Norris past, which he does going into turn three. Oscar Piastri is 2.5 seconds up the road. Could be an interesting battle between the besties again. They have form recently.

ORDER – PIA NOR VER HAM LEC SAI ALO STR ALB MAG

Lap 6 – Quick check on the under achievers from qualifying….George Russell has moved from 17th to 15th, and Sergio Perez has dropped from 16th to 17th. Might be one more position to be dropped, if you know what we mean……

Lap 7 – Fast starters Albon and Magnussen make their first pit stops already. They drop to the tail of the field. Alonso and Ricciardo do the same a lap later

Lap 10 – No problems for Oscar Piastri in front, he remains between 2.5 to 2.7 seconds in front of his team mate and looks comfortable. A few laps after typing this, the lead is over three seconds and growing. The Aussie is cruising. Wonder if the appallingly biased Sky F1 team will be able to recognise Piastri if he beats Norris.

Lap 14 – Lando Norris’ team radio has the message that his race “is with Verstappen”. Meanwhile the TV Coverage is fixed on the race between George Russell and Sergio Perez for 11th.

Lap 17 – First of the front runners pits – Lewis Hamilton from fourth place and he dumps the medium tyres for hards. And drops to seventh in the process, just ahead of his teammate.

Lap 18 – Lando Norris pits a lap later from second. He rejoins ahead of Lewis Hamilton but behind the Ferraris. Oscar Piastri pits on the next lap and rejoins in front of Norris with a three second cushion. Max Verstappen stays out in front for a while longer, a place he knows well but is increasingly less used to in 2024. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton sets a fastest lap to underline who has the best tyres on.

Lap 21 – Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz pit. Verstappen rejoins behind Lewis Hamilton. It could be worse, Sainz rejoins behind Sergio Perez. Charles Leclerc is the only one left to pit of the front runners, but his team are happy with his race pace, so let’s see if that strategy plan is a winning one, or a Ferrari one. He pits on Lap 24 and ends up behind Verstappen again.

ORDER – PIA NOR HAM VER LEC TSU RUS SAI PER GAS

Lap 26 – Post pitstop excitement and Oscar Piastri is doing it well. The gap is up to 3.8 seconds over Lando Norris with breathing room gaps opening up throughout the top cars down to 7th v 8th. Which for now is Tsunoda v Russell.

Lap 29 – Sergio Perez stops for the first time, a decent effort to get to lap 29. He does do longer stints well on a Sunday. Meanwhile his touted replacements make pitstops too. Ricciardo (second stop) ends up last and Tsunoda (first stop) ends up 10th. The other potential Perez replacement Liam Lawson has yet to make a pitstop this season, as he doesn’t currently have a 2024 race seat.

Lap 32 – Max Verstappen is gaining steadily on Lewis Hamilton in third, so a clash between those two might keep us awake. Someone who is certainly not asleep is Oscar Piastri who is now 4.4 seconds in front of Norris, with Norris himself five seconds up on Lewis Hamilton.

Lap 35 – Max Verstappen is right on Lewis Hamilton’s tail going into turn one and the Mercedes locks up allowing Verstappen to get past but only temporarily, as the Red Bull runs wide the very next corner as Hamilton reclaims third. Further up the road Piastri’s lead has halved after a few bad laps. Hopefully nothing terminal, probably lapping cars. Norris might smell blood though and the gap remains around 1.3 and 1.5 seconds now.

ORDER – PIA NOR HAM VER LEC SAI ALO PER STR TSU

Lap 40 – The Hamilton-Verstappen battle continues to rage, as does Max Verstappen back to his team about the car. Hamilton bails on that and pits on Lap 41, and Ferrari bring in Leclerc too. Meanwhile Max stays out, and to no surprise isn’t very happy about it. Tells his team they have f****d his race. Ouch.

Lap 43 – Oscar Piastri’s lead to Lando Norris is around 1.6 to 1.7 seconds and the McLaren is over seven second in front of Max Verstappen. The second pit stops are due soon, so there awaits our last chance of some action.

Lap 46 – Lando Norris pits from second and rejoins in fourth. Is Piastri, as Max Verstappen puts it, having his race f****d? The team claim the earlier pitstop for Norris is to protect his lead from cars behind. If Piastri doesn’t pit soon then McLaren are talking sh!t.

Lap 48 – Piastri pits and is told “not to worry about Lando”. He may well worry about Lando as he takes the net lead of the race. That seems awfully unfair, but the team continue to claim that it is about covering opposition cars. And mention about team order. Lando is three seconds in front, and one does wonder if he will give the place back to Piastri. One wonders why McLaren would stuff their own driver who led so comfortably.

Lap 50 – Max Verstappen pits from the lead, leaving Norris ahead of Piastri with 20 laps to go. The Red Bull rejoins fifth. Norris continues to increase the gap to Piastri, and the team continue to promise Piastri of a swap in position.

ORDER – NOR PIA HAM LEC VER SAI RUS PER TSU ALO

Lap 54 – The gap between Norris and Piastri remain around 3.5 seconds. And a change doesn’t seem likely as Verstappen closes right on the tail of Leclerc.

Lap 57 – Max Verstappen overtakes Charles Leclerc for fourth. Lewis Hamilton is two seconds ahead. It won’t take long for the next battle to start.

Lap 61 – The gap between Norris and Piastri is now closer to five seconds and the radio conversations are the main point of interest at this moment. It seems Norris is adamant that his Championship lead takes priority over everything. He continues to argue with the team. And refuses to hand over the position.

Lap 62 – Max Verstappen is right on Lewis Hamilton’s tail and Verstappen goes close to passing around turn three but pulls out. This is for the final podium spot.

Lap 63 – Verstappen dives past Lewis Hamilton into turn one but there is contact as the Red Bull’s rear wheel clips the Mercedes and Max goes a little airborne. And by a little, we mean a lot. He obviously loses third to Hamilton while in the air, and then Leclerc a few corners later. The Red Bull is plenty strong though, as Max keeps going.

Lap 65 – The lead for Norris over Piastri is now over five seconds and the question still remains whether he will hand over the position. The gap on track, and Championship position argues with Norris, but he may regret the long term effects of his actions.

ORDER – NOR PIA HAM LEC VER SAI PER RUS TSU STR

Lap 67 – Team tell Lando Norris “Please do it now”.

Lap 68 – Lando Norris slows down on the straight and lets Oscar Piastri past. Norris made his point, but whether he has done some damage within the team remains to be seen.

FINAL LAP – Oscar Piastri hurries around his final lap, with his team mate right on his tail, to win his first Grand Prix. But it all feels a little hollow if we’re honest given the last part of the race. We know Oscar isn’t one for too much emotion, but even he sounds like he isn’t really enjoying the first win the way so many others have, including his own team mate recently. Lando Norris gives Piastri plenty of nothing in the post race warm down. The bit where the drivers are chatting might be interesting. Or not.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – PIA NOR HAM LEC VER SAI PER RUS TSU

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – OSCAR PIASTRI

Drove a near-perfect race. Stuffed by his team’s tactics again. But gets his first win.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

LANDO NORRIS – Took pole position. Probably would have won the race if not for his team’s involvement, but then again, only took the lead because of his team’s involvement. His petulance post race was a little ordinary.

CHARLES LECLERC – A decent race in a car that is probably fourth best at the moment.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Takes the final podium, and the Mercedes looks increasingly competitive.

THE GRAPE-EST – McLAREN

Stuff McLaren. With another bit of strategy have turned a great and joyous 1-2 into misery and potential team dis-harmony for the rest of the season.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

SERGIO PEREZ – Nothing better when you’re under pressure for your F1 seat than to put your car into the barriers and set a time up to then not good enough to escape Q1. Another appalling Saturday. Sunday is the usual story of recovery to mask the ills, but the car, which isn’t as world beating as 2023, should be beating more cars than it currently does in the hands of Perez.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Looked on track to be in the mix for pole, ended up doing his final Q1 lap in the mixed conditions too early and was cut in the first qualifying section. Ended up getting minor points, but they should have been major points.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Struggling to get used to having to drive a car that isn’t a million times better than anyone, so it is entertaining to hear his team radio. Still, he gets plenty out of it. A late clash with Hamilton drops him to fifth.

ALPINE – Didn’t have another crack in qualifying Q1 as the track dried, so ended up at the back of the grid. Pierre Gasly’s decent recovery drive ended up in the race’s first DNF. Again.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 3 / 10

An exciting first few corners with the two McLarens and Max Verstappen, but soon turned to battles for 11th, and pit stop coverage. The ending added a little more tension than the first part of the race.

ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5

Oscar Piastri sprung a decent surprise at the start by jumping his team mate and leading comfortably. Mid race too, the McLaren tactics of appearing to stuff the race leader Oscar Piastri.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

Not sure if it is track dependent, but this looks like the turning point of McLaren being outright faster than Red Bull. Of course they are certainly faster than one Red Bull.

ENDING 9 / 10

A slightly dull race came alive after the second pit stops when McLaren chose to pit Lando Norris first to cover Max Verstappen on behalf of Norris. So it became a guessing game of if/when McLaren would swap back positions or not. The Verstappen-Hamilton clash, and Verstappen’s radio in general in quite entertaining.

OVERALL RATING 19 / 30

A reasonably dull race came alive thanks to McLaren.

2024 F1 Season Review - 15 Belgium Grand Prix Summary

024 Belgian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – A wet qualifying saw Max Verstappen dominate by taking pole position by six tenths of a second, but sadly for him he took a ten place grid penalty and will start 11th. He still starts favourite for the race. Charles Leclerc inherits 1st place on the grid, and alongside him is the unfamiliar sight of Sergio Perez, the Mexican just made it into Q3 by three thousandths of a second. The previously dominant McLarens are only 4th and 5th, and hopefully have a better strategy for this race. At least this weekend they do have a faster car to worry about behind them. The Red Bull of Max Verstappen is a rocket ship, but with a more compeditive grid in 2024, will he slice through the field like in previous races and seasons?

GRID (Starting Order) – LEC PER HAM NOR PIA RUS SAI ALO OCO ALB VER (11th)

Lap 1 – Pole sitter Charles Leclerc gets away well and leads the field in and out of the first corner hairpin. Sergio Perez loses second place to a fast-starting Lewis Hamilton. Lando Norris drops a few places and ends up behind his team mate and a Ferrari and Mercedes. Max Verstappen makes a decent start from 11th and is up to 9th with a move into the final chicane.

ORDER – LEC HAM PER PIA RUS SAI NOR ALO VER ALB

Lap 2 – Max Verstappen passes Alonso for 8th, and after a failed move on Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris is only just in front of Max Verstappen in a key battle between two big chances for the race.

Lap 3 – Lewis Hamilton passes Charles Leclerc for the lead. The Ferrari almost looked like it was standing still as the Mercedes flew past. The Mercedes sets fastest lap at the end of Lap Three.

Lap 4 – The top eight cars are all within a second of each other, meaning all cars except the leader can use DRS, so the racing will be tight for a while here. It’s a nice look seeing all the cars in one view going up the Kemmel straight.

ORDER – HAM LEC PER PIA RUS SAI NOR VER ALO ALB

Lap 6 – Leader Lewis Hamilton radios his team to advise there is something down near his legs in the car. One wonder if it is the reported Mercedes sabotage or a new F1 movie based on Snakes on a Plane.

Lap 7 – Zhou’s race is more pointless than usual as is an early retirement with a lack of power.

Lap 8 – The top eight are starting to spread a little with plus one second gaps between the top four. Perez is apparently complaining about the pace of the car to his team, which is a nice reversal to usual. Nico Hulkenberg pits for new rubber already. Daniel Ricciardo and Williams drivers do so a lap later.

Lap 11 – Max Verstappen pits, going for the undercut. George Russell too is in. They come out behind 12th placed Yuki Tsunoda. Will McLaren, Ferrari respond?

Lap 12 – Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri all pit. The undercut has worked for George Russell as he passes Oscar Piastri out of the pits, but the Aussie tells Russell to bugger off and takes his place back within the long straight. Piastri sets about attacking Perez.

Lap 13 – Charles Leclerc pits and rejoins ahead of Perez. Lando Norris stays out as does Carlos Sainz on hard tyres who leads the race. Oscar Piastri is flying and takes Sergio Perez at the same spot as Russell the lap before. That’s a net third place after stops. And he sets fastest lap too.

ORDER – SAI NOR HAM LEC PIA PER RUS VER MAG TSU

Lap 16 – Lando Norris pits after losing a bit of time in second place. How much time? Well he rejoins six seconds behind Max Verstappen.

Lap 17 – Red Bull give Verstappen the license to go on the attack, which will be exciting to see the fallout. Nothing straight away, except for Lando Norris setting a fastest lap behind him. Perez is backing up Russell into Verstappen, either on purpose or not. Meanwhile Norris has halved the gap to Verstappen. At the front the non-pitting Carlos Sainz still leads but Lewis Hamilton is within three seconds.

Lap 20 – Carlos Sainz pits from the lead, he went long on the hard tyres and will only stop once. He rejoins in 8th.

Lap 21 – George Russell overtakes Sergio Perez for fourth, and Red Bull pit him at the end of the lap to allow Max Verstappen through. Strange though, you’d think they would prefer Perez to stay out on track and slow Norris down. Sets up a nice battle between Norris and Verstappen, with the McLaren slightly faster.Vaping has become a popular alternative to traditional smoking, offering users a convenient way to enjoy nicotine without the harmful tar and chemicals found in cigarettes. The elf bar 1500 stands out as a top choice for effortless vaping, delivering an impressive 1500 puffs of rich flavor and satisfying nicotine. With its sleek design and user-friendly features, the Elf Bar 1500 allows you to enjoy a smooth, enjoyable experience anywhere, making it the perfect solution for those seeking a hassle-free way to vape.

ORDER – HAM LEC PIA RUS VER NOR SAI PER ALB OCO

Lap 25 – Just under 20 laps to go, and Lewis Hamilton is cruising out front with a two second lead to Leclerc. The rest of the top eight are starting to spread out except for Norris who remains on Verstappen’s tail. The Red Bull is not slicing through the field like a few expected. The pit window opens for the second stops.

Lap 26 – Charles Leclerc makes his second stop and rejoins behind his team mate Sainz in 7th. Further back Daniel Ricciardo is looking quite racey with some nice overtakes. Perhaps he could catch Perez and steal his seat.

Lap 27 – Lewis Hamilton pits and rejoins in front of Leclerc but behind Sainz. Oscar Piastri leads another race. And he won’t have to share this one. He “celebrates” with a fastest lap.

Lap 29 – Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen pit for new tyres. Verstappen comes out behind his team mate and Sainz a place further back. Lando Norris pits on Lap 30, and he comes out behind the two Red Bulls. The Rd Bulls swap positions half way around the lap to give Max some breathing space.

Lap 30 – Oscar Piastri pits but it is a longer one as he arrives for his pit stop too fast. Piastri comes out just in front of Max Verstappen. Lando Norris overtakes Sergio Perez down the Kemmel straight. Norris sets a fastest lap as he closes in on Max Verstappen.

ORDER – RUS HAM LEC PIA VER NOR PER SAI ALO BOT

Lap 34 – The McLarens are the faster cars at the moment with Piastri closing in on Leclerc for third place and Lando Norris continuing to push Max Verstappen.

Lap 36 – Oscar Piastri nails Charles Leclerc into the Les Combes corners for third place. They battle inside-outside for the combination of corners but Piastri makes it stick. There’s still enough time and still a small enough gap for a win. George Russell is currently leading but has one pit stop less. Four second behind is Lewis Hamilton who is five seconds ahead of Piastri. Interesting finish coming up.

