The 2024 season finally came to an end last weekend at the all-famous Abu Dhabi circuit after 24 races all over the globe. One thing this year has taught us is the utter competitiveness that this world of motorsport holds with at least 3 of the final finishers of the 58 lap circuit not being placed in their seats by the time testing kicked off in Bahrain at the end of February. Even with these surprising driver shake-ups, it was actually some of the oldest members on the grid that were catching all of the attention by the time the checkered flag fell. And no, I'm not referring to Fernando Alonso but in fact a group of people that have held their place in the sport for decades longer: McLaren had just won the Constructors Championship.

The exhilarating battle between current world champion, Pecco Bagnaia, and 2023 runner-up, Jorge Martin, pulled fans from across the world down to the wire with the decider, ultimately being held during the final round of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. This venue took charge due to the devastating floods in Valencia that has destroyed communities as well as the track that the race was scheduled to be held at. In memory of this event, the race was renamed the 'Solidarity GP' where only one would solely reign on top. That one person being the newly crowned Martinator and Spaniard, Jorge Martin.

Just over 18 years ago, a day that didn't particularly hold much significance in the Turkish Grand Prix weekend on a Friday practice other than the Honda Super Aguri team being allowed to run with a third driver. Fernando Alonso was in the lead of the championship battle at exactly 100 points, a ten point lead over Michael Schumacher. But little did the 2006 world champion know that in the big city of Bologna in Italy, Kimi Antonelli who he will be sharing the grid with next year alongside a seat which was rumoured to be the 43 year old's, was born. Equally as daunting to think about, the 8th of May 2005 that hosted the Spanish Grand Prix, notably having the same home hero on the 2nd place step on the podium, would've seen Ollie Bearman being born in London.

There's no doubt the chaos in the FIA stewards room for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix caused an inundation of unrest through disobeying track limits mainly around Turns 9 and 10. After racking up a total of 100 seconds of penalties applied to all drivers once the checkered flag had been waved, no wonder fans at the circuit were disappointed to say the least about the outcome which arguably didn't demonstrate the expectations of good 'on-track action.' Formula One and the FIA were at risk of an all-out war. However, this was quickly subdued by the new addition of gravel traps scattered around most of the circuit corners for 2024.

From time to time in motorsport, there's an added bonus of entertainment when a rookie gets thrown into the mix. It's the wonder of what they can show to the rest of the world and how their skills from lower classes can be applied when fighting the top dogs. However this entertainment can explode even further when a one-in-a-million talent gets thrown in with an already shining star. All of a sudden, a experienced driver or rider's perception can be changed in the space of a season, pondering the question of "who the hell does this guy think he is?", ultimately showing through the repetition of history that sometimes the only resolution is to hold up their hands and say "I think I'm too old for this..."

Something of a topic that has yet to be discussed in recent years throughout motorsport. However, the rise of partnerships including Charlotte Tilbury and e.l.f. in joining these categories, which will be touched on later, aren't the first feminine-based sponsors to link themselves to this male-dominated world. Through some digging, it was actually Yardley who was the first female-based sponsor to be featured on the side of BRM (British Racing Motors) in 1971 and McLaren in 1972. The British-based company are well-known for producing cosmetics and fragrances. So why is the idea of more women-led sponsors reaching bigger headlines in today's news?

There's no doubt that there has been a large amount of whistle blowing throughout the Formula One pit lane towards the end of 2023 and into the start of 2024, most notably Susie Wolff who has helped provide a large space in motorsport for women and young girls.

After the rise in popularity of 'Drive to Survive' on Netflix depicting the drama and chaos that surrounds the Formula One world, organisers have most certainly seen a rise in motorsport fans. People turn from Formula One to Le Mans 24 Hour, from this to British Touring Cars and so forth. The motorsport glamour reels in new fans every single season. But with a variety of platforms to sign up to a monthly subscription and the rising cost of tickets to see races live, is it all becoming too much for the average viewer, so much so that they lose interest? Is the price of entertainment overweighing the joy of entertainment?

After a relentless session of supposedly fake rumours, almost no one would have believed that Lewis Hamilton would join Ferrari from 2025 onwards on account of his almost perfect relationship with Mercedes AMG. This is exactly what was announced on the 1st of February 2024 to the shock of the Formula One community. Lewis Hamilton, who has won one championship with McLaren back in 2008 and six with Mercedes, makes this incredible move after struggling to compete for pole positions and wins for the past two seasons against Red Bull and most notably, Max Verstappen. One team seemingly breaking Red Bull Racing's streaks in some of the records through 2023 was the famous red car with the 'Cavellino Rampante' aka. the Prancing Horse.

Through 2023, I made it my goal that if I was going to be learning the ins and outs of motorsport, I needed to get my knowledge up to standards. Well, at least partly up to standards as I haven't had a great attention span for reading in a few years! I listened to many recommendations and slowly pinned together my top three.

One thing for certain when it comes to the UK is that our public transport isn't the best in the world. If you live in England or ever visited then you will understand the frustration when it comes to holding out hope that getting somewhere will be easy. And yes, I have a driving license and I could've made this journey by car but ultimately found that it would've been quicker to hop on a train, then bus and finally just a short walk. As it turns out I stand corrected but at least when you're driving, you have the security of knowing that you can get from A to B with no cancellations...

Safe to say that the Day of Champions tickets were definitely a last-minute buy on my side. There was no way that I'd be able to take time out to attend the entire Monster Energy MotoGP British Grand Prix weekend with around a month's notice of actually clicking 'Pay Now' on the Silverstone website, even if I had been planning to attend prior to the time. The most annoying thing about this was that I missed out on Pit Lane tickets!

You would not believe how lucky I was to get Wednesday the 3rd of July off work with only a weeks notice after I heard that the Williams Fan Zone would be open and even better in attendance with current F1 drivers, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, F2 driver Zak O'Sullivan and Williams Ambassador and former world champion, Jenson Button aka. my favourite retired driver. I don't think any amount of thanks could be given to my boss.

28th May 2024: As a 21st birthday present for my sister, she was given the chance to have a photoshoot with the Jordan Honda EJ12 from the 2002 season of Formula One. For an added bit of context, Formula One has always been a staple in my house. Something that we always sit to watch, week in week out; after all my parents first met each other by talking about F1 on a holiday together. It almost seemed appropriate that they named their first child, aka. my older sister, Jordan. More so named after the team and not the owner.

June 18th 2023, aka Fathers Day in the UK. Me and my sister both wanted to do something special for my dad this year. After the opening of the F1 Arcade in London, we thought this would be the best present on offer. My sister had previously been with her boyfriend but it was mine and my dads first time, so I thought it would be great to write an article about my experience to hopefully give others part of an insight to an afternoon in the F1 Arcade in St. Paul’s, London.

For as long as I can remember, my Sunday memories were filled with my parents sitting on our old brown sofa watching Formula One. From a young age, I recognised names such as Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. Heck, one of the first conversations my parents had while they were on a group holiday in Italy was about Formula One and my childhood was filled with watching repeats of Tooned, created by the McLaren team themselves.