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.
It's no surprise that the Driver's Championship would come as quickly as it did, and what better (or worse depending on your outlook) place for it to won than in the newest edition of the Formula One calendar: Las Vegas. After what could've seemingly been an interesting title battle, the likelihood of McLaren's Lando Norris bouncing back after notably earning the badge of losing pole position by the first corner was drifting away into the distance. But through determination and perseverance from himself, Oscar and the rest of the papaya crew, the Middle Eastern races beckoned a new challenge for the entire team against the other oldest members on the grid.
If you cast your mind back not too far into the past, the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix caused a multitude of welfare concerns amongst more than half of the grid and hence causing the FIA to be on their best behaviour. By changing this to the end of December with the hopes for cooler temperatures, the race weekend seemed to go swimmingly until the car mirror of Alex Albon joined the party. However, amongst punctures and car damage, number two driver, Oscar Piastri arrived to the podium in a 3rd position although not the same can be said for Norris down in 10th place. At the end of the day, every point is crucial within the fight.
And then the final race of a record-breaking season was coming to an end in Abu Dhabi, with the British team clenching their teeth at the chance of their first Constructors title since 1998 and the Italian Ferrari's doing the same with their own 16 year title deficit although it would take a miracle to overcome the papaya lead of 21 points. What made matters worse was a hefty 10 place grid penalty that Ferrari Charles Leclerc had to take due to an extra energy store being used throughout the duration of the 2024 season. Oppositely, by the time the first lap had commenced it would seem the two teams were on equal placing fields after Piastri and Verstappen who were running in 2nd and 3rd tussled with the first corner and sending the papaya to the back of the field. A best case scenario was still not 100% perfect as Leclerc made 16 places to 3rd, and teammate Carlos Sainz in 2nd couldn't catch up to Norris. For the first time in 26 years, the historical team were finally back.
But with Max Verstappen winning the overall championship, where were Red Bull in all of this? The question that should be asked is where is Sergio Perez in all of this? By being donned 'The King of Streets' for the 2023 dominated season, his results have been abysmal compared to his counterpart especially when feeling the heat from the Cavallino Rampante in Baku on lap 49, however everyone has their own opinion as to who was at fault in that scenario. Out of the top 4 teams, he takes his place right at the very bottom in a lowly 8th compared to the 2nd position a year ago.
Whether you believe speculation, which is becoming a common occurrence to keep aware of after the chaos of silly season, it begs to ask the question as to why the majors heads of Christian Horner or Helmut Marko haven't turned away from him? The team principal explained during his extension back in June that "we are very pleased to continue working together with Checo" (skysports.com). Now let's pause for moment. By this point in the season, there was no doubt that Checo's performance was heading downhill after being unable to compete with the front of the grid during the Australian Grand Prix where Verstappen had retired due to a mechanical issue, and it only got worse from there. From this moment on, he never returned to the podium and the DNF's just kept piling up. So much so that he became the most costly driver by the end of the season, estimated to have caused $4,861,000 of damage. But Christian Horner refuses to be swayed, stating “obviously, Checo is our driver, he remains our driver, contracted to the team” (formula1.com) while there is a huge queue for his seat within the Formula One world and Junior Academy.
Is this a simple case of having doubts within Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson and even Isack Hadjar? Or are they worried about someone trying to outshine themselves above the Dutchman? The winter season can only give more answers as for the Mexican's predicament.
I don't think anyone could fathom these types of results 5 years ago towards the dawn of a season that would become fractured due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably the downfall of the Mercedes AMG Petronas team which would see their all-time famous lead