ORDER – RUS HAM PIA LEC VER NOR PER SAI ALO RIC

Lap 40 – George Russell is hanging on in front of Lewis Hamilton but it won’t last long, the Brit is within a second. Piastri is within 4.5 second of Hamilton. Norris still on Verstappen’s tail. Carlos Sainz gets past Sergio Perez for seventh. Four laps to go and much to be decided.

Lap 41 – Looks like the Mercedes drivers are given the green light to race each other. Lewis within half a second, but he won’t want to take too long. Piastri under four seconds behind now.

Lap 42 – Russell still leads Hamilton as they start the third last lap, Piastri is within 2.8 seconds. Hamilton thinks about a move into Les Combes but pulls out as stays put. Piastri keeps shaving time behind them.

Lap 43 – The two Mercedes are still battling with Russell doing a super job on old tyres. No move into the usual spot again for Hamilton. Piastri is within 1.4 second now. Can the McLaren get within DRS on the last lap? Russell stays in front into the final chicane, the last lap awaits.

FINAL LAP – Hamilton locks his tyre going into the first corner, probably costing him a chance now. Piastri within DRS range. No mistakes for Mercedes now. Halfway around the final lap and Hamilton is so close, but the long sweeper might be enough for Russell to stay in front. No late dive into the final chicane from Hamilton and Russell wins. Piastri right on Hamilton’s tail as they cross the line. A great win for George Russell on old tyres on the one stop. Behind the top three fourth to sixth were close together as well.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – RUS HAM PIA LEC VER NOR SAI ALO OCO

Update: Some of us on certain sides of the planet needed to go to bed after the race, but a few hours later discover that George Russell was disqualified for his car being underweight. That gives Lewis Hamilton the win, Oscar Piastri second and Charles Leclerc third. In a good day for Australians, Daniel Ricciardo gets the final point. He may well get more than that come Dutch GP time. George Russell’s ratings and comments stay, as it was still a great drive.

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – GEORGE RUSSELL

Some kind of drive. Left out too long for a two stopped he changed over to a one-stop and drove a great race to keep his faster team mate behind on newer tyres.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

LEWIS HAMILTON – On track for a win at mid distance, but outdone by his team mate’s storming drive. A great return to form though, with a third straight podium.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Possibly an even better drive than his first win last weekend? Gained spots at the start again, good strategy, a few good overtakes and chased the Mercedes hard at the end. A few more laps and who knows. Another podium and closes the gap for the Championship. Given his few mistakes, could he be the title challenger from afar?

CHARLES LECLERC – Decent performance in a car that is probably fourth fastest. Inherited pole with a fine lap.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Good damage limitation after taking a ten place grid penalty. Kept ahead of his main championship rival (for now). Took pole in the wet by six tenths of a second, so he’s still plenty fast in the right conditions.

VALTTERI BOTTAS – On track for 10th place and a point in the last third of the race. Didn’t keep it, but still better performance than usual out of his Kick/Stake/Sauber.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – After his usual dropped places at the start, he made some good overtakes, and certainly looked racier than his team mate and Sergio Perez…..nudge, nudge. Had a point for tenth until late.

THE GRAPE-EST – GUANYU ZHOU

The only retirement and pretty early. Misses out on driving around this great circuit.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

LANDO NORRIS – Another wasted weekend to a degree. The McLaren is fast but qualified fifth. Made an ordinary start which gave him the worst of the strategy. Finished behind Max Verstappen and his team mate was a few more positions up the road. If he’s not careful his team mate may take all the momentum into a Championship tilt too.

SERGIO PEREZ – Had a real chance from second on the grid, with his team mate in 11th, to take control of his own destiny. He dropped through the field, and complained about the car, finishing eight and last of the fast cars. Whilst not terrible, it was also not great. Will he return from the summer break, that’s the big question for the summer holiday.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10

Some close racing and a few good overtakes at the front of the field. Plenty of overtakes in the midfield. Close racing at the end. Good enough.

ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5

Mercedes winning with a 1-2 was pretty surprising on the balance for the whole weekend.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5

Max Verstappen stays ahead of his nearest rival, so a small gain there. The question is whether the Mercedes pace has stick around or Oscar Piastri can consistently beat Verstappen and Norris.

ENDING 8 / 10

A tense finish as the Mercedes drivers duked it out on different strategy. And Oscar Piastri was closing in fast. The race really needed another few laps.

OVERALL RATING 23 / 30

Plenty to like from the race on a circuit it’s hard not to enjoy. A pleasurable way to end the first half of the season.

2024 F1 Season Review - 16 Dutch Grand Prix Summary

2024 Dutch F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – The F1 season resumes with wet weather on and off over the weekend but come qualifying it was dry and McLaren on top. Lando Norris took pole with a decent advantage over Max Verstappen then Oscar Piastri. Further back George Russell is fourth and Sergio Perez is in danger of altitude sickness starting fifth. Other qualifying stories sees the Aston Martins both make Q3. Lewis Hamilton miss out on Q3 and get a further penalty for impeding in qualifying. Alex Albon was disqualified because of an illegal floor. He starts behind his team mate Logan Sargeant who didn’t qualify at all after he binned his car in P3, then it caught fire.

GRID (Starting Order) – NOR VER PIA RUS PER LEC ALO STR GAS SAI

Lap 1 – Lando Norris fluffs a pole position again and Max Verstappen takes the lead. Bad/slow start for McLaren as Oscar Piastri loses a place to George Russell. Charles Leclerc gains a place over Sergio Perez. Pierre Gasly makes a great start and jumps both Aston Martins. Further back no trouble around the tight but fast Zandvoort lap.

ORDER – VER NO RUS PIA LEC PER GAS ALO SAI STR

Lap 2 – Lewis Hamilton pulls off a great move on Yuki Tsunoda for 12th as he makes progress through the midfield. Alonso’s harassment of Pierre Gasly’s 7th place would get him in trouble with HR, but for now he stays behind.

Lap 4 – George Russell is offering cut price fares for his DRS train, now heading up a bunch of cars starting with Oscar Piastri and the caboose being Sergio Perez. Russell is 1.8 seconds behind Lando Norris who is not much more closer to leader Max Verstappen at 1.4 seconds.

Lap 8 – Lando Norris – at this point sitting in second 1.5 seconds behind Verstappen and nearly three in front of George Russell – asks his team radio who he is racing against. F1 drivers do tend to over-complicate things. If he thought it was Piastri he’d be wrong. Piastri is dropping away from George Russell and outside DRS now.

Lap 11 – Brilliant racing between Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly ends in the Ferrari just getting by the Alpine through corners one to four. Truly good stuff.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS PIA LEC PER SAI GAS ALO STR

Lap 13 – First pitstop is Alex Albon. Talking of pits, Lando Norris discusses Plans A and B for beating Max Verstappen with his team over the radio. Norris is closing the gap, and Max is on the radio a lap later saying he’s struggling a bit. Let’s hope this battle for the lead doesn’t end in tears like in Austria.

Lap 14 – Lewis Hamilton sneaks into the top ten with a pass on Lance Stroll. Either of those two drivers could be driving an Adrian Newey car soon. We’d prefer it to be Hamilton. Talking of Lewis, a few laps later he gets by Fernando Alonso too.

Lap 17 – Lando Norris is now so close to the tail of Max Verstappen that he can smell the brand of oil being used in the Red Bull.

Lap 18 – Using rocket ship pace around the final corners and DRS down the straight, Lando Norris flies down the inside of Max Verstappen and takes the lead. Almost too easy. Maybe this is the proof that the McLaren is faster than a Red Bull. A Red Bull of Verstappen. Although, Oscar Piastri isn’t quite fast enough today, making no impression of George Russell.

ORDER – NOR VER RUS PIA LEC PER SAI GAS HAM ALO

Lap 22 – Lando Norris is providing Max Verstappen with much dust to eat, as he increases the gap out to over two seconds and is setting himself up for a winning lead that will cover any possible undercut by Red Bull.

Lap 23 – If you’re wondering who Daniel Ricciardo will be driving for in 2025, because of the many, many articles about it, the answer based on today is no one. He is 12th, which is more due to pitstop order than speed or stealth.

Lap 25 – Charles Leclerc is the first front runner to pit, and George Russell pits the next lap to cover that undercut. That failed as Leclerc sweeps past Russell and Alonso. If Piastri hangs out there much longer, Leclerc will have his position too.

Lap 26 – Whether Norris is just plain quick or the Red Bull is on the nose slightly, Max Verstappen is over five second behind, which blows out to over six seconds by the time he pits for new tyres on Lap 28.

Lap 29 – Lando Norris pits from the lead and resumes fourth which is behind the drivers yet to pit, including his team mate. The gap to Verstappen is slightly less, but still nearly five seconds.

Lap 32 – Oscar Piastri getting the second pit stop strategy this race and he is still over five seconds in front Lando Norris. Maybe McLaren are trying something. Regardless they pit Oscar Piastri on Lap 34, he rejoins in fifth place and crucially ahead of Sergio Perez. Piastri sets fastest lap not long after.

Lap 35 – After Piastri’s pitstop from the lead Lando Norris resumes the race lead and he is over seven seconds to the good over Verstappen.

ORDER – NOR VER LEC RUS PIA PER SAI HAM HUL MAG

Lap 36 – It must be quiet. TV cameras showing Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas battling it out for 15th.

Lap 40 – Piastri is flying, closing quickly on George Russell and takes his fourth place around the outside of turn one, which is called Tarzan for the circuit nerds. A podium is within reach.

Lap 46 – Piastri is under a second to Charles Leclerc for 3rd, which is a similar distance for Carlos Sainz to Sergio Perez. A lap later Sainz takes Perez’s 6th place easy.

Lap 52 – Less easy is Piastri v Leclerc, the McLaren is still behind the Ferrari. Still within the second he needs and wants. That became so dull even the TV cameras are starting to low further.

ORDER – NOR VER LEC PIA RUS SAI PER HAM HUL GAS

Lap 55 – Mercedes pit George Russell for something to do. He drops to seventh so he can do some late race overtaking and get back to where he left to pit.

Lap 60 – Just checking up front. Lando Norris is 16 seconds clear of Max Verstappen. The Red Bull is seven seconds up on Charles Leclerc who is still fending off Oscar Piastri.

Lap 65 – Charles Leclerc is still holding off Oscar Piastri, while Lando Norris is approaching 20 seconds in front of Max Verstappen.

FINAL LAP – Lando Norris cruises around the final lap to take his second win and maybe the winning start to an outside Championship tilt. And when he say cruise, we mean fly, as he sets a fastest lap for the race on the last lap. Max Verstappen is so far behind that the smoke from the fireworks to celebrate the winner has gone away. Charles Leclerc grabs the final podium spot after keeping Oscar Piastri away from his third place.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR VER LEC PIA SAI PER RUS HAM GAS ALO

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

A championship driver from him. Took pole position by nearly four tenths of a second. And although he missed the start from pole position, he was patient and pounced on Max Verstappen early in the race and never looked back.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

CHARLES LECLERC – A fine drive on the Sunday in a car that is probably fourth best overall.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Getting more from the team than Lewis Hamilton does a lot lately.

CARLOS SAINZ – Decent drive to mid level points after missing Q3.

PIERRE GASLY – Good qualifying, good start, good racing and overtakes. His beloved team mate towards the back. Yep, solid weekend that is.

THE GRAPE-EST – LOGAN SARGEANT

It would have taken something bad to usurp Logan Sargeant from the Grape-est Driver this weekend. Already under pressure, he crashed his newly updated Williams into the wall in P3 and then it caught on fire. Sure the team did well to get him in a position to race, which he should enjoy. It might be his last.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Second place is hardly a bad result usually, but the reality of his Red Bull being the next fastest car will be a downer.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Solid enough, but his team mate’s car was a rocket, while Piastri was slower and needed to make a move like Norris did for the lead against Verstappen.

SERGIO PEREZ – Another weekend of meh-diocrity. His qualifying and racing is better, but it’s still next-rung-down for overall performance.

GUANYU ZHOU – Unseen by F1 fans as he ghosted his way around the circuit.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 6 / 10

A pass for the lead is always exciting, even though Lando Norris made it look like baby v candy. Lewis Hamilton recovering from qualifying saw some good overtakes. A good run of front runners overtaking each other

ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5

Is it a surprise that Max Verstappen didn’t take pole and win the Dutch Grand Prix? Sort of? Is it a surprise that McLaren appears now to be genuinely the fastest car? Sort of?

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

McLarens looked arguably quicker before the summer break, and in the hands of Lando Norris that is hard to argue against now. Is this the Sliding Doors moment for the Championship? Constructors Championship is now just a gap of 31 points.

ENDING 2 / 10

A pretty dull end to the race. But it’s still a fun track to watch.

OVERALL RATING 15 / 30

Not a bad race. An overtake for the lead, and a win that opens the Drivers Championship up slightly.

2024 F1 Season Review - 16 Italy Grand Prix Summary

2024 Italian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – It’s a McLaren 1-2 in qualifying with the Championship chasing Lando Norris on top. The stage is set for taking a huge chunk out of that Championship deficit too with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen starting from 7th on the grid. In between is another McLaren, two Mercedes and Two Ferraris. None of those cars will happily give up a position to Verstappen. Max, who is not used to losing could get impatient and double down on the disadvantage to McLaren with a clash. The season’s quickest race is ready to be blinked and missed. It’s hot, and a small chance of rain.

GRID (Starting Order) – NOR PIA RUS LEC SAI HAM VER PER ALB HUL

Lap 1 – A mediocre start from Lando Norris sees him chop across his team mate but Piastri does the right thing and jinks left which gives Norris a clean line into the first chicane. George Russell smokes up his tyres by outbraking himself and heading down the escape lane. But Piastri isn’t quite as nice into the second chicane as he dives past Norris who was not expecting it. This then allowed Charles Leclerc to steal second place too. Hard to think McLaren wanted this scenario. Further back Max Verstappen is complaining about something with Lewis Hamilton. Only noticeable thing further back in the field is the Hulk dropping from 10th to 16th.

ORDER – PIA LEC NOR SAI HAM VER PER RUS ALB ALO

Lap 3 – Sergio Perez is complaining about George Russell’s car which appears to be missing parts. He continues for now. So does Perez, behind him.

Lap 4 – Lando Norris sets fastest lap as he closes on Charles Leclerc. The gaps between most of the top ten drivers are around the one second mark at this stage.

Lap 6 – Nico Hulkenberg comes in for new tyres and a new front wing. He was given very little room by Daniel Ricciardo on lap one as they approached the Ascari chicane side by side.

Lap 8 – Yuki Tsunoda retires from the race. Not a great weekend after being eliminated in Q1. He ain’t getting a Red Bull drive on current form. Nico Hulkenberg gets a 10 second penalty that relates to Tsunioda’s DNF.

Lap 10 – Piastri is still just over a second in front of Leclerc, who is similarly in front of Norris for the top three. Only Perez is threatening George Russell for front half action.

Lap 11 – Sergio Perez does overtake George Russell for 7th. Russell pits at the end of the lap for a tyre change and a nose job. Meanwhile, the Red Bull’s are off the pace a little thus far, but are on the hard tyre like not many.

ORDER – PIA LEC NOR SAI HAM VER PER RUS ALB ALO

Lap 14 – Oscar Piastri has skipped out to three seconds in front now, while his team mate closes in on Charles Leclerc, and then dives into the pitlane. Norris getting the undercut may be part of McLaren’s plans all along. Coming out behind Esteban Ocon probably wasn’t but Norris makes light work of getting past. He’s behind Alex Albon for now.

Lap 16 – Leclerc and Hamilton pit. Lando Norris has jumped ahead of Leclerc, which works nicely for the Brit. Less so for Hamilton who ends up joining behind Ocon and Stroll. That could be trouble. Piastri has been given the Box call too.

