Well, that didn’t last long. 2 1/2 (if you count the China spring GP as 1/2) races into the season and Liam Lawson is already out of his Red Bull seat, being degraded to Racing Bulls and switching places with Yuki Tsunoda. I don’t have the stats to prove it, but I’m guessing this is the least patience any F1 team has ever shown with a new driver, especially a youngster who’s 20 years old…
As noted in my F1 post last week, Lawson isn’t completely new to F1, having started in 11 races and finished P9 at best. That said, his first races at Red Bull have been a complete nightmare, qualifying in P18 at best and not finishing better than P12. That’s not good enough for Red Bull, and Lawson thereby becomes the next in a relatively long line of second drivers at the team who don’t manage to perform in a car that by the looks of it, only Max Verstappen can handle. However, the question still remains if Red Bull didn’t test Lawson enough before signing him to notice it?
Red Bull are of course stressed about the Constructors’ title that they in my opinion will struggle greatly to regain this year. There is however another reason next to Lawson’s poor results playing in here, and as so often, it’s called money. The next GP is at Suzuka in Japan, and rumor has it that Tsunoda’s sponsors have paid north of USD 10m to Red Bull on the condition that they put Yuki in Lawson’s seat in time for it. Let’s see what happens. No doubt Tsunoda is a fast driver, but other second drivers at Red Bull have been so as well – in other cars. We’ll see if Yuki manages to handle that raging bull any better than Lawson in front of his home crowd! If so, Lawson isn’t about to return, at least not this season.
The longest F1 season in history is over since a week back, and I think most would agree that it wasn’t only the longest, but also the best in a long time. In the end, Max Verstappen claimed the title as expected, but didn’t manage to wrap it up until the third last race of the season, and his Red Bull team was also far from the double, ending third in the Constructors’ championship behind McLaren and Ferrari.
Behind that summary, there’s however a whole lot more to dwell into that contributed to making this season as good as it was. An essential ingredient is of course that after a few years’ of complete Red Bull domination, there’s now four teams that compete for every race. Next to Max, both drivers of the McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari teams won at least two races during the season, and these same four teams also managed at least one race where they finished first and second.
Title nr 4 in the bag – but a harder one than any of the previous three!
Of the four, there is no doubt that Red Bull was the most unbalanced in terms of drivers. The team managed three 1-2’s, however all of them during the first five races, and without Sergio “Checo” Perez winning a single race. And after the first part of the season, he was really nowhere near a podium and scored less points during the remaining 18 races than he did during the first six. That’s obviously also what led to Red Bull not winning the Constructors’ championship. Perez didn’t have to do as well as Max for that to happen, but he would have had to do much better than he did.
That Red Bull will break the contract with Perez that would otherwise be valid for another two years seems rather obvious, and team boss Christian Horner recently declared that current RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Nigel Lawson are his preferred replacement candidates. Horner said he feels both of them did a good job in challenging circumstances – obviously implying that’s not how he feels about Checo Perez, and rightly so.
In the end it was McLaren that took the Constructors’ title, and what a line-up they had, and will continue to have next year, with Norris and Piastri. Between them, the two won six races during the season with Norris in the lead, clinching four, and they ended second (Norris) and fourth (Piastri) in the Drivers’ ranking. Even more importantly, it very much felt not only like Piastri caught up to Norris as the season progressed, but also like the car kept improving. If the trend continues next year, McLaren will certainly be a serious challenger for both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles.
A very well-deserved Constructors’ title for F1’s most sympathetic team!
Mercedes on the other hand really found their speed in the second part of the season, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton each winning two races and finishing only 22 points apart as sixth and seventh in the Drivers’ championship (Russell ahead of Lewis). Just like with McLaren, the direction of travel is the right one, but there’s obviously an element of insecurity tied to Lewis moving to Ferrari after no less than 12 seasons and six world championship titles at Mercedes. That there was some emotion tied to this was very visible after the last race of the season at Abu Dhabi, and who can blame him. Faces at Mercedes were certainly happier a few years ago before Red Bull’s domination started, but it doesn’t change the fact that Lewis’s time at Mercedes has been one of the most successful runs ever in F1.
Just like Mercedes, Ferrari also became more competitive as the season progressed, with Charles Leclerc winning three races against Carlos Sainz’ two. The big surprise was however the announcement already before the first race of the season that Lewis would replace Sainz in 2025. The jury is certainly still out as to the wisdom of the switch. As Carlos would go on to prove during the season, he is very much a top driver more or less on par with Charles Leclerc, and both of them seem to have gotten along quite well, and together with team boss Cédric Vasseur creating more harmony in Ferrari than in many years.
