What started off as a season that seemed to be dominated by Max Verstappen quickly changed. Verstappen remains the champion of the 2024 season after winning at the Las Vegas Grand Prix with two races left in the season. There have been some shocking contracts signed and just as many heartbreaking endings to contracts. For the first time since 2014, McLaren was leading the constructor’s championship and for the first time since 1998, McLaren won the constructor’s championship. Red Bull Racing has not dominated the season as they did in 2023. Max Verstappen, three-time and current world champion, is still leading the points and signed until 2028 at Red Bull. There have been mid-season driver changes, maiden wins, and shocking contracts signed for 2025. Another exciting announcement, though it’s not happening next year, is that General Motors will be joining the grid in 2026 as the eleventh team and will most likely be called “Cadillac”.
Of course, we can’t forget about the swearing controversy which saw the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association writing an open letter to the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem after Verstappen was handed a one-day community service order after saying the f-word while discussing his car’s setup after the race in Azerbaijan with Charles Leclerc receiving a €10,000 fine for swearing during a post-race press conference after the Mexican GP.
Contracts and Teams:
Aston Martin:
Aston Martin has signed F1 design genius, Adrian Newey, for the 2025 season. Owned by Canadian billionaire, Lawrence Stroll, the team consists of drivers Fernando Alonso, two-time world champion, and Lance Stroll, Lawrence’s son. The team has announced that ahead of Newey’s arrival, the Technical Director, Dan Fallows, has stepped down from his role; however, he will stay within the team for the upcoming season.
Williams Racing:
Last year, Williams Racing gained my respect and I became a fan, though how Vowles handled ending Logan Sargeant’s contract early really left a bitter taste in my mouth. Though it was confirmed that Sargeant would be replaced by current Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, in 2025, it was still a huge shock when Williams Racing announced midseason that Sargeant was being dropped and his replacement, F2 racer Franco Colapinto, would be taking his seat for the remainder of the season. In Colapinto’s second race, he was able to score points, landing within the top 10, something that Sargeant was unable to do for a season and a half. Colapinto managed to score points in the COTA race in 10th place.
Ferrari:
Charles Leclerc, the driver for Scuderia Ferrari, having won not only Monza for the second time, (after having won there once in 2019) but also his home race of Monaco, breaking what some fans and commentators called the “Monaco curse.” He also pulled off a win in COTA, with his teammate Carlos Sainz coming second, making it Ferrari’s first 1-2 finish in the USA in 18 years. Sainz won both the Australian and Mexican Grands Prix. Sainz also announced that he was joining Williams after Lewis Hamilton’s shock announcement was made to join Ferrari and leave Mercedes.
Ollie Bearman debuted with two teams this season. The 18-year-old British driver not only drove for Ferrari in the second race of the season at Jeddah, filling in for Carlos Sainz, but he also drove for Haas in Azerbaijan. With driver Kevin Magnussen banned after going over the penalty point limit for the season, Haas’ new driver for 2025, Bearman, stepped up to replace him. Magnussen will also be leaving Haas at the end of the season. Bearman became the first driver in F1 history to score points with two different teams in the same season. He also stepped up in the Brazilian GP when Magnussen was too sick to race.
Visa Cash App RB:
Daniel Ricciardo was in perhaps one of the most brutal moments in F1 in recent years, dropped from Visa Cash App RB (VCARB), formerly AlphaTauri, the day after the Singapore Grand Prix. He was replaced by Kiwi driver, Liam Lawson. The 22-year-old had debuted last season for AlphaTauri after Ric broke his wrist. In his debut race at the United States GP as an officially signed F1 driver, Lawson scored points and placed ninth, above his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. At that same race, Lawson also managed to frustrate Fernnado Alsonso, who is signed with Aston Martin; the two-time champion compromised Lawson’s qualifying lap after an altercation during the sprint race. Lawson quickly proved he was there to fight and not just play nice with Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing. Lawson flipped Perez off during the Mexican Grand Prix after managing to finally pass him which left Perez with sidepod damage during an on-track battle. Though Lawson has been signed to RB for the remainder of the 2024 season, he has not yet been confirmed to be the 2025 driver beside Tsunoda, with rumours of Red Bull being interested in Colapinto also circling the paddock.
McLaren:
McLaren racing also saw both drivers win multiple races this season, including both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris’s maiden wins. Though Piastri’s win wasn’t without controversy. Piastri’s maiden win at the Hungarian GP occurred after Norris handed him the lead due to team orders. Piastri had started second behind Norris who was on the pole but beat Norris to the first turn taking the lead that he lost to Norris after a pit-stop strategy that favoured Norris instead of Piastri who was leading the race. The use of team orders to make Norris give Piastri back the win was a result of the team pleading with Norris and soured what should have been nothing but pure excitement for Piastri. Piastri also won at the Azerbaijan GP, receiving his second ever win which was a clean race and a truly deserved win.
Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris, won his first race at the Miami Grand Prix after having almost won at the Sochi GP in 2021. Norris also won the Dutch GP in Zandvoort and the Singapore GP. McLaren team orders also came into play during the Brazilian GP with Piastri letting Norris through during a sprint race to take the win.
Kick Sauber:
Kick Sauber has announced they are parting ways with both Valtterri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu at the end of 2024. Instead, they will have drivers Nico Hulkenberg, currently at Haas, and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto for their 2025 lineup. In 2026, Kick Sauber will be rebranded to Audi when Audi finishes their takeover to turn Sauber into an Audi works team.