Lap 17 – Oscar Piastri pits from the lead and rejoins just in front of Alex Albon, who is just in front of Lando Norris. But at least McLaren have cleared out other main teams in between their drivers. And Albon pits a lap later anyway. Stand by for team orders. Charles Leclerc meanwhile is questioning his team’s tactics. He probably has to do that a lot.

ORDER – SAI VER PER PIA NOR LEC OCO STR HAM BOT

Lap 19 – The Red Bulls are currently second and third and on the hard tyres. Given it seems everyone has to pit one more time, have Red Bull played a blinder here. The other main runner yet to pit was leader Carlos Sainz, but he pits at the end of the lap and emerges 6th.

Lap 22 – Valtteri Bottas is threatening to score his team’s first point of the season, harassing Fernando Alonso for 10th. Max Verstappen pits and the pit stop is a slower one with a delay putting the right rear on. That will certainly make Max happy. He rejoins 8th.

Lap 23 – Radio message from McLaren. “You are allowed to race, Papaya rules”. Hopefully some interesting gear coming.

Lap 26 – Not sure if Piastri is listening, he sets fastest lap and extends his lead to 1.8 seconds. Followed by another on Lap 27. And Lap 28. The lead over Norris is 2.5 seconds.

Lap 29 – Lando Norris sets a fastest lap now.

Lap 31 – Sergio Perez and George Russell are racing for 7th and Russell ran wide at the first chicane again. Further ahead Lando Norris has made a mistake and the gap evaporates between him and Leclerc. Norris’ mistake was running wide at the second chicane.

Lap 33 – Lando Norris pits for new tyres, looking for an undercut again. He comes out in front of Max Verstappen which will be easy for Verstappen to take. A slow pit stop didn’t help.

Lap 37 – Oscar Piastri is nearly six seconds up the road from Charles Leclerc and is easily a full pit stop ahead of Lando Norris, who is spending his time chasing Max Verstappen for 5th.

Lap 38 – Lewis Hamilton pits for new tyres, and McLaren check on Piastri to see if he can make the end of the race on the tyres. Piastri and probably his computer say no. Further back George Russell and Sergio Perez are giving each other heaps

Lap 39 – Oscar Piastri pits from the lead and rejoins third just in front of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The Ferraris remain. Can they make the distance? Probably not.

ORDER – LEC SAI PIA VER NOR HAM MAG RUS PER ALB

Lap 41 – Lando Norris overtakes Max Verstappen for fourth, which means his team mate is the next car ahead. But ahead of Piastri are the two Ferraris who may not have to stop now. There’s 16 seconds between Piastri and leader Charles Leclerc with 11 laps to go. Are the McLaren’s fast enough to close that gap for victory. Will Piastri let Norris past for Championship glory. Lots of questions. Answers coming.

Lap 43 – Oscar Piastri is two laps away from catching Carlos Sainz according to the screen stats, but there’s another 10 second to Leclerc ahead of Sainz. 8 laps to go, it doesn’t look likely. Sainz and Piastri have form for clashing too this season.

Lap 45 – That prediction was pretty good as Piastri catches Sainz on the pit straight but is not quite close enough for the time being. He needs to get past quickly and does so half a lap later in the Ascari chicane. Charles Leclerc is 12 seconds ahead after Piastri gets past. Lando Norris is over two seconds behind Sainz, so his chance for first is probably over.

ORDER – LEC PIA SAI NOR HAM VER RUS PER MAG ALB

Lap 48 – Lando Norris passes Carlos Sainz for third. Ahead Oscar Piastri has reduced the gap to Charles Leclerc to just over five seconds.

Lap 49 – Piastri is now over seven seconds behind Leclerc and it looks like he may be preparing to give Norris his second place for Championship gains. Unless Piastri has made a mistake.

Lap 51 – Piastri is making not much of an impression on Leclerc who is finding something on much older tyres. Lando Norris isn’t making much up on Piastri either. Leclerc looks safe with two laps to go.

Lap 52 – Oscar Piastri is gaining but not quick enough. It’s under four seconds as they cross the line to start the last lap. Piastri may not want to win now, he may not get out of Italy in one piece.

FINAL LAP – Charles Leclerc holds onto first position after nursing his tyres around one final lap. The crowd are pretty happy with it too. It was a great drive from Leclerc. Oscar Piastri gets within three seconds but it’s not enough. Lando Norris adds one point to his Championship gains with a fastest lap on the last tour.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – LEC PIA NOR SAI HAM VER RUS PER ALB MAG

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – CHARLES LECLERC

A sensational win for Charles Leclerc. Does it get any better than a win for Ferrari at Monza. He’d know, he’s done it before. But Leclerc did a super job on his one stopper, holding on well at the end as the McLaren of Piastri close in.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

OSCAR PIASTRI – A solid job in qualifying sees him line up second and stay there after the start as he behaved himself. But then at the second chicane he steals the lead from Lando Norris and doesn’t look back. Pity looking forward he saw a Ferrari that had only pitted once, but second is still a good result.

ALEX ALBON – Fast and in the top ten mix all weekend through practice and qualifying. 9th in the race is a decent collect.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – Good run to 10th place with some smart overtaking during the race.

FRANCO COLAPINTO – Outqualified a few cars at his first attempt of F1 proper, and ran ahead of some very experienced drivers in the race. Didn’t spin or crash, so instantly better than Logan Sargeant. TV picks up his move on Pierre Gasly for 15th. A final placing of 12th is a fantastic result.

THE GRAPE-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

Qualified on the fourth row is a genuine lack of pace. Put on hard tyres as an alternative strategy which didn’t really work. Losing more point in the Championship, although it could have been worse with a better race from Lando Norris. The Constructors Championship lead is almost gone, and the driver Championship is getting nervous for him.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

YUKI TSUNODA – Dropped out of qualifying in Q1 again, and was beaten in Qualifying by his team mate. An early retirement was after a clash with Nicop Hulkenberg.

DANIEL RICCIARDO – Made a decent start for a change, beat his team mate in qualifying, then came the race. Ran Nico Hulkenberg off the track on lap one, which gave him a ten second penalty. Then got a ten second penalty for not doing the ten second penalty correctly before.

LANDO NORRIS – Harsh maybe but qualifying first and finishing third must be a bit disappointing. Especially when the Red Bull of his nearest championship was having a shocker. A low ranking based on what could have been, not what did happen.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 5 / 10

An exciting opening lap with the McLaren swapping positions, and there was some good overtakes in the midfield and beyond. The front cars are too compeditive for too much racing, so it is done via the pit stops.

ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5

The Red Bull’s better so far off the pace in qualifying certainly was. Piastri move on Norris on lap one was also a surprise. For Lando. Then Ferrari win the race on a one stopper, when it looked it was a coin flip between the McLaren drivers.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

If a new order wasn’t officially declared before this weekend it should be now. McLaren are bossing the championship at the moment, and with the Red Bull looking a genuine fourth quickest at Monza, are the gloriest of glory days over?

ENDING 6 / 10

Tension at the end as the McLarens chased the Ferraris for the win. And would Piastri move over for Norris for the Championship. Sadly Piastri was able to make it close enough for too much tension.

OVERALL RATING 21 / 30

Interesting enough race, with a surprise win for Ferrari at their home track. The race doubles as an important one for the rest of the season as the Red Bull form is diving.

2024 F1 Season Review - 17 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Summary

2024 Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Street fighter Charles Leclerc secures another pole position between the walls, fresh from a big victory in Italy in front of his home fans. The Ferraris always looked likely and Carlos Sainz ended up third too. The pre-race talk of McLaren team orders meant bugger all after qualifying as Lando Norris was knocked out in Q1 with a combination of bad timing, bad luck, and an underwhelming first run. His team mate Oscar Piastri ended up second on the grid. Red Bull ended up fourth and sixth with Sergio Perez pulling something out of somewhere to head Max Verstappen. Truth be told, Perez has looked quite sharp all weekend and has won here twice unlike anyone else. In between George Russell qualified fifth and beat his team mate Lewis Hamilton again, who starts from pitlane. Some strong showings from the rookies in Franco Colapinto (8th) and Oliver Bearman (11th) who have two race starts between them before this weekend. Alex Albon could have been higher, but his team left a cooling device on his car as he exited for his final Q3 run. Alex Albon and Lando Norris are on the hard tyre, unlike most of the front runners.

GRID (Starting Order) – LEC PIA SAI PER RUS VER ALO COL ALB BEA

Lap 1 – Charles Leclerc burns away from pole position and keeps Oscar Piastri at bay into the first corner and beyond on a confident first lap. Sergio Perez steals third from Sainz into turn two. Max Verstappen also gains a position at the expense of George Russell. Further back, Lando Norris has gained three spots to be 12th going into the first turn on lap one. Pitlane starter Lewis Hamilton is up to 17th, Lance Stroll pits, not sure who he collided with, but you know it was probably going to be a collision.

ORDER – LEC PIA PER SAI VER RUS ALO COL ALB BEA

Lap 3 – Charles Leclerc’s lead at the front has been reduced as Oscar Piastri is charging towards the Ferrari, and DRS is coming. Talking of fast moving McLarens, Lando Norris gets by Yuki Tsunoda for 11th into turn two. Nico Hulkenberg makes Tsunoda twice as mad a corner later.

Lap 4 – Yuki Tsunoda is either having a giant tsook after being overtaken, or something is more broken than usual on his RB. He’s down to 16th by the end of the lap. And answering a question (of sorts) it was Tsunoda that Stroll hit on lap one. Stroll said Tsunoda closed the door, Tsunoda will say that Stroll was nowhere near.

Lap 6 – Oscar Piastri is now within the magic one second shield of Charles Leclerc, which means he gets the DRS on one of F1’s best places for DRS. But Leclerc sets a fastest lap to point at least one finger in the direction of Piastri. And keeps the gap at > DRS.

Lap 8 – Point/s for Lando Norris as he gets by Oliver Bearman for 10th into the first corner. His hard tyre choice may play out quite nicely as most of the cars ahead will have to pit a lot earlier. A quick Championship check shows Max Verstappen in fifth and making very little impression of Carlos Sainz in 4th. The pace Norris is going, they may be racing for position soon. Although there is a sizeable gap between Alonso in 7th Russell ahead in 6th. Colapinto continues to impress in 8th, in a Williams, in only his second race.

Lap 10 – Charles Leclerc is now three seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, who is being reeled in slowly by Sergio Perez. Max Verstappen complains over radio about having zero bite in his car. Perhaps that’s only because Red Bull gives you wings.

ORDER – LEC PIA PER SAI VER RUS ALO COL ALB NOR

Lap 11 – First tyre stop goes to Franco Colapinto. He’s on hard tyres, as a window into what other, faster cars might do. A point would be a decent and deserving reward for the rookie Argentinian driver this weekend.

Lap 13 – Max Verstappen pits. He’ll probably ask for a new car but will have to settle for new tyres. George Russell doesn’t want to miss out either and pits too. Verstappen rejoins in 10th ahead of Gasly. George Russell rejoins the other side of Gasly. A lap later he breezes past Daniel Ricciardo around the same spot that they ran into each other the last time they were team mates at Red Bull. At least one driver of those two wishes he could be back in those good ol’ days. Sergio Perez has pit as well as lap later.

Lap 14 – Oscar Piastri and McLaren decide not to pit and are losing the battle of the undercut. Which then leads McLaren to ask 5th placed Lando Norris to slow up Perez behind him is a reversal of the team orders announced earlier in the weekend. Piastri pits a lap later and the tactics have worked a treat. Perez gets by Norris down the straight but it’s only just not enough to get by Piastri.

Lap 17 – Charles Leclerc pits from the lead. He rejoins second behind his un-pitted team mate. Piastri, who is wearing Sergio Perez on his tail, is also behind Alex Albon, who is hanging out on his hard tyres. You could throw a blanket over the three cars, if you were quick enough to land it.

Lap 18 – Piastri gets in front of Albon, but not early enough down the pit straight to give Perez a chance to follow him through. By the end of Lap 18 Piastri is 2.2 seconds in front of Albon. Make that Perez, as the Red Bull sweeps by Albon going into lap 19.

Lap 19 – Piastri seems to like his new tyres more than Charles Leclerc and the McLaren zooms up to the back of the Ferrari. Piastri gets close enough, and with the help of DRS gets by Charles Leclerc for the lead in the first corner. It was late, late dive under braking. Leclerc tried to fight back over the next few braking zones, but Piastri hold firm, with a bit of a jink left not hurting his chances.

ORDER – PIA LEC PER ALB NOR SAI VER RUS ALO COL

Lap 21 – Leclerc uses his own form of DRS to get close to Piastri into turn one, but Piastri holds on. Leclerc also has to worry about Sergio Perez on his tail too. It’s a triumphant trio in front all within DRS of each other.

Lap 24 – A championship battle between Norris and Verstappen is now raging for 6th place. Norris has yet to pit, Verstappen has. Norris uses plenty of Verstappen tactics to stay in front, and the Red Bull driver makes a small mistake, which he puts down to his brakes are not working, which TV evidence agrees with.

Lap 28 – The battles continue with Piastri holding off Leclerc for now despite the Ferrari constantly staying with DRS range. Perez is staying close as well, but not DRS close. Further back Alex Albon is leading a train of Norris-Verstappen-Russell. George asks his team how much longer they expect the hard tyre drivers in Albon and Norris to hang out for. Ten laps the team says, which won’t thrill him. Problem is, Albon is over ten seconds behind fourth placed Sainz. Albon pits on lap 32.

Lap 29 – Somehow Piastri holds off Leclerc going into turn one. The Ferrari looked a certainty to get past but Piastri moves left and late enough to keep him behind. Close but no cigar the next lap too for Leclerc. And the next lap, which was the closest yet.

ORDER – PIA LEC PER SAI ALB NOR VER RUS ALO COL

Lap 32 – Alex Albon has pitted which gives Lando Norris some fresh air in fifth. He still needs new tyres himself but is certainly not losing out to Max Verstappen behind who does have newer tyres.

Lap 33 – Somehow Oscar Piastri is keeping Leclerc behind him. Somehow they aren’t running into each other, Maybe because they are both great drivers. Sergio Perez has really joined the party now and is right on Leclerc’s tail. How good has 2024 become? A genuine three way battle for the lead. And Max Verstappen’s Red Bull no longer the only car guaranteed of winning.

Lap 34 – Charles Leclerc continues to pressure Piastri, who doesn’t seem too bothered by it. Although Piastri doesn’t ever seem to be bothered by anything. Including winning.

Lap 38 – Lando Norris pits for new tyres finally and rejoins the race in 7th place. What a drive on the older, hard tyres.

Lap 40 – Lando Norris sets fastest lap, and is 7th behind his Championship rival Verstappen in sixth. The gap is only 12 seconds, which could be doable. The stats on screen say it could happen with two laps to go.

Lap 42 – Piastri v Leclerc still rages, and the Aussie still remain in front somehow.

Lap 45 – Another DRS inspired dive from Leclerc and another successful defence from Piastri. A driver of many more seasons may have cracked by now, but not Oscar Piastri. Who is more ice man than the previous ice man Kimi Raikkonen. Further back but staying with McLarens, Norris is within five seconds of Verstappen with six laps to go.

Lap 46 – Carlos Sainz is inviting himself to the first place battle party as the three cars ahead of him become a fast moving accordion.

Lap 47 – Oscar Piastri offers up an Up Yours to Charles Leclerc as he smashes out the gap to 1.7 seconds. This now means Leclerc is now more under pressure from Perez and Sainz rather than pressuring Piastri for first. It could all go belly up for Leclerc as he struggles on tyres. Either way it’s going to be entertaining.

Lap 48 – Piastri can taste champagne that hasn’t been soured by McLaren strategy circus, and is now 2.5 second in front. Leclerc is now just hanging on in front of Sergio Perez.

Lap 49 – Lando Norris gets past Max Verstappen for 6th, which will chip away at the Championship lead, and he also hold fastest lap, which could be a critical point. George Russell is too far away for stealing 5th.

Lap 50 – Perez dives at Leclerc and gets past briefly but Leclerc gets back in front at they get through the first corner. Leclerc shuts the door, which allows Sainz to sneak past for third. But it all ends in tears a few corners later as Perez hits Carlos Sainz and puts both of them into the wall. At least they can swear at each other in the same language.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

FINAL LAP – The Virtual Safety Car helps Oscar Piastri cruise around the final lap to soak up his second win. Charles Leclerc probably thankful his last lap was less eventual than the one before. Norris does a fine job from 15th to get fourth and Max Verstappen limits the Championship damage in fifth.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – PIA LEC RUS NOR VER ALO ALB COL HAM BEA

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – OSCAR PIASTRI

Qualifies second, makes a super move to get past Charles Leclerc after the first pit stop, and handles the pressure brilliantly from Leclerc and scores a deserved victory. On the weekend where McLaren team orders were meant to first be implemented this weekend. Drives like a pro, and easy to forget this is just his second season.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

CHALRES LECLERC – Another street track pole position, and another Street Fighting race which ended in a second place and included a mega battle with Oscar Piastri for the lead. Then he held of Sergio Perez right at the end, which was a good thing for him, but not so good for his team mate.

SERGIO PEREZ – A welcome return to form for the Mexican driver. Outqualified his team mate and miles better in the race. His late race crash should drop him into the Grape section, but the upturn in form deserves a pat on the back.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Boxes ticked. Thrashed team mate. Benefit from late race incompetence further ahead to seal another podium.

ALEX ALBON – Sold race for solid points.

FRANCO COLAPINTO – First points in just his second race. Outstanding for most of the weekend. Deserved result.

OLIVER BEARMAN – Another stand in points drive for Bearman, who has well earned his drive for Haas next season.

THE GRAPE-EST – LANDO NORRIS

Controversial for a fourth place finish and an excellent drive but…..Overlooking his great race on the alternative strategy, given the pace of his team mate, and the lack of pace for Verstappen, this was a race where Norris should have used his newly agreed team orders and won by a street from his team mate and slashed the Championship lead. Based on this weekend, and the other little mistakes that have crept in since Miami, he will find it hard to win the World Championship.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Another weekend of under performance, highlighted in being outqualified and out-raced by Sergio Perez. A driver most expected to be already sacked. His only upside is that Lando Norris was cut in Q1. Without that, his Championship lead may have really suffered.

WILLIAMS – For leaving a cooling device on Alex Albon’s car as he head off for his final qualifying run.

YUKI TSUNODA – First DNF of the race and retired after driving around with a Lance Stroll tyre sized hole in the side of his RB after lap one.

LANCE STROLL – Refer above. Might be disappointed that incoming design genius Adrian Newey’s strength is building faster front wings not stronger front wings.

LEWIS HAMILTON – George Russell continues to thrash Hamilton in H2H qualifying, then Hamilton starts from pitlane and makes minimal impact on the race. That Ferrari can’t come quick enough. Pity for him, neither is Adrian Newey to Ferrari either.

SAUBER – Last and obscure again.

CARLOS SAINZ – A quiet-ish weekend ruined by Perez.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 9 / 10

Overtaking for the lead, and a constant three way battle for the same position is easy to rate highly. Enough overtaking further down the grid to keep the race lively.

ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5

If you weren’t so used to Oscar Piastri being so unflappable you would be surprised at how Oscar Piastri kept Leclerc behind him for so long. The lack of pace for Max Verstappen is a dangerous surprise for him and his fans.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5

Red Bull continue their fall, and Max Verstappen has a mediocre Grand Prix. Meanwhile his competitors grow stronger, Lando Norris forgot to take advantage with a Q1 exit, but his race proved he’ll be back for more vs Verstappen’s title lead. The Championships close. Stand by for the remaining races.

ENDING 9 / 10

The battle for the lead was riveting with Piastri holding on. Then the battle became Leclerc-Perez-Sainz with the latter two of those drivers crashing with a lap to go. So much happening it was hard to keep up.

OVERALL RATING 25 / 30

A quality race on a track that always offers something. An Australian win, in a more social timeslot also helps.

2024 F1 Season Review - 18 Singapore Grand Prix Summary

2024 Singapore F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Lando Norris was dominant across most of the weekend and secured pole position with ease. Ferraris were meant to challenge but stuffed their qualifying, neither car ending up with a Q3 lap. Max Verstappen returned to form to a degree with second on the grid, while Sergio Perez returned to form as well, failing to make Q3. Talking of that, Daniel Ricciardo failed to make it past Q1, which means he may have qualified his last F1 car.

GRID (Starting Order) – LEC PIA SAI PER RUS VER ALO COL ALB BEA

Lap 1 – Lando Norris converts a pole position into first lap lead which will keep him happy and probably end the race. It’s pretty quiet directly behind him for a few cars until you reach Franco Colapinto who has an almighty dive down the inside of a million cars at turn one and climbs from 13th to 9th in one move, somehow he manages to avoid solid contact with any cars, walls, and time travel. Yuki Tsunoda owns the worst start dropping places, and he is in a Sainz-Perez sandwich, and is potential for being jam. Alex Albon also had a bad start dropping places.

ORDER – NOR VER HAM RUS PIA HUL ALO LEC COL PER

Lap 4 – This race is dull already with Lando Norris clearing out in front to be well clear of DRS and Max Verstappen. Mercedes seem interesting enough in 3rd and 4th but not capable of winning. The Hulk remaining in 6th is also interesting, more so if he can grab that elusive podium. But that’s not going to happen without a Safety Car. Where’s Nelson Piquet Jnr when you need him?

Lap 6 – It’s at this point we remember that only two cars are on the soft tyres as we speak/type. Lewis Hamilton in third and Daniel Ricciardo in 16th. Neither are going especially well, neither are going to win. At least Lewis Hamilton will drive at the next F1 race.

Lap 7 – With no excuse of soft tyres, Oscar Piastri looks slow compared to his multiple fastest lap setting team mate. Piastri is over two seconds behind the 4th place Mercedes of George Russell.

Lap 11 – RB pit Daniel Ricciardo for either new tyres and/or a new kind of torture. He’d now last behind the Kick Saubers. Which he might have to kick in a few laps time.

ORDER – NOR VER HAM RUS PIA HUL ALO LEC COL PER

Lap 18 – Lewis Hamilton pits for new tyres and rejoins in 13th, solidly in the midfield, which won’t make him happy. The race also has its first retirement in Alex Albon. We’d tell you what he retired with, but were asleep. Oscar Piastri is hounding George Russell for third. That pair are 11 seconds behind Max Verstappen who is 13 seconds behind Lando Norris.

Lap 19 – Carlos Sainz is getting used to his view for next season as he races the Kick Sauber at the back of the field. Further back replays show Lewis Hamilton taking 12th from Kevin Magnussen.

Lap 24 – Not much movement around the top ten for a while, but we’re awake enough to highlight the top ten runners below. The only point of interest is the radio of Lewis Hamilton and how much he hates his car right now.

ORDER – NOR VER RUS PIA HUL ALO LEC COL PER TSU

Lap 28 – Lance Stroll pits for new tyres. It almost wasn’t worth the effort of typing. Although, thoughts of Stroll getting his hands on a Newey car is frightening. If Lance Stroll can win a Championship then Adrian Newey is the greatest F1 figure in history. Although Perez could only win two races in the greatest ever F1 car. Talking of which, Perez pits from somewhere and rejoins somewhere else. It’s not at the sharp end that’s for sure.

Lap 29 – Charles Leclerc is up to 4th with a nice overtake on The Hulk.

Lap 30 – Max Verstappen pits from second and rejoins just behind Charles Leclerc who hasn’t pitted but is going well enough on his older tyres. The Hulk and Colapinto pit as well, both doing great jobs in inferior cars. Talking of superior cars, Lando Norris pits on Lap 31 and rejoins into clear air, with a fellow McLaren a little further back in the distance. No team orders required you’d think. Also No Jacket Required if you were planning to be Phil Collins at any stage.

Lap 32 – A grumpy Max Verstappen overtakes Charles Leclerc for third.

Lap 33 – Replays show that Lando Norris tags the wall quite hard on Lap 29. Nothing appears to be wrong with the car, so with that luck on his side, it’s his day for sure. And when we say day, we mean night.

ORDER – NOR PIA VER LEC RUS HAM TSU SAI ALO HUL

Lap 39 – Oscar Piastri finally pits and rejoins behind both Mercedes.

Lap 40 – Oscar Pastry rising through through the F1 field with a neat overtake on Lewis Hamilton.

Lap 41 – The two RBs are circulating around together. How nice. Ricciardo is in front of Tsunoda. But not for long. Camera pans to Liam Lawson in the pitlane, as is traditional.

Lap 45 – After stalking George Russell in reverse camera view for a few laps, Oscar Piastri takes the final podium spot. Although he is 18 seconds behind Verstappen who is 24 seconds behind Norris.

Lap 48 – Sergio Perez claims via radio he’s bouncing around like a Kangaroo. He has spent many laps chasing Nico Hulkenberg, and ultimately finishes behind him by race end.

ORDER – NOR VER PIA RUS HAM LEC SAI ALO HUL PER

Lap 50 – Daniel Ricciardo pits for new soft tyres and a chance at fastest lap. Is this a farewell present for Ricciardo? Or is RB sacrificing their driver, so he can steal the fastest lap point off Lando Norris, which helps Max Verstappen.

Lap 57 – There is so little action that the TV cameras follow Sergio Perez not overtake The Hulk for 9th. For many laps. Which is a few too many.

Lap 59 – The TV cameras also try with George Russell v Charles Leclerc for 4th. That doesn’t work by race end either.

Lap 60 – Kevin Magnussen retires from the GP.

FINAL LAP – Lando Norris win the Singapore with alarming ease for others, no less than his Championship rival Max Verstappen who is over 20 seconds behind by race end. Oscar Piastri rounds out the podium. Norris gets the honour of having Kylie Minogue waive the chequered flag.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR VER PIA RUS LEC HAM SAI ALO HUL PER

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

Denied the perfect GP result due to some last minute Daniel Ricciardo cheekiness, Lando Norris was in charge all weekend (unlike any Charles) and it was a Champion-like drive. Luckily, he reduced the gap to Max Verstappen some more, to give that some airtime.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Not quite back in the high life again, but second on the gird and in the race is a solid return to some form. He’ll need to stay that close if he is to save his Championship.

NICO HULKENBERG – Sixth on the grid, point scoring drive in his Haas, the Hulk keep producing.

FRANCO COLAPINTO – Continues to impress massively. Qualified well again, or at least much better than Logan Sargeant. Caused some nuisance on the first lap with a huge overtake at the first corner. Held his own throughout the race despite

THE GRAPE-EST – DANIEL RICCIARDO

By all reports this could be his last race. Bad enough to be strung along like he has been, but to seemingly gets the worst of strategy to consolidate the misery. We wouldn’t dare say sabotage, but who could rule it out. At least Ricciardo set fastest lap.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

SERGIO PEREZ – Qualified 13th, finished 10th gain a point. That one point wasn’t enough to fill the gap between Norris and Verstappen above. At least he didn’t run into anyone this weekend.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Not a great weekend. Having the soft tyres on his first stint didn’t help. Could have been worse, as he nearly binned it into the wall on the lead-in to that first pit stop.

CHARLES LECLERC – A genuine threat to pole position coming into the weekend. Instead he had his Q3 times removed which left him starting 9th on the grid and making mediocre progress

CARLOS SAINZ – Less Likely to take pole than Leclerc, but we’ll never know as he spun backwards into the wall at the last corner in Q3, and his race was compromised from that point on.

OSCAR PIASTRI – An underwhelming third while his team mate led with ease. Bit harsh, but needs less of these type of races if he is to be the 2025 F1 champion.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 2 / 10

Dull

ANY SURPRISES? – 1 / 5

Not really. Nico Hulkenberg hung on for a point maybe.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

A win for Lando Norris over Max Verstappen, and the manner of the win gives hope that he can do all it takes to take the title down to the wire. When we say the wire it’s not The Wire, but that TV show is so good.

ENDING 2 / 10

The ending of the race was much like the laps that preceded. Little action.

OVERALL RATING 10 / 30

Not the best race, but one that keeps the Championship alive.

2024 F1 Season Review - 19 USA Grand Prix Summary

2024 US F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Max Verstappen dominated the Sprint race section of the weekend with a sprint race win from sprint pole ahead of Sainz, Norris and Leclerc who put on a decent battle for the podium. Then it looked like days of old as Max Verstappen topped both Q1 and Q2, before Lando Norris pulled out a lap of magnificence to take pole ahead of Verstappen, setting up the Championship story nicely. A few surprises from the rest of qualifying, Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen good. Oscar Piastri looking slightly off the pace. And Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous exit in Q1. Not as spectacular as George Russell’s barrier filled exit. He qualified top 10 but will start from pitlane. But at the front it is all set up for the title battle.

GRID (Starting Order) – NOR VER SAI LEC PIA GAS ALO MAG PER TSU

Lap 1 – The cars blast up the steep hill towards the tight turn one and the two championships contenders go at it through the first corners with Max Verstappen making a lunge, but it drags them wide and the fast-starting Charles Leclerc steals the lead from 4th on the grid. Lando Norris replaces him in that position. Max Verstappen finishes the first lap in second. Yellow flags at turn one for some reason but it appears Lewis Hamilton took advantage as he is up to 12th on the first lap, and Liam Lawson has done well to be 14th from second last. A round up of lap one hijinks sees Alex Albon spin Esteban Ocon around. Albon helps himself to a penalty.

ORDER – LEC VER SAI NOR PIA GAS MAG TSU PER ALO

Lap 2 – Carlos Sainz harasses Max Verstappen for third and sets fastest lap, meanwhile Charles Leclerc is over a second in front in first. Ferraris looking the quickest car right now. Less fast is Lewis Hamilton who is in the gravel and out of the race. It was at the same place that his team mate crashed in qualifying yesterday towards the end of the lap. Replays show it was just a regular mistake.

Lap 3 – SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Lap 5 – SAFETY CAR ENDS

Lap 6 – Race resumes without incident or accident, with the top four clearing out a bit. Oscar Piastri is falling behind already, and truth be told has seemed off the pace a little all weekend. He is just in front of Gasly who has been quite fast all weekend. As a side, the Alpine has changed colours for this race to feature a lot more orange this weekend for some reason, and the end result is it makes it look like a McLaren. Not sure how the marketing works on that one. At least they are still running.

Lap 7 – Nico Hulkenberg takes 10th place from Fernando Alonso, who predicted his race struggles to Martin Brundle on the grid walk.

Lap 9 – Carlos Sainz radios his team to complain about lack of power exiting out of the corners, and it smells like fuel. Which is probably something a driver wouldn’t be too keen on. Can’t say I blame him. If there was fuel coming out of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari no one would know. He is over three seconds in front of Max Verstappen in the lead.

Lap 10 – A spin for Guanyu Zhou at least gives Sauber some TV air time.

Lap 11 – Liam Lawson is up to 11th after a great pass on Fernando Alonso. His drive from the back and performance in sections of qualifying are more than justifying his Ricciardo swap. Perez is only two place further up the road….he could get an early swap of positions with the Mexican. One this race, the other next season.

Lap 14 – Leclerc is over five seconds in front of Max Verstappen and cruising. The gaps are between 1.5 and 3 seconds throughout most of the top ten at this point with the battle for 8th being the closest one at the moment.

ORDER – LEC VER SAI NOR PIA GAS MAG TSU PER HUL

Lap 16 – George Russell gets a five second penalty for forcing Valtteri Bottas off the track in a passing move. It seems a little harsh given what happened on lap one at the front, and in other unpunished incidents so far in the race.

Lap 17 – Sergio Perez passes Yuki Tsunoda for 8th, which doesn’t really help either driver.

Lap 22 – Carlos Sainz becomes the first of the front runners to pit as he looks to undercut Max Verstappen. He comes out just in front of Sergio Perez, who would have helped his team mate if he was two seconds quicker. Sainz sets fastest lap on Lap 24 to emphasise the benefits of his new shoes.

Lap 25 – Max Verstappen pits at the end of lap 25 and falls behind Carlos Sainz in the net pecking order. Meanwhile his team mate was over 10 seconds in front, but getting increasingly grumpy about being kept out too long.

Lap 26 – Charles Leclerc pits from the lead, which the McLarens take over for now. Leclerc’s lead to his team mate is cut to just over six seconds.

Lap 28 – McLarens stay out for now in first and second, hedging their bets for strategy, and are going quite quick on the older tyres. As fast as Max Verstappen on new tyres on some laps. Fast enough for Norris to get ahead of Verstappen later maybe. Hopefully. Need the Championship lead to shrink a little.

ORDER – NOR PIA LEC SAI VER RUS LAW COL PER MAG

Lap 31 – Charles Leclerc has caught Oscar Piastri for second, and now it’s time to see how much the Australian will help Lando Norris. Not much, Leclerc breezes past the McLaren without issue. Lando Norris is a big boy though and can do things himself. He pits at the end of lap 31 and rejoins six seconds behind Verstappen, so not sure staying out worked, although Norris won’t pit again of new tyres.

Lap 33 – Oscar Piastri pits and rejoins just in front of George Russell who has yet to pit, but surely he stays in front on tyres which are 32 laps newer. His team mate Lando Norris sets fastest lap in his chase for Max Verstappen.

Lap 37 – Liam Lawson finally pits and conveniently exits just in front of his RB team mate in 12th. With fresh new tyres he could really make a name for himself for the rest of the race. Yuki isn’t happy. He probably shouldn’t be. Lawson uses his new tyres to good effect and takes 10th place and a point a few laps later.

ORDER – LEC SAI VER NOR PIA RUS PER COL MAG HUL

Lap 39 – The gap between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris is down 2.5 seconds, and Max appears unhappy with his car. Wonder if he will do the safe things and let Lando pass if it comes to that. Probably not.

Lap 42 – Norris is within 1.5 seconds of Verstappen now and on newer tyres and is happier with his car.

Lap 45 – Just half a second now between Verstappen and Norris who is now sniffing around for a good spot to pass.

Lap 47 – Not only is Norris now just a couple of car lengths from Verstappen, Carlos Sainz is threatening Charles Leclerc for first with a bit of a charge. Norris spends the second half of lap 47 ducking and diving around the Red Bull looking to pass. Norris will get past by the looks. But will he stay in front? And will that end in tears at the same time?

ORDER – LEC SAI VER NOR PIA PER RUS HUL LAW COL

Lap 50 – Lando Norris closer than ever to Verstappen as they approach turn one but Max has him covered for now.

Lap 51 – Lando is dangerously close to overtaking Max in the second half of the lap through the tight turns, trying to switch from outside to inside. They stay apart for now. Probably helps that they like each other.

Lap 52 – Lando Norris overtakes Max Verstappen into the corner at the end of the back straight. He had to do it on the outside of the track, but Max did force him off the track to do so. Cue radio conversations. Two wrongs make a right here me thinks.

Lap 53 – As we all await the fallout of Norris’ overtake of Verstappen on the outside, the McLaren has cleared out by over a second with a lap. That’s after a rigourous defence of Verstappen going into the first corner on the next lap.

Lap 55 – Not only is the discussion ongoing about the Max Verstappen move for Lando Norris, but he is also apparently over the limit for track limits. Which means almost guaranteed penalty for Norris either way. George Russell takes 6th place from Sergio Perez.

FINAL LAP – Lando Norris has a five second penalty applied….He is currently 3.5 seconds in front of Max Verstappen on the last lap, and it’s not enough as he crosses the finish line. Max Verstappen regains third position. Further ahead of the drama Charles Leclerc wins for Ferrari and Carlos Sainz makes it a red 1-2.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – LEC SAI VER NOR PIA RUS PER HUL LAW COL

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – CHARLES LECLERC

A dominant win after making the most of the first corner shuffling at the front. Controlled the race as he can do when the car is on and the Ferrari strategy team leave him alone.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

CARLOS SAINZ – A good all round weekend with a second place a fine reward in both the race and sprint. The race 1-2 brings Ferrari closer to Red Bull for second in the teams points battle.

LIAM LAWSON – Finished Q1 at the sharp end before sitting out Q2 because of his 60 place grid penalty. Made a great start up to haul himself up the grid on lap one and continued to make progress throughout.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Decent recovery drive from the pitlane after binning it during qualifying.

HAAS – Showed some real upper midfield pace, Kevin Magnussen made it to Q3 and raced in the top ten throughout, and his team mate Nico Hulkenberg didn’t go backwards in the race for a change. Both had good races to be fair and performed a load of overtakes.

FRANCO COLAPINTO – Another point and impressive weekend for the Willaims fill-in.

PIERRE GASLY – Good effort to qualify well into the top ten. Went backwards a little in the race, but a chance to show his pace for a change.

THE GRAPE-EST – LEWIS HAMILTON

Knocked out in Q1, spun out on lap 2. Fair to say it wasn’t a great weekend for the Mercedes driver.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

LANDO NORRIS – Turned a brilliant pole into fourth place. Dudded with a penalty to take a deserved third place away.

YUKI TSUNODA – Not the best weekend, despite occasional glimpses of speed. A scrappy race which culminated in getting jumped by his team mate at the final pitstop and then spinning a few laps later. Down the Perez replacing pecking order after one race.

SERGIO PEREZ – Another weekend of mediocrity. Outqualified by a Haas and an Alpine. Raced in the lower top ten for most of the race. Liam Lawson’s race won’t help him keep his seat for next season.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Whilst not a terrible end result in the main race, he seemed a little off the pace all weekend. Dropped out at Q1 in Sprint qualifying after having a lap time deleted, and he failed to take a Sprint Race point, and got a penalty post-race too.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 6 / 10

The first corner with the front runners was rather exciting, with the order mixed up good and proper. Thereafter the front runners were a little spread. Unlike the midfield which seemed to be swapping positions every lap or so.

ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5

The first corner shake up was a bit of a surprise, as was the Ferraris race dominating pace.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

Although only for third place, a battle between the Championship rivals none the less. And it ends up in Lando Norris’ favour. It was a pretty clean battle compared to previous ones involving Max.

ENDING 9 / 10

Among the midfield arguing over positions we got a battle between the Championship rivals to end the race. Which raged and raged. Then once over, there was the threat of a penalty to take it all back.

OVERALL RATING 23 / 30

A decent enough race with a lot of points of interest, with a Championship battle to end it all.

2024 F1 Season Review - 20 Mexico Grand Prix Summary

2024 Mexican F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Ferrari continue their good form with Carlos Sainz taking pole ahead of Max Verstappen. He’s ahead of his nearest Championship rivals which helps. Although after the turn one shenanigans last weekend it may not. Further back the Mercedes looked slow while being quickish, and the Haas’ surprised as they continue to climb the midfield. The big stories were the two drivers that were knock out in Q1. One was a surprise in Oscar Piastri who was one of two driver to feature in every Q3 session this season and who topped the previous P3 session. The other was Sergio Perez.

GRID (Starting Order) – SAI VER NOR LEC RUS HAM MAG GAS ALB HUL

Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away better than pole sitter Carlos Sainz from the dirtier side of the long, long run to the first corner and hogs the inside line going into Turn 1. Carlos Sainz cuts the corner but gives the lead back before turn 4. The rest of the front runners tip toe through the first few corners. Further back there’s an RB in the wall before the braking zone on the outside. It was Yuki Tsunoda in the wall and a few hundred metres away Alex Albon confirms his part of the accident with retirement. Replays show the accident was caused by Pierre Gasly who shifted left heading into turn 1 just as Tsunoda was shifting right. The meat in the sandwich was Albon. Gasly continued, the other two didn’t. Sergio Perez is up to 13th from 18th, it was as good as his afternoon was going to get. Piastri was on the wrong side of the first corner shenanigans and is only 18th.

SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

ORDER – VER SAI NOR LEC HAM RUS MAG HUL GAS LAW

While the Safety Car was tooling around in front, a penalty notice came up for Sergio Perez for a false start. Looks like he forgot where the line was to start from. He gets a five second penalty. More amusing was Charles Leclerc advising his radio that his water bottle was splashing him when he was weaving to keep the tyres warm behind the Safety Car.

SAFETY CAR EXITS

Lap 7 – Max Verstappen clears out on the restart after bunching them up nicely through the old baseball stadium. With no DRS allowed there were zero overtaking moves going into Turn 1.

Lap 9 – Carlos Sainz stays within the DRS gap and passes Max Verstappen for the lead. It was a late, deep dive, but not as bad as we were about to see. Verstappen fought for a few corners but the Ferrari had more.

ORDER – SAI VER NOR LEC HAM RUS MAG HUL GAS LAW

Lap 10 – Lando Norris is now right on Max Verstappen’s tail and Norris has a look into turn four but Verstappen drives him off the circuit and Norris has to take to the grass. He then has to give the temporary lead back and in the process of giving Max Verstappen back his second place by turn eight the Red Bull driver again pushes the McLaren off the track again. This time Verstappen runs wide with him and Charles Leclerc snatches second from both of them giving Ferrari a 1-2.

ORDER – SAI LEC VER NOR HAM RUS MAG HUL GAS LAW

Lap 11 – Verstappen faces two penalties here, but given he got zero penalties for similar driving last race, who knows what he’ll get. Probably nothing. Although, the driving was much worse here.

Lap 14 – Martin Brundle calls the TV replays of Verstappen-Norris outrageous from Verstappen, and the F1 stewards agree, and give Verstappen a 10 Second Penalty.

Lap 14 – Fernando Alonso retires his Aston Martin with car troubles in his 400th race start.

Lap 18 – TV cameras focus on Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson fighting on track for 10th place. Perez pushes Lawson off the track at turn four while Lawson pushed Perez off the track a corner later and Lawson keeps 10th place after a little bit of contact. The two could be fighting off track for the 2025 Red Bull drive. Perez also pushes Stroll off the track

Lap 19 – Stewards hand down another ten second penalty for Max Verstappen for the second of the two incidents on Lap 10. That’s 20 seconds all told for Max. Currently he’d drop to 11th place. Or thereabouts.

Lap 21 – A feisty battle between Piastri and Colapinto for 12th place which the McLaren driver takes. A few laps later Piastri takes 11th from Lance Stroll. Some progress but a little underwhelming his charge through the field from the McLaren. Perez pits for new tyres and a change in scenery at the tail of the field.

Lap 25 – With all the pushing and shoving it’s easy to forget the Ferraris up front in a quietly confident 1-2. Sainz five seconds to the good of Leclerc who is another six seconds in front of Max Verstappen.

ORDER – SAI LEC VER NOR RUS HAM MAG HUL GAS LAW

Lap 27 – Max Verstappen pits and takes four new tyres and 20 seconds while he’s there. He drops to 15th behind Ocon. Which is still in front of his team mate.

Lap 33 – Carlos Sainz is the last of the front runners to pit for new tyres. He retains the lead of course.

ORDER – SAI LEC NOR LAW PIA RUS HAM COL VER BOT

Lap 34 – A great battle between Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri and both Mercedes drivers for a few laps. The Mercedes driver eventually win out on fresher tyres.

Lap 41 – Oscar Piastri finally pits for new tyres. He rejoins in 12th which is ahead of the 16th place Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez are squabbling over. Without too much incident this time.

Lap 46 – Lando Norris starts his campaign for second place with a fastest lap. Meanwhile Max Verstappen is up to 6th already. But Lewis Hamilton is in front, which could be interesting.

ORDER – SAI LEC NOR RUS HAM VER MAG HUL COL PIA

Lap 55 – The Mercedes argue over 5th place. Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton wins the Battle of Britain/Mercedes eventually.

Lap 57 – Oscar Piastri gets more points with a pass on Nico Hulkenberg for 8th. Kevin Magnussen appears too far ahead in 7th. In fairness, Magnusen deserves that place more anyway.

Lap 59 – With backmarkers out of the way, it’s a straight fight for second between Leclerc and Norris. He’s just over a second behind.

Lap 62 – Oscar Piastri told to go and get Max Verstappen. He’ll need to jump Kevin Magnussen first. Talking of jumping Lando Norris is all over Charles Leclerc.

Lap 63 – Charles Leclerc wobbles coming out of the final corner on Lap 62 and nearly puts it into the wall as he comes into pit straight. Some driving to keep it out of the wall at 200 kph. That leaves Lando Norris second and 7.8 seconds behind Carlos Sainz with seven laps to go.

Lap 66 – Lewis Hamilton finally gets past his Mercedes team mate for fourth. Meanwhile further down the field Liam Lawson is clipped as he tries to pass Franco Colapinto and has to pit for new front wing. He rejoins last, and not too far behind Sergio Perez.

Lap 68 – Despite fastest laps, Lando Norris has closed within 6 seconds only of Carlos Sainz.

Lap 69 – Ferrari pit Charles Leclerc to steal fastest lap. Which he manages to do and steals that off Liam Lawson, who stole it off Lando Norris.

Lap 70 – Sergio Perez also pits to steal fastest lap. Or this is a Daniel Ricciardo special parting gift type of thing?

FINAL LAP – Carlos Sainz holds on to win for Ferrari, a first for the red cars in Mexico since Alain Prost won an equally exciting race in 1990. Lando Norris does his Championship chance no harm with second and takes advantage of Max Verstappen’s double penalty afternoon and 6th place.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – SAI NOR LEC HAM RUS VER MAG PIA HUL GAS

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – CARLOS SAINZ

Normally any driver given the arse from his current seat would get a bit sooky, but not Carlos Sainz who pulls out one of his best drives to win. A decisive move on Max Verstappen for the lead and held off Lando Norris at the end. Given Lewis Hamilton’s downturn of form in recent races, Ferrari may have signing remorse. Probably not as bad a Red Bull though.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

LANDO NORRIS – Didn’t quite get it done in qualifying but laid down a marker in the race. First statement was against Max Verstappen where he showed he’s not going to take any sh!t. Then to fight for the win against Sainz shows he never gives up. A modest gain on Verstappen on the Championship, with thoughts on what could have been after the stewarding in Austin.

CHARLES LECLERC – Not as good as his team mate today but gives himself an outside chance at the title.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – Best of the rest in qualifying and race in a magnificent performance.

PIERRE GASLY – Another solid weekend.

THE GRAPE-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN AND SERGIO PEREZ

A terrible time for both Red Bull drivers. Max Verstappen’s forceful defending of position came back to bite him and Sergio Perez’s general lack of form is making his 2025 seem highly unlikely. Red Bull lose second in the constructors to Ferrari now.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

YUKI TSUNODA – Making it three Red Bull family drivers in the sh!t list. Tsunoda crashed in qualifying (his fault) and at the first corner (not his fault). The end result was zero points and zero laps completed.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Threw away a good race result by missing out in a qualifying exit in Q1. Made a little progress in the race, but not as good as expected. A missed opportunity.

ALEX ALBON – Unlucky in the first corner accident, but it was a second crash of the weekend.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 8 / 10

Plenty of action through with a good long straight for overtaking. The early action with Verstappen v Norris was top shelf entertainment. It thinned out a little for action towards the end.

ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5

Ferrari pace, actual penalties applied to Max Verstappen, Haas’ form. Plenty of surprises.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

The title race gets closer as Max Verstappen ends up 6th after his 20 second bonanza

ENDING 6 / 10

Not as fascinating a finish as last weekend’s ending in Austin, but enough tension with Leclerc’s off and Norris chasing Sainz hard. Plus Piastri chasing Magnussen and the two Mercedes.

OVERALL RATING 24 / 30

The second leg of the triple header was a good race, but even more important for the end of year titles.

2024 F1 Season Review - 21 Brazil Grand Prix Summary

2024 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – This part could take longer than the actual race, if it happens. Lando Norris won the Sprint Race after Oscar Piastri handed his team mate the win due to the title race with a few laps to go. Piastri being the team man after taking Sprint pole and leading all the race.

Qualifying was meant to happen next, but the rain and gloomy afternoon light meant not a single lap was run. It was postponed until the Sunday. And Sunday was plenty wet too. Which caused the stewards to move the race time 1.5 hours earlier than originally planned and fit in qualifying before that.

Qualifying saw multiple Red Flags which caused issues in all sessions. The most notable was in Q2 when Lance Stroll’s crash at Turn Two effectively eliminated both Red Bulls from Q3 glory.

To compound that, Lando Norris took pole position for the race as he was sitting first when the fourth Red Flag in qualifying was brought out. The last was caused by Alex Albon binning it into the wall at Turn One. A shame, he qualified second before that. Oscar Piastri was third.

Some teams will have some big rebuild jobs in a very short time. Especially Alex Albon’s effort. But both Aston Martins, and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari will need some big rebuild before the race in a few hours.

And a few hours later the race is on. The track is wet but it isn’t raining right now but is expected again soon. A mixed up grid and wet could produce the race of the season, or at least a Championship defining moment as Max Verstappen starts from 17th on the grid after his Q2 bad luck and a penalty for engine.

GRID (Starting Order) – NOR RUS TSU OCO LAW LEC ALB PIA ALO STR

Lap 0 – Lance Stroll spins off at Turn 4 and taps the wall on the Formation Lap. He does keep the car going long enough to then beach himself in the gravel and is out. What a muppet. Start is aborted and the cars head off on another Formation Lap while a tractor picks up the abandoned Aston Martin. There’s a bit of a wait for the next Formation Lap, almost long enough for the dark rain clouds to have enough time to arrive at the circuit. If it does, all the cars will be on the wrong wet tyre. This could be fun. There’s no way everyone’s getting through turn one is one piece.

Lap 1 – George Russell outdrags and outbrakes pole sitter Lando Norris and the Mercedes takes the early lead. The driver all behave themselves through turn one and everyone makes it through in one piece. What would I know. The midfield all tip toe through the first lap with an interesting battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Halfway around there’s a Red Bull spinning off that you just know is Sergio Perez. And it was. By the end of the first laps Russell and Norris have cleared out a bit, and Max Verstappen is flying and up to 10th already.

ORDER – RUS NOR TSU OCO LEC LAW PIA ALO GAS VER

Lap 4 – George Russell sets a fastest lap as he increases his lead to 1.3 seconds while Norris has another three second between him and third. Importantly for the Championship Max Verstappen is still 10th and ten seconds behind Norris. It appears more rain is coming and soon.

Lap 5 – Max Verstappen passes Pierre Gasly for 9th as Norris begins to close on Goerge Russell. Verstappen is 8th two laps later after passing Alonso. Piastri is next and may not be as helpful.

Lap 6 – George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson are all under investigation for starting procedures. Oliver Bearman (16th) gets a ten second penalty a few laps later for causing a collision with Franco Colapinto.

Lap 10 – Max Verstappen dive bombs Oscar Piastri for 7th from a long way back into Turn 1. Maybe Piastri didn’t see him coming or he is very careful, but that was almost too easy, maybe his team would have expected a tougher defense. Or maybe they’d prefer a little accident while Norris is going so well. Na, Verstappen is just flying and too good right now. A lap later he passes Liam Lawson for 6th. Charles Leclerc is next.

ORDER – RUS NOR TSU OCO LEC VER LAW PIA ALO GAS

Lap 12 – In a different world, Lewis Hamilton is 13th, having fell off the track, then it overtaken and outraced by Franco Colapinto to the delight of the crowd. His Mercedes team mate still leads by just under a second.

Lap 17 – With some more rain falling but not too heavy at the moment, there’s surprisingly little action on track. Battles maintaining the gap, no one spinning off, no pointless and talentless crashes. Yet. There’s time to pay tribute to Sergio Perez’s career. He is 16th and ahead of only Saubers.

Lap 20 – Lewis Hamilton’s miserable race continues as he is passed by Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman. Not much movement inside the top ten except for Gasly passing Alonso for 9th at some point.

Lap 22 – Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen are really scrapping over fifth place now, and this should be interesting. Max Verstappen is complaining about being squeezed and not given a car’s width. Some would say Pot Kettle. We wouldn’t.

Lap 25 – Charles Leclerc dives into the pits as more rain falls. The Ferrari takes new Inters, which appears to be the wrong choice as it gets wetter.

Lap 26 – Liam Lawson spins out of 7th and drop to 9th. Nico Hulkenberg pits for Inters as well. A stewards investigation into Lawson and Piastri suggests a southern hemisphere incident.

Lap 27 – It is really raining now. Nico Hulkenberg has spun off and has beached his car. Surely a Safety Car is coming as the top two pass the start-finish line.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Lap 28 – Oscar Piastri lucks in on his track position and pits for new tyres. He takes Inters too as does Alonso. Still surprised no one is taking full Wet tyres. The top two pit at the end of lap 28 just as the Virtual Safety Car ends, and Max Verstappen passes them both for second.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR ENDS

Lap 29 – It is so wet. So hard to see the cars through the spray. A few drivers are on the full wet tyres. Yuki Tsunoda in 6th, Liam Lawson in 12th and Sergio Perez in 14th.

ORDER – OCO VER GAS RUS NOR TSU LEC PIA ALO BOT (Top Three yet to pit)

Lap 30 – Lando Norris passes George Russell on the back straight which is effectively a net lead. Unless Max Verstappen can stay out on the old tyres.

FULL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Lap 31 – It’s got too wet for the drivers so the Safety Car is slowing them down. Which is probably a shame for the cars on full wets. Talking of which, a replay is shown of Liam Lawson barging past Lewis Hamilton into turn one.

Lap 32 – Pictures show a partially destroyed Williams belonging to Franco Colapinto. Which brings out the red flag.

RACE RED FLAGGED

Time is needed to clean up the Williams as tactics are discussed and time is filled in. All cars change back to Inters.

Lap 33 – RACE RESUMES under a rolling start which should be less dangerous but potentially as fun. Advantage Max Verstappen at this point. Not so Oliver Bearman and one of the Saubers who are off on the gras before the lap finishes.

ORDER – OCO VER GAS NOR RUS TSU LEC PIA ALO LAW

Lap 34 – Ocon does well with the restart and decisively keeps the lead. Further back all the car appears to behave themselves again. Further around Lando Norris slides off the track and loses a place to George Russell. By the end of the lap Ocon is 1.5 second ahead of Verstappen in a pretty impressive opening lap.

Lap 36 – Oliver Bearman continues an eventful race by hounding Carlos Sainz for 13th and then spinning off into the barrier lightly and continues.

Lap 38 – Talking of eventful races, Lewis Hamilton is up to 9th and hounding Tsunoda for 8th. A far cry from his car being undriveable earlier. Meanwhile, Ocon is now leading by 3.3 seconds and driving like a wet weather king. He may be on track for a second win to go with the one from Hungary a few seasons ago in the wet.

Lap 40 – Carlos Sainz is off into the barriers and out. Big difference from his winning weekend just a week ago. Safety Car comes out again.

SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Lap 43 – RACE RESUMES – Ocon bunches the field up and nice and good, which should cause chaos. It didn’t help him as Max Verstappen dives inside at turn one for the lead. Further back Lando Norris slides off again and rejoins behind his team mate in 6th. The restart is worse for Lewis Hamilton who drops multiple places. Fernando Alonso also spins off but resumes towards the end of the lap.

ORDER – VER OCO GAS LEC RUS PIA NOR TSU LAW PER

Lap 50 – Max Verstappen sets fastest lap and has over five second lead to Ocon in second. There’s another 11 seconds back to Lando Norris in 6th.

Lap 54 – Sergio Perez racing Liam Lawson again. Which based on last weekend should be fun. At least they’re racing for 9th this time. A lap later Perez tries into turn one, Lawson says no, they almost touch or do, then that slows Perez down enough to let Hamilton pass on by with momentum. So Perez loses his one Championship point rather than gaining one.

ORDER – VER OCO GAS RUS LEC NOR PIA TSU LAW HAM

Lap 58 – Max Verstappen sets another fastest lap and is now nearly ten second ahead of Ocon is second. The Alpine driver himself is a comfortable 3.6 seconds ahead of his team mate who is being closed in on by George Russell for the final podium spot.

Lap 59 – The Hamilton-Perez-RB battle continues as the drivers scrap over the final Championship points. It rages until the end of the race.

Lap 62 – Oscar Piastri gets a ten second penalty for a clash earlier in the race. McLaren tell Lando Norris ahead of him to get closer to Charles Leclerc ahead of him so they can create a ten second gap to Yuki Tsunoda behind (currently 6.6 seconds).

Lap 65 – Either bored or determined to make a point, Max Verstappen sets another fastest lap. The lead is now 15 second to Ocon. An extra point for Fastest lap won’t hurt his Championship lead increase either.

FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen cruises out in front, with a lead of almost 20 seconds by the time he crosses the line. The Alpine team would be delighted with a double podium that very few would have tipped pre-race. Lando Norris finishes 6th and has possibly thrown away his chance at the Championship. Piastri drop behind Yuki Tsunoda to 8th after his ten second penalty is applied.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER OCO GAS RUS LEC NOR TSU PIA LAW HAM

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

Could have been a Championship defining weekend in a negative way, but it ended up quite the opposite. Started 17th after being caught out by a Red Flag in Q2 and also having a penalty, he made a great start to make the top ten soon after the first start. Then got lucky with the race Safety Cars and Red Flag. Dealt with Ocon decisively for the lead and never looked back. Meanwhile his Championship rival Lando Norris, who had held 2nd for a lot of the early stages of the race kept dropping places as he slid off.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

ESTEBAN OCON – Led the race with little trouble at one stage and was even pulling away from Max Verstappen. A far cry from some of his quite mediocre recent races. Second is a great result.

PIERRE GASLY – A great run, basically unseen by cameras to hold third behind his team mate to continue a great recent run.

GEORGE RUSSELL – Did well with a car that his team mate described as undriveable. Led easily for the first part of the race.

RBs – Solid points and decent race pace early, all while their rivals Haas have an off day.

THE GRAPE-EST – LANDO NORRIS

Had a great weekend on track at one stage. Gifted a Sprint Race win, and Max Verstappen demoted from 3rd to 4th in that Sprint Race gave him valuable extra points clawed back in the Championship. Had plenty more clawed back as Max Verstappen started 17th and Lando Norris started from pole. Norris dropped to second but was still far ahead of Verstappen in the race. Then came the Red Flag where he fell behind Max Verstappen on track, then left the track a few times to compound being behind Max Verstappen and lost more Championship points. Will find it hard from here to beat Max for the title.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

SERGIO PEREZ – Knocked out in Q2, spun on lap one. Spent most of his race in the lower midfield. Put on Full Wets when it may have transformed his race. Then the Red Flag came out and ruined that.

CARLOS SAINZ – What difference a week makes. Wins last weekend in Mexico, spins out of 13th place in the Brazilian rain.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Knocked out in Q1 and had a car which appeared to be undriveable for him. Made little progress through the midfield and was constantly on the radio about how bad his car is. Red Flag helped and spent the second half of the race in the top ten, but regardless, that Ferrari can’t come quick enough.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Took Sprint Pole and then on track for Sprint Race win until he gave that up for his Championship chasing team mate. But was quite underwhelming in the main race. The ten second penalty late in the race sealed the deal.

LANCE STROLL – Bins car before the race even starts, what a muppet.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 9 / 10

Enough action on track to almost not keep up with it all. Brazil usually provides action and a wet race almost certainly will.

ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5

Esteban Ocon leading with authority was surprising all right. Max Verstappen leading by Lap 43 after starting last is also a decent eyebrow-raiser.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

What could have been a decisive cutting into Max Verstappen’s Championship lead has ended up giving Max enough cushion to cruise to the title over the next three races.

ENDING 4 / 10

With a wet track you can never be sure if the action is going to come, but the ending was on the mild side of interesting. But who can complain after the laps the preceded it. Can’t have everything.

OVERALL RATING 23 / 30

Usually a classic race, add water and it’s guaranteed. Good Championship defining moments too.

2024 F1 Season Review - 22 Las Vegas Grand Prix Summary

2024 Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Qualifying is closer than ever, and it could have been anyone of the top four cars that could have taken pole. Sergio Perez excluded of course, who duly delivered another Q1 exit. George Russell was the star and took pole, while his team mate struggled in Q3 despite looking quick prior. The Ferraris were quick and qualified 2nd and 4th, but were split by another outstanding effort from Pierre Gasly in the Alpine. Championship rivals fifth and sixth with Verstappen ahead of Norris. If it stays that way, Max Verstappen will be a World Champion for a fourth time in a row. Another World Champion – Fernando Alonso is starting on soft tyres for some midfield interest. Franco Colapinto starts from pitlane after binning his car into the wall massively in Qualifying.

GRID (Starting Order) – RUS SAI GAS LEC VER NOR TSU PIA HUL HAM

Lap 1 – George Russell takes off well and keeps his first place through the first corners. Charles Leclerc sneaks by Pierre Gasly to take third and then his team mate to steal second as well. All the drivers behave themselves through the first lap with Liam Lawson and Kevin Magnussen putting on a show of good racing in the midfield. If possible things do get worse for Sergio Perez who drops a place to 16th. Oscar Piastri also loses 8th to Nico Hulkenberg.

ORDER – RUS LEC SAI GAS VER NOR TSU PIA HUL HAM

Lap 3 – Charles Leclerc sets fastest lap to give George Russell a warning up front that he is rapid on the streets of any circuit. He closes the gap to six tenths of a second in the process. Further behind, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and more may regret Pierre Gasly’s super effort in qualifying as he is already two seconds behind third placed Sainz and holding the cars behind up.

Lap 4 – Verstappen passes Gasly for fourth to make the previous sentence look like a folly. That’s a car gap to his Championship rival now.

Lap 5 – Leclerc pulls alongside George Russell and has a decent look around the outside of turn one. He briefly edges in front but Russell holds firm and keeps first. For now. Further back Oscar Piastri has a notice from the stewards that a False Start has been noted. A penalty awaits the McLaren driver.

Lap 8 – Something has gone amiss with Charles Leclerc. He has fallen behind Carlos Sainz and on lap 8 was overtaken by Max Verstappen. The TV men are saying worn tyres is the issue, which is pretty early but he was pushing George Russell hard. But it’s too early to stop surely. But how far will he drop in the process? Talking of dropping, Oscar Piastri is overtaken by Lewis Hamilton for 9th.

Lap 10 – Lewis Hamilton passes Yuki Tsunoda for 7th. Meanwhile heavy hitters Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris pit for new tyres. At least Norris got ahead of Gasly before pitting. They resume in 16th and 17th. Climbing up the field is Max Verstappen who passes Carlos Sainz for second down the long, neon-lit straight. Perhaps downcast from that move, Ferrari pit Carlos Sainz. Lewis Hamilton also gains another place. Oscar Piastri has a five second penalty applied for a false start and he celebrates by pitting and taking the five second penalty there and then.

ORDER – RUS VER HAM HUL OCO ZHO PER LAW MAG BOT – All no pit stops.

Lap 12 – Max Verstappen pits for tyres from second and rejoins in a bunch of cars. But is at least ahead of the Ferraris and Lando Norris. The faster cars waste not much time getting past the backmarkers, with moves a-plenty.

Lap 13 – George Russell pits, leaving his team mate to lead the race, which is nice for him. Replays show Yuki Tsunoda running over a safety sign in the pitlane as he exited, which we guess in kind of ironic. Not like rain on wedding days, but still. Hamilton pits too, sliding back through the field. He wasn’t happy with the pit call either. More Mercedes sabotaging.

ORDER – RUS PER HUL VER SAI LEC MAG NOR HAM BOT

Lap 16 – Sad times for Pierre Gasly whose is losing positions as his engine appears to lose power. He complains to his team who tells him nothing is wrong. The plume of smoke disagrees and Gasly pits to retire at the end of the lap. Stil la great qualifying though.

Lap 17 – Lewis Hamilton overtakes Lando Norris and showing some of the speed that he promised in early qualifying. The pass makes it even harder for Norris to stop Verstappen winning the Championship at this race.

Lap 18 – Sergio Perez drops a few places on track as his tyres degrade, and he pits. Unlikely to be heard from again in this report. Unless he crashes. Which is always possible.

ORDER – RUS VER SAI LEC HAM NOR TSU PIA ALO ALB

Lap 20 – Lewis Hamilton at this stage is the fastest driver on track and is closing right up on Charles Leclerc for fourth. Meanwhile Max Verstappen is 9.6 second behind the other Mercedes in the lead.

Lap 24 – That lead squeaks out to over 10 seconds as George Russell continues to control the race. Lewis Hamilton continues to harass Leclerc for fourth. That Mercedes will have to stop again, so there might be some entertaining racing later in the race.

Lap 25 – Sergio Perez passes Liam Lawson for 12th. That’s the highlight of the past five laps or so. And possibly the highlight of Perez’s season in the past few months.

Lap 26 – Oscar Piastri pits for a second set of tyres, he drops from 8th to 15th. It will probably start a rush for new tyres.

Lap 28 – Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton pit for tyres. Ferrari appear to call one of their cars in and then un-call it. The result is Carlos Sainz crossing the line for the pitlane when he shouldn’t, which may lead to a penalty, so that call change could prove more costly than bad strategy too. Sainz pits a lap later for tyres. Sainz rightly asks what happened and his team reply with they weren’t ready. A slice of yesteryear from Ferrari with hopeless strategy calls.

ORDER – RUS LEC NOR VER HAM SAI TSU HUL PER ZHO

Lap 32 – Lewis Hamilton passes Max Verstappen with more ease than most of the previous seasons. Max Verstappen can smell that Championship. Oh, and Charles Leclerc pits from second, for a third helping of tyres. As does George Russell a lap later from the lead, which he keeps. But it’s now his rapid looking team mate in second now, so maybe a race after all.

ORDER – RUS HAM VER SAI LEC HUL NOR PER ZHO PIA

Lap 36 – All the pit stops are done and dusted now, so it is a straight sprint to the end. The big story for the race will be if Lewis Hamilton can catch George Russell for the lead. And if Max Verstappen can cruise to the World Championship. And to a lesser degree the final points positions looks a tasty battle.

ORDER – RUS HAM VER SAI LEC NOR PIA TSU HUL OCO

Lap 38 – Overtaking move of the race from Sergio Perez as he overtakes two cars at once going into the tight corners at the end of The Strip. Outstanding stuff from the Mexican. He’s up to 12th.

Lap 39 – Max Verstappen is struggling on his tyres as the Ferraris close and Hamilton and Leclerc trade fastest laps. Hamilton is closing on Russell, and the stats say he will be within striking distance on the lap after the race finishes. Which won’t count if he gets past. Red Bull tell Verstappen to keep the Ferraris behind for now. He only has to finish ahead of Norris to wrap up the title.

Lap 42 – Carlos Sainz takes third from Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc closes in on a pass of the Red Bull as well.

Lap 45 – Lewis Hamilton has the gap to George Russell to under five seconds with five laps to go. He’s not going quick enough to haul in that gap, but he could apply enough pressure for force a Russell mistake. Further back, Nico Hulkenberg passes Yuki Tsunoda for 8th.

Lap 46 – Sergio Perez is up to 10th with another fine overtaking move. Missed whenever he moved up to 11th, but maybe he should be higher and we’ll pay more attention.

Lap 47 – Charles Leclerc passes Max Verstappen for fourth, who probably doesn’t care as he will still win the Championship.

Lap 48 – Lewis Hamilton runs wide at a corner, losing time and calling off any chance of a battle for first. Still, second is a decent haul after starting 10th on the grid. Lando Norris is called into the pits, most likely to set a fastest lap. Possibly the most consolation prize of the season.

FINAL LAP – George Russell cruises to a win, and well deserved as he dominated. Max Verstappen equally cruises home for fifth for the Driver’s Championship win. Other drivers did stuff, but none of it is more important than winning a title or a race. Not even fastest lap.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – RUS HAM SAI LEC VER NOR PIA HUL TSU PER

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

Can’t beat winning a World Championship, and Max Verstappen has done it for a fourth time. And this season it was quite the challenge. Verstappen has fought back in the second half of the season where his car hasn’t been the best or second best, in some of the recent races.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

GEORGE RUSSELL – Supremely quick for most of the weekend, took pole and led most of the laps in a dominant performance. All while keeping his illustrious team mate in the shade.

PIERRE GASLY – He may have blown his engine to the surprise of his team, but his third in qualifying was magnificent and continues a real surge in performance in the second half of the season. No reward today, but reputation enhanced regardless.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Looked fast over the weekend and disappointed with 10th in qualifying. Fought back magnificently in the race, showing that the pace is still there when Mercedes and Hamilton aren’t sabotaging each other.

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

What more does a driver have to do to be fired? Especially driving a Red Bull. A Q1 exit and lacklustre race is something we could pre-write for nearly every Grand Prix weekend for the past five months for Perez. Has cost Red Bull the constructors and surely won’t be around in 2025. And an outside chance of resting for the final two races. His point was actually well earned, but still. We shouldn’t be celebrating 10th place in a Red Bull.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

OSCAR PIASTRI – A disappointing Grand Prix, in a period where he has gone off the boil just a bit. Sprint Race performance in Brazil aside. False Starts don’t help, and neither did a McLaren whose pace disappeared in Q3 on the Saturday/Friday night. Lando Norris had a slightly better weekend, but a bad one for McLaren overall.

FRANCO COLAPINTO – Nothing worse with all the Red Bull/alpine speculation for a 2025 drive then to put the car into the wall in qualifying. Especially for the William team who were rumoured to considering skipping Las Vegas as they were allegedly struggling to rebuild the cars from multiple crashes across multiple weekends.

FERRARI – Usually the street kings, and they did appear quick on many occasions. But beaten to pole by George Russell and then trumped in the race by Max Verstappen. The strategy call for Sainz’s second stop summed up their nearly good enough race, despite a good haul of points. A real missed opportunity for the team championship with McLaren struggling in the race.

LIAM LAWSON – Been aggressive on track and vocal off it since returning, so a 16th place finish ahead of only Ocon and Bottas isn’t backing the bravado up. No one really wants that Red Bull drive do they?

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 6 / 10

The drivers behaved themselves enough/too much on the first lap and early part, so early action was limited. But as the race wore on, and the tyres did the same quickly, it became interesting indeed. Passes on track, passes due to strategy. Enough to keep one entertained.

ANY SURPRISES? – 3 / 5

Pierre Gasly’s qualifying pace and George Russell / Mercedes dominant pace is quite surprising.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

It doesn’t get much more important than someone winning a World Championship.

ENDING 5 / 10

A little bit of tension to where Max Verstappen would finish, and Lewis Hamilton’s pursuit of first was of mild interest. As was the battle for 8th, 9th, 10th. But overall, it’s a solid five rating.

OVERALL RATING 19 / 30

A race of consequence for Championships, and interesting enough throughout with enough on track action.

2024 F1 Season Review - 23 Qatar Grand Prix Summary

2024 Qatar F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – Max Verstappen took pole on Saturday, only to be demoted a position on the grid for impeding George Russell who takes the leading gird spot at the Red Bull driver’s expense. Verstappen was penalised for getting in Russell’s way on a warm down lap, even though the Mercedes wasn’t on a flying lap either. The one grid spot penalty is also a bit odd. Behind him the McLarens were 3 and 4 which was about 1 or 2 places behind where they thought they’d be. Indeed they claimed a 1-2 in a reasonably dull Sprint Race on Saturday, where the point of interest was Lando Norris moving over just before the finish line for Oscar Piastri to allow the Australian to win as payback for the opposite in Brazil two races ago. Elsewhere Ferrari are slower than McLaren which doesn’t help keep the constructor’s title alive, Lewis Hamilton admitted he’s slow, and Sergio Perez refuses to admit that he is slow.

GRID (Starting Order) – RUS VER NOR PIA LEC HAM SAI ALO PER MAG

Lap 1 – George Russell gets away OK from his inherited pole and tries to squeeze a fast starting Max Verstappen down the straight into the first corner, but behind those two squabbling Lando Norris is looking for a way past and briefly takes the lead going into the inside of turn one only for Max Verstappen to have the better line for turn two and takes the lead. Oscar Piastri falls behind the two Ferraris but does re-pass one before the Safety Car. Why the Safety Car?

Well Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto have come together stopped on the track. Further around Nico Hulkenberg has damage too. Replays show the German was to blame for the accidents, as he got into Ocon who then ran into Colapinto. About the Argentinian driver, he has quite a number of accidents since being touted as a Red Bull driver, seems no one wants that seat. More replays shows Lance Stroll adding to his 2024 Greatest Hits by tapping Alex Albon into a spin, and then spun himself, which also inconveniences Guanyu Zhou. At least there was no gravel trap for Stroll to get stuck/drive into. This time. Or he didn’t try hard enough. What a shame Adrian Newey is going to Aston Martin. Could be the biggest waste of a fast F1 car since Sergio Perez.

SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

ORDER – VER NOR RUS LEC PIA SAI PER ALO HAM TSU

RACE RESUMES

Lap 5 – Max Verstappen makes a clean break for it on the restart, and behind Oscar Piastri makes up for a poor first start by nailing Charles Leclerc into the first corner and robustly defending it into turn two. Further back Liam Lawson has spun and a Sauber maybe involved. Not sure which one, and it doesn’t really matter. Talk about not mattering, Sergio Perez is up to 7th which is a gain on two places from the start, behind him Lewis Hamilton has dropped the same number of places from the start.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS PIA LEC SAI PER HAM TSU MAG

Lap 8 – Max Verstappen sets a fastest lap as he increases his lead to a DRS defying 1.6 seconds. Lance Stroll gets a ten second penalty for his clash with Albon. TV types were saying Aston Martin were going to retire Stroll, but instead he gets new tyres and takes the penalty. Maybe Aston Martin have an eye for entertaining the fans. Na, Aston Martin suck, they retire Stroll the next lap. They were just saving Stroll get a carryover ten seconds for next race. He’ll probably one anyway. At least.

Lap 9 – Announced Lewis Hamilton made a false start, which may explain the drop on the first lap. Replays show it’s tight, radio from Lewis Hamilton is as good as a guilty plea.

Lap 12 – Nice battle raging for the final point and 10th place between Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso and Guanyu Zhou. With Kevin Magnussen ahead in 9th, this is all pretty crucial to the tight battle for 6th in the Constructor’s title battle. Liam Lawson gets a penalty for his clash with Valtteri Bottas, in a busy night for the stewards. Again, that Red Bull curse for ’25 hopefuls…….

Lap 14 – Pierre Gasly and then Fernando Alonso followed by Guanyu Zhou get past Yuki Tsunoda in quick succession, which may prove temporary for Alonso who is under investigation about an unsafe return to track after running wide earlier.

Lap 15 – Out in front Max Verstappen is maintaining a gap just under two seconds as Lando Norris ups the pace with a fastest lap. The other McLaren is right on George Russell’s tail but he is unable to get past. Behind them, the two Ferraris are circulating together which would make both Ferrari and the FIA nervous. One for team tension, the other for potential swearing on the radio.

ORDER – VER NOR RUS PIA LEC SAI PER HAM MAG GAS

Lap 20 – Talk of tyre strategy creeping into the race, which is code for there’s not very much happening in terms of racing, which is true. It is also unfair on Valtteri Bottas who passes Yuki Tsunoda for 14th. The RB driver is going very tslow at the moment.

Lap 23 – Oscar Piastri is still behind George Russell for third place, within DRS but unable to do anything. The Mercedes is nearly nine second behind Norris in second. This leads to the first pit stop of the race for tyres. It’s a long one, seven seconds, which then puts him behind Fernando Alonso. That’s his race done then.

Lap 30 – To break up the boredom of passing the halfway mark, there’s someone’s mirror on the inside line of the pit straight. That’s not good for those who want to overtake on the main place to overtake. And it could bring out a Virtual Safety Car to retrieve it. Right when the front runners are due to pit. Nice to have a bit of tension back. The mirror belonged to Magnussen by the looks of replays. May as well do an order before the main cars pit then.

ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC SAI PER HAM GAS ALO RUS

Lap 34 – Lewis Hamilton has a puncture as the TV shows the Mercedes in a shower of sparks. Carlos Sainz too has the same problem. There’s two of the front runners now crawling around to the pits. It could be from the debris caused by all the brain fades into turn one. Oscar Piastri pits for a regular tyre stop.

Lap 36 – SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

With the high profile punctures they decide to bring out the Safety Car to clean it all up and maybe retrieve that mirror if they haven’t already. Replays show that Valtteri Bottas was the one to clean up the mirror, and likely that the shards of glass that exploded from that impact caused the punctures. Maybe they should have cleaned that up with a Virtual Safety Car then.

It leads to a flurry of tyre stops. The Safety Car has worked out for some. Charles Leclerc has jumped Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly is up to sixth. Zhou is in the points for Sauber, if he stays there, it will be the team’s first of the season. George Russell was a loser as his team pitted him again, and then put him on the harder tyres again, where he could have gone softer and taken advantage of the early stop.

The cars are going through the pit lane as the marshalls clean up the track. During one tour Lando Norris nearly ran into the back of Lewis Hamilton.

ORDER – VER NPR LEC PIA PER GAS RUS SAI ZHO ALO

Lap 40 – RACE RESUMES

But not before Sergio Perez spins off before the race resumes…..

The racing explodes as the race restarts with cars jinking and overtaking everywhere. Verstappen and Norris vigorously argue over first place and both run widish into turn one. Behind them Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc battle over third place. Pierre Gasly outbrakes himself and runs wide at turn one leaving George Russell and Carlos Sainz to scrap for fifth place. Behind that there’s cars shaping up for all kinds of moves.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Then there’s the TV panning to Nico Hulkenberg in the gravel…….

FULL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA RUS GAS SAI ALO ZHO MAG

Stewards announce they are looking into a penalty for Lando Norris, for failing to slow down enough under yellow flags before the first Safety Car. That was flagged by Verstappen on radio earlier, which we’re sure Norris will be very thankful for.

Lap 42 – RACE RESUMES

Max Verstappen makes a great restart as Lando Norris is under immense pressure from Charles Leclerc.

Lap 44 – Ten second penalty for Lando Norris…….That will drop him to the tail of the field and he has three laps to serve it. Race over then for him. He serves it and drops to the back.

Lap 48 – Lewis Hamilton serve a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. He wants to retire the car after spending the second half of the race complaining about how bad it is. His team disagree. He falls behind Lando Norris who just set fastest lap.

Lap 50 – Guanyu Zhou is currently running in 8th place, and comfortably ahead of Magnussen in ninth. Bottas is catching Albon for 10th on softer tyres too. Could it be double points for Sauber. Probably not, as Norris is flying at the back of the pack and looks fast enough to catch at least 10th.

ORDER – VER LEC PIA RUS GAS SAI ALO ZHO MAG ALB

Lap 54 – Lando Norris is up to 10th after slicing through the midfield with fastest laps.

Lap 55 – George Russell announced he is under investigation for a Safety Car error. Maybe more penalties coming. Yes, he gets five seconds post-race, but it doesn’t change his position.

FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen cruises six second in front to win the Qatar Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri continues to fail to get past Charles Leclerc, which sums up his race. Pierre Gasly hangs on for fifth place after resisting laps of pressure from Carlos Sainz. Guanyu Zhou scores points for Sauber in 8th. Lando Norris takes 10th after an inspiring post-penalty stint.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER LEC PIA RUS GAS RUS ALO ZHO MAG NOR

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

THE GREAT-EST – GUANYU ZHOU

Qualified well enough in Q2 but then drive a strong race to score Sauber’s first points of the season.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

MAX VERSTAPPEN – Wins as he pleases at the front, survived pressure at the restarts but not really troubled after that.

LANDO NORRIS – On another day would have won this race. And on another day may not have gone so fast through yellow flags. Great last stint full of fastest laps and one point.

PIERRE GASLY – After being robbed by car failure in LAs Vegas after qualifying third, the Alpine driver gets a solid haul of point for fifth, and no less deserved after a great recent run.

CHARLES LECLERC – Gets second despite having a car slower than the McLarens in general in Qatar. Keeps the team battle alive.

THE GRAPE-EST – NICO HULKENBERG

Took out two competitors at the first corner but unlike the victims was able to continue, albeit at the back of the pack, behind Saubers. Qualified behind team mate Kevin Magnussen too. Then eventually ended his race in the gravel after one of the restarts.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

ESTEBAN OCON – Qualified last, taken out at the first corner. Given current form, and compared to team mate Pierre Gasly, it was probably a relief.

FRANCO COLAPINTO – The more he gets talked about as a Red Bull driver the worse his luck gets or the more accidents he’s involved in. This time was an innocent by stander, but that happens when you qualify second last.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Admitted over the radio at just being slow in qualifying, and then made a false start in the race, and was off the pace and behind Sergio Perez on the Sunday too. Then got a penalty for pitlane speeding, which made all the previous problems seem worse. That Ferrari can’t come quick enough.

SERGIO PEREZ – Eliminated in Q1 of Sprint Qualifying, which made his P9 in real qualifying look better. Made a good start and raced in the mid-lower points places throughout the race. But it is still not quite good enough for that car is it? Not for 2025 anyway. But then spoils all the above by spinning off just before a Safety Car restart.

LANCE STROLL – Retired due to usual buffoonery and will no doubt blame someone else.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10

It was an action-packed start, and then driver penalties were of mild interest in the duller middle part of the race. A loose rear vision mirror was the hero as it added loads of action. It caused random punctures, which led to Safety Cars, which led to restart chaos, which led to more Safety Cars, which also led to a race ruining penalty for second fastest Lando Norris.

ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5

Mid race penalties popping up surprised. Gasly running fifth, points for Sauber, Lando Norris’ penalty dropping him to last.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5

The penalty for Lando Norris massively affected the constructor’s title as he was clearly second fastest and on track for a big haul of points. The penalty dropped him to the back of the field, so instead of getting close to sealing the title it has opened up for the last race. And the race for 6th place in the teams battle tightened up heading into the final race. But it is still only the team’s title.

ENDING 5 / 10

Whilst nothing much was happening at the front with Max Verstappen cruising, there was loads of fun in the midfield as Saubers threatened to take points, and Lando Norris sliced through the field back into the points.

OVERALL RATING 19 / 30

A good enough race that was livened up by a loose mirror and loads of penalties.

2024 Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix Ratings - Race Result

2024 Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

Setting the scene – The final race of F1’s longest season is finally here, a Grand Prix in December seems like madness, but here we are. As for this final race, McLaren are in the box seat locking out the front row with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri, and the swirl of papaya rules aka McLaren team order hanging over the team and race to make it interesting. There’s the constructor’s title to be won between McLaren and Ferrari, and McLaren have the advantage with Charles Leclerc starting 19th due to penalties. Some outstanding performances in other cars saw Nico Hulkenberg qualify 4th, although he dropped to 7th due to a penalty for overtaking in the pit lane tunnel. Pierre Gasly continues his late season surge with 6th, and Valtteri Bottas in what is probably his last race hauled the Sauber into 9th. Bottas will be leaving F1 along with Kevin Magnussen, and likely Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez. Jack Doohan, making his debut for Alpine after they flicked Ocon for the final race qualified last but will start from 17th. Lewis Hamilton in his last race for Mercedes after multiple title and many multiple wins starts from 16th.

GRID (Starting Order) – NOR PIA SAI VER GAS RUS HUL ALO BOT PER

Lap 1 – Lando Norris gets away well, but so does Max Verstappen from 4th and he pulls alongside Oscar Piastri going into the first corner and they touch and both cars spin but thankfully avoid further contact, this shakes up the order behind Norris with Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly taking advantage. Sergio Perez spins off later in the lap and suffers race and career ending damage, looked to be hit by Valtteri Bottas who is also in his final race. Another driver to farewell F1 Kevin Magnussen has made a great start and is 7th. Charles Leclerc has wasted no time from the back of the grid and is up to 8th on the second lap. Oscar Piastri lands 19th after lap one shenanigans and Max Verstappen 11th. So, sort-of advantage Ferrari for team title, but also McLaren who just need Lando Norris to win and nothing else matters. Like Metallica say. Verstappen is just ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and perhaps they could crash for old time’s sake.

ORDER – NOR SAI GAS RUS HUL ALO MAG LEC STR LAW

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED

Lap 3 – Race resumes with George Russell harassing Pierre Gasly. Further back Oscar Piastri hits Franco Colapinto up the rear without damage to the McLaren. Added to his woes is the investigation into his lap one crash with Verstappen. It looked 50-50, so good luck to stewards blaming Verstappen for that one. Maybe if George Russell was the steward.

Lap 5 – Oscar Piastri changes tyres just as Max Verstappen is announced as the culprit of the turn one clash with Oscar Piastri and receives a ten second penalty, which will make him happy. On further replays, Verstappen could probably grab himself more than 50% of that blame. Note: this website is not English. Valtteri Bottas gets a ten second penalty for clipping Perez too. Won’t be long before Piastri gets one for the Colapinto tap as well.

Lap 7 – Charles Leclerc is up to 7th as he passes Kevin Magnussen. George Russell is unable to do the same to Pierre Gasly despite similarly following the car in front closely. Meanwhile the top two are cruising with three seconds gap between them and the cars behind.

ORDER – NOR SAI GAS RUS HUL ALO LEC MAG VER STR

Lap 9 – Oscar Piastri gets his own ten second penalty for hitting Colapinto. McLaren still have a hand on the team title, as long as Lando Norris leads. Which he is doing easily.

Lap 10 – Charles Leclerc reduces the McLaren lead of the team title to 21 points after passing Fernando Alonso for 6th, with Alonso possibly surprised to be as high, after bagging his car earlier in the weekend.

Lap 13 – Charles Leclerc gains a place at the expense of Nico Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen follows suit on Fernando Alonso. This leaves Leclerc 5th and Verstappen 7th. Meanwhile Lando Norris is 3.5 second ahead of Carlos Sainz who is nearly eight second in front of Gasly.

ORDER – NOR SAI GAS RUS LEC HUL VER ALO HAM LAW

Lap 15 – Pierre Gasly pits and rejoins 10th behind his rookie team mate Jack Doohan who duly hands him 9th. Two laps later Gasly is up to 8th. He is driving so well in this last part of the season.

Lap 17 – Lance Stroll is already on his last warning for track limits. Thankfully for him this track doesn’t appear to have gravel traps.

Lap 21 – Charles Leclerc pits from 4th place, yes 4th after starting 19th. He rejoins ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and behind Pierre Gasly in 8th. The cars that were in front of him are looking comfortable-ish. Norris has four second to Sainz, while Russell is a full 15 second behind Sainz.

ORDER – NOR SAI RUS VER HAM LAW GAS LEC HUL TSU

Lap 26 – Carlos Sainz is going for the undercut on Lando Norris and pits for new tyres. Liam Lawson had a much less successful pit stop aftermath and is seen cruising with something wrong with his car.

Lap 27 – McLaren respond with a pit stop of their own, and McLaren match the Ferrari effort and Lando Norris stays in the lead. But the gap is down to 1.5 seconds. Further back and less interesting is George Russell pitting and falling behind Pierre Gasly. Although don’t feel too bad for George Russell, he took the place half a lap later.

Lap 28 – Franco Colapinto retires, likely damage from Piastri the cause. He has gone backwards since Red Bull announced they were interested in him for next year. Those waiting for Piastri news will be whelmed by his current 10th place.

Lap 30 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres and a ten second stop. He rejoins in 11th behind Lance Stroll and will be seeking insurance policies. Max Verstappen announces over the team radio that the stewards should have given him 20 seconds and described them as idiots. The F1 bosses won’t like that, but he probably doesn’t care.

Lap 31 – Further back and talking about 20 seconds, Valtteri Bottas punts Kevin Magnussen into a big spin into the hairpin. His second collision of the race. Sadly he knocks himself out of the race and ruins whatever race Kevin Magnussen had going. Debris on the track could lead to a safety car. Although after last race’s mirror-work, maybe not. A Safety Car would help the currently pit-less Lewis Hamilton.

Lap 33 – Oscar Piastri pits for new tyres and a ten second penalty. He rejoins 15th, but could be one to watch for some midfield fun as the race winds down.

Lap 35 – No safety car for Lewis Hamilton, so he pits, and takes the faster medium tyres. He rejoins 7th and could be even more fun than Oscar Piastri. Not hard. Oscar doesn’t seem to be the fun type.

Lap 37 – With all the pit stops done, the end result up front is the same with Lando Norris three seconds up on Sainz. Charles Leclerc is third but 20 second behind. George Russell is four seconds or so behind that. The next two are the surprises of the race so far.

ORDER – NOR SAI LEC RUS GAS HUL HAM VER ALO ALB

Lap 43 – A charging Lewis Hamilton slides past Pierre Gasly for 5th having already dealt with Hulkenberg after his pit stop. This will hopefully give him a smile to end his Mercedes life with.

Lap 46 – Max Verstappen demotes Pierre Gasly back to the midfield as he passes him for 6th. But best of the rest is a deserved title for Gasly. Piastri has a big moment running wide while trying to steal 11th place from Yuki Tsunoda. Piastri might get a point if he is lucky. It won’t matter for the team title with Lando Norris still leading. Piastri does take 11th on Lap 48. As does Tsunoda on Piastri with DRS next straight. And Piastri settles it for good on lap 49. Piastri may be getting a move on as he can see his team mate in his mirrors to lap him.

Lap 54 – Oscar Piastri grabs the final point of the race by taking Alex Albon. His team mate Lando Norris is closing in to lap him, which will ruin his record as the only driver to complete every lap of the season.

Lap 56 – Lewis Hamilton is catching his team mate George Russell for 4th, but will probably fall short.

FINAL LAP – Lando Norris reappears on the TV Coverage to cruise over the finish line and take the win and title for his team McLaren. A first since 1998. Ferrari tried their hardest, with Carlos Sainz solid in 2nd all race and Leclerc carving through the field early from 19th on the grid to end up 3rd. Lewis Hamilton’s soft tyres worked a treat and he passed George Russell on the last lap for fourth.

FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR SAI LEC HAM RUS VER GAS HUL ALO PIA

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.

THE GREAT-EST – CHARLES LECLERC

A great drive from the back of the grid. Replays of his first lap look like someone driving an F1 game online with super powers. Made it as far as third

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

LANDO NORRIS – Pretty hard to not win Driver of the Race after winning from pole but here we are. Got a good start and kept pole position for a change and avoiding incident unlike his team mate. Sealed second in the Championship, which is the least he deserved. So solid this weekend, needs to continue that into next season for a season long title battle.

LEWIS HAMILTON – Up to 4th from 16th and a nice show of his skill that has been rare in 2024.

PIERRE GASLY – Has been outstanding in recent qualifying and continues to back it up in race where allowed by machinery.

NICO HULKENBERG – Fourth on the gird is the qualifying magnificence you expect from the Hulk from time to time. He raced ok and got another swag of point.

CARLOS SAINZ – Solid second best showing in the race and third in qualifying.

VALTTERI BOTTAS – Forget the first lap clash with Perez, qualifying 9th in the Sauber was mighty enough. As is his hearty moustache.

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

Sergio Perez signs off his career in style with an unlucky DNF. Sure his spin and subsequent retirement weren’t his fault, but mediocrity in qualifying means you are closer to Saubers and Strolls than not, and therefore more likely to meet with trouble. Although his higher placed team mate also found lap one trouble. But his team mate also won’t lose his job.

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

VALTTERI BOTTAS – In both categories as the dishonorable was deserved too. Ruined a brilliant 9th in qualifying with two separate accidents, the first gave him a ten second penalty, the second a career ending DNF.

OSCAR PIASTRI – Qualified second and was last not much after the first corner. Although the accident wasn’t his fault, ramming the rear of Franco Colapinto certainly was and he had to wear a ten second penalty anyway.

LANCE STROLL – A mediocre weekend without too much incident, but sad when you remember he is staying in F1 next season and will have an Adrian Newey car.

POTENTIAL RED BULL DRIVERS IN 2025 – It appears no one wants that Red Bull drive in 2025 based on this race. Maybe Red Bull can save money and enter just one car.

Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?

We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10

An exciting first lap which saw two front runners collide and ruin their races. Some great drives from the back of the field from Leclerc, Hamilton and the recovering Verstappen and Piastri. Some great midfield dicing and Leclerc’s 19th to 8th start was sensational. Thinned out a bit towards the end but still good enough.

ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5

First corner clash between Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri was a surprise enough, and then there were the great underdog performances in qualifying from Hulkenberg, Gasly and Bottas.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5

With the final race sorting out all the various driver and team placing, it doesn’t much more important.

ENDING 4 / 10

A Mercedes battle highlighted the final laps, a battle that few care about and presume Max Verstappen doesn’t care at all about. The front three were cruising and the midfield quiet.

OVERALL RATING 20 / 30

A first corner bingle shaking up the order, some great drives from the back, decent amount of overtaking. A few surprises. The race ticked a lot of boxes, and without the controversy that Abu Dhabi can provide in the past.

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2024 F1 Season Review Race by Race

2024 Bahrain F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – ALPINE

DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Saudi Arabia F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – OLIVER BEARMAN

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – LANCE STROLL

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Australian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – CARLOS SAINZ

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – LOGAN SARGEANT

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Japanese F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – DANIEL RICCIARDO

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Chinese F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – LEWIS HAMILTON

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Miami F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – LOGAN SARGEANT

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – FERNANDO ALONSO

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Monaco F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – CHARLES LECLERC

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Canadian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Spanish F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – FERNANDO ALONSO

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – GEORGE RUSSELL

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – CHARLES LECLERC

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 British F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – LEWIS HAMILTON

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Hungarian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – OSCAR PIASTRI

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – McLAREN

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

024 Belgian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – GEORGE RUSSELL

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE GRAPE-EST – GUANYU ZHOU

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

2024 Dutch F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary

THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS

HONOURABLE MENTIONS