Let’s hope the happy faces last…
That Lewis feels he needs a new challenge after 12 seasons at Mercedes is certainly not surprising, but he’s no longer a young man, and most of us would probably have thought he would rather be retiring. Ferrari hasn’t always been known for a wise strategy, and you can’t help but wonder if this decision will go down as another of those that in hindsight was less well thought through.
Carlos Sainz was thus left out in the cold and it took a while for him to find a new seat, which in the end turned out to be with Williams, where he will drive alongside Albon, replacing Logan Sargeant. Williams is certainly in far better shape than a few years ago, but the team is still miles away from the big four. In terms of Alex Albon, he’s certainly proven he can drive a car fast after his less than memorable run at Red Bull, but contrary to him, Carlos Sainz has nothing to prove in the driving department. You can’t help but feeling sorry for Carlos, and hope things at Williams will turn out better than there is reason to expect.
It would seem winning races is not enough…
Next to Sargeant, three other drivers will leave the circus after this season, namely both Alfa Romeo Sauber drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, and Kevin Magnussen at Haas. Both Bottas and Magnussen are well past their prime and will leave F1 altogether, whereas it’s unclear what Guanuy will do. Newcomer Oliver Bearman will replace Magnussen at Haas, whereas Alfa Romeo Sauber is in a bit of a flux, with the team set to become Audi in 2026. In 2025, Nico Hülkenberg and newcomer Gabriel Bortoleto will make up the line-up.
As we close the books on 2024, it’s thus on a season that was really exciting, with four different teams winning races and seeing their highs at different times during the season. Hell, even Max Verstappen proved he was human in the last race, driving in to the side of Oscar Piastri in such an obvious driver mistake that not even he could contest it (he couldn’t help himself contesting the penalty though). Is he the best F1 driver ever? He’s certainly a candidate, and next to driving skills, he clearly has the mindset of a Senna, Schumacher or Prost (think competitive to a rather unpleasant level) to back it up.
Whoever replaces Checo Perez at Red Bull doesn’t matter, Max will completely dominate the team in 2025. At Ferrari, Charles Leclerc who doesn’t mind the limelight will have quite a lot of competition for it with Lewis alongside him, and over at Mercedes, George Russell is all of a sudden the team’s first driver. Will it perhaps be McLaren who in the end draw the longest straw out of all this? We’ll have a first indication in mid-March, as the new season kicks off in Melbourne!
We’re around a third into the 2024 F1 season and until a couple of races ago, it did look like it would again be a very one-sided affair, with Max in his Red Bull having claimed all pole positions so far, winning 5 races, and looking unstoppable on the way to his fourth consecutive world championship title.
And then came Emilia Romagna in Italy, which Verstappen did win but not quite like before, where Max wasn’t even close to the podium. Ever so slowly a bit of excitement has returned – what has happened? To recap for those who may have gotten tired of following this every other week (you have my sympathy), it’s really two teams that have made notable progress and have gotten a bit too close to comfort for Red Bull.
If they fired him to make him faster, it worked
The first one is Ferrari, currently second in the championship and the team that so far had been closest to Red Bull. And with two great drivers, it’s both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc who at least to some extent give Verstappen a run for the money. Sainz’s improving results showed a strong correlation with Ferrari’s decision to sack him, replacing him with Lewis Hamilton, in 2025 and could perhaps be seen as his pride having been hurt. Personally, I think it’s more a case of a great driver in an improved car.
Leclerc’s results seem to validate that theory and at no time more so than last week in Monaco when he won his home race for the first time, having previously not even been on the podium in the Principality. Leclerc is one of a few thousand Monegasques so this was also the first time a native won the very special Monaco race, and did so in quite a dominant way.
The second team that has come closer to Red Bull, perhaps even more so than Ferrari, is of course McLaren. Here Lando Norris has led the charge and nowhere more so than in Miami where he won his first race of the season, his fourth podium for the season. Oscar Piastri is also finding more speed in his car, with a first podium finish in Monaco where he was second.
I’m willing to bet this wasn’t the lsat time we see Lando on P1
So what about Red Bull? Well, when Norris won in Miami in the first days of May, Max finished second and Perez fourth. And then in Monaco, Verstappen wasn’t on pole for the first time this year, starting six. Perez, also a first for this year, was however eliminated in Q1, starting impossibly far back. Of course Monaco is a very special race and not really indicative of things to come, but the team confessed to the car having a problem when driven on curbs which obviously penalized lap times, and Max also hit a wall in qualifying, ruining his chances of starting higher up. For a driver never making mistakes, that’s telling.
I may be grasping for straws here and of course Red Bull is still the leading team this season with a very healthy lead both in the team and driver rankings. The most likely scenario is no doubt still that Max and Red Bull win both titles. But Perez’ renewed performance dip is worrying, and there’s little doubt that Verstappen feels both McLaren and Ferrari breathing down his neck more than in the first part of the season. In that sense, the coming races will be very interesting, especially Barcelona on 23 June, since that is the next real driving course.
It’s all hugs and smiles for now – hopefully it’ll stay that way
Further down the field, not much has changed. Unfortunately Mercedes hasn’t found the same speed as Ferrari and McLaren, and now rank clearly behind the two. Further down, Alonso does what he can in the Aston Martin car, with the team is a solid fifth in the championship. Even Stroll manages to score a few points here and there, knowing that Aston Martin no doubt has the most unbalanced driver line-up of all…). As for the rest of the teams, there really isn’t much to mention.
We’ll see over the next races how this pans out. Can Max preserve his lead and for the team’s sake, can Perez find his speed again? Will Leclerc be able to build on Monaco and keep that competitiveness over the coming races? Or will Lando Norries be the hungrier one, extending his nice podium run? I guess the season does have some excitement in it, after all!
PS. Make sure you don’t miss the documentary “Senna” on Netflix, a nice portrait of the man who was perhaps the greatest of them all. It also serves as a reminder of how very different the F1 sport was 30 years ago. Not to take anything away from the drivers nowadays, but the level of courage of those guys… You’ll see what I mean if you watch it!
The 2014 F1 season’s first testing week in Jerez had been much anticipated given the number of changes to the cars and the power units for the new season. And in terms of action, it certainly didn’t disappoint. The potential reliability issues we brought up when describing the rule changes for the new season (see here) hit especially the Renault power units with a vengeance, and none more than Red Bull. Engine cooling was the big issue, and RBR’s new car RB10 therefore spent most time off the track whilst rivals were collecting both laps and experience. At the end of the week, the three Renault teams had managed 151 laps, however of these RBR only managed 21. In contrast, the four Mercedes teams completed 875 laps and the three Ferrari teams 444.
You can leave the cover on, boys...
Too much should not be read in to the season’s first testing week, especially not to lap times, but it is fair to say that RBR has a lot of work to do before, and a lot to prove during the next testing week in Bahrain on February 19-22.
Judging by the drivers’ comments there was a lot of satisfaction with the new cars. The torque provided by the new engines make them feel very powerful and the new 8-speed gearbox along with thew new breaking system also contribute to making the experience different. Finally the number of buttons on the new steering wheel will take some getting used to, and the wheel was by many likened more to a smart phone.
Right, let’s see, was it the red one or, eerrr, the green, or…
Jerez was Swedish F1 rookie Marcus Ericsson’s first showing for Caterham, and at least Caterham was the Renault-powered team that managed most laps. It was however another Scandinavian who stole the attention; Mc Laren’s Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen clocked the fastest lap of the week!
I ett race som var spännande, trots få omkörningar, lyckades Webber och Red Bull ta hem segern före Rosberg i Mercedes och Alonso i Ferrari. Anmärkningsvärt är att, efter 78 körda varv, kom de sex första bilarna i mål inom loppet av sex sekunder, och de fyra första bilarna inom loppet av 1,3 sekunder, vilket är rekord!
Ferrari tog stora steg framåt, inte minst tack vare en sjätteplats för Massa, och nu leder Alonso förar-VM!
Jenson Button vann första F1-loppet i år före Vettel i Red Bull och Hamilton i den andra McLaren-bilen. Jenson ledde loppet från start till mål och gjorde inte ett enda misstag.
Red Bull-bilarna visade sig vara snabbare i racetrim (än i kvaltrim) och de bärgade andra och fjärdeplatsen. För Mercedes var det tvärtom; precis som förra året så var bilarna inte alls lika konkurrenskraftiga i tävlingstrim .
Alonso i Ferrari tog en femteplats efter McLaren- och Red Bull-bilarna, vilket var bättre än förväntat med tanke på att han startade från 12:e startposition. För Massa, i den andra Ferrarin gick loppet väldigt dåligt och han låg och kämpade långt ner i fältet innan han kraschade med Bruno Senna. Undrar om Massa kommer att sitta kvar i Ferrarin säsongen ut…
The Thrill of Driving 