Mercedes:
George Russell won and was then disqualified from the Belgian GP after his car was found to be underweight which then gave Lewis Hamilton the victory instead. Hamilton won a record-breaking ninth British GP at Silverstone. Russell also pulled off an unexpected win at the Austrian GP. Mercedes scored another 1-2 finish at the Las Vegas GP with Russell winning the race after qualifying for the pole position. Hamilton is set to be replaced by Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Just a day after Antonelli turned 18, it was announced he would be the new driver for Mercedes in 2025.
Alpine:
Jack Doohan is debuting with Alpine as number 7, the same number as retired world champion, Kimi Raikkonen. He will be replacing Esteban Ocon as Pierre Gasly’s teammate since Ocon is going to Haas in 2025. Alpine has also announced that starting in 2026, they will no longer be using Renault engines but will become a customer team by purchasing power units and gearboxes from Mercedes.
Though Ocon and Gasly have had their ups and downs through the years, they have been able to finish the season with no public drama between the drivers despite what many fans expected. The two boys from Normandy pulled out results no one expected from Alpine this season at the Brazilian GP. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly managed to get a double podium, placing second and third respectively.
Grands Prix
Sao Paulo Grand Prix:
In a race that might have been one of the most chaotic and best examples of wet weather racing in Formula One—it deserves its own section. The Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil at the end of a triple header was not only a wet race, meaning that it was raining the entire weekend, but the entire schedule of the weekend was thrown onto its head and flipped. Max Verstappen delivered a masterclass on how to drive in the rain, going from seventeenth to first over the course of 69 laps and breaking a new record. Bearman was also back in the Haas seat for a full race weekend due to Magnussen being sick.
Qatar Grand Prix:
Following up the Sao Paulo and Las Vegas Grands Prix was the Qatar GP. After a qualifying incident between Verstappen and Russell, which resulted in Verstappen receiving a one-place grid penalty, giving Russell pole position, something that has never been done before, Verstappen has said that he lost all respect for Rusell. Verstappen swiftly took back first place during Turn 1 of the race, however—Russell never stood a chance. Though before the incident in qualifying, Norris pulled off a surprise move during the sprint race. After having been let through at the Brazil GP by Piastri, Norris made the decision to give Piastri the win at the last possible minute during the sprint.
The race was chock full of action at the start as well. Hulkenberg at Turn 1 hit Ocon who then went into Colapinto, ending the race for all three drivers in what turned out to be Ocon’s last race with Alpine before joining Haas next year. He was replaced by Doohan at the Abu Dhabi GP so that he could participate in post-season testing with Haas. It certainly was not how Ocon planned to exit Alpine without even getting to say a farewell to the team back at Alpine’s headquarters in Enstone. His special tribute helmet which also captures the moment that Ocon became Alpine’s only race winner will now go unworn as he planned to debut it at the Abu Dhabi GP in honour of his time at Alpine.
Guanyu managed to score Sauber’s first points of the season with an eighth-place finish and four points. In a touching moment, he also received Driver of the Day, an award voted for by fans during each race. During the race, however, the FIA proved to be incompetent again when it came to a mirror on the track. With Albon’s mirror on the track and just off the racing line in the only straight where drivers could overtake, the FIA didn’t manage to call a safety car until laps later after Hamilton and Sainz both received punctures due to the mirror having been driven over by Bottas and creating more debris on the track. The FIA tried to explain the decisions made by stewards during the race, yet not many drivers or teams seemed to like the way it was handled.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
The start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last race of the season, was off to a heated start. Russell and Verstappen had taken their gloves off. After Verstappen’s comments at the Qatar GP, Russell did not hold back when talking to the media in Abu Dhabi. Russell claims that Verstappen threatened him and was going to purposely crash into him. Now Russell said that he has also lost respect for Verstappen. Russell even made the claim that Verstappen is a bully. Verstappen said that the two will sort it out next year and that they will compete against each other once again. The start of the weekend also had Verstappen announce that he will be a father and that his girlfriend, Kelly Piquet, is pregnant. Verstappen is already a proud bonus dad to Piquet’s daughter, Penelope, who is the daughter of former Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Kyvat. However, Verstappen has confirmed that he will not be taking a year off for the foreseeable future as he has a Red Bull contract until the end of the 2028 season. Sergio Perez admitted that he is still unsure about his future at Red Bull for 2025 as he still has a contract yet his poor performance cost the team the constructor’s championship and there are lots of rumours about him being replaced.
In more positive news, Charles Leclerc and his brother, Arthur, are making F1 history as the first time brothers have participated in a practice session as teammates. Leclerc qualified 19th after receiving a 10-place grid penalty due to exceeding the allowed battery allotment but managed to climb his way back up to third place with Sainz claiming second and Norris getting first. Sainz gave a final goodbye to Ferrari as he moves to Williams next season.
It is also Hamilton’s last race with Mercedes, a team he has been with since 2013. It truly is the end of an era for both him and Mercedes as he moves to Ferrari in 2025.
What’s Next
With the addition of three—technically four—new rookies and the potential for more, on the grid, the 75th season of F1 will be one to watch. For the first time ever, Formula One is hosting a season launch event in London to kickstart the year in honour of it being F1’s 75th anniversary. Starting with the Australian GP from March 14-16 and ending with the Abu Dhabi GP from December 5-7, it’ll be a season full of excitement, adrenaline, speed, and possibly a new world champion.
During the winter break, there is no shortage of F1 news sources and podcasts, along with Drive to Survive on Netflix. There are also podcasts such as P1 with Matt and Tommy, Paddock Project: A Formula 1 Podcast, F1: Beyond the Grid, TGF1: An F1 Podcast with Kate and Nicole, and many other podcasts on Spotify and Apple Music. Keep an eye out for the new season of Drive to Survive that will most likely be coming out at the end of February—if past release dates are anything to go by—though no official date has been announced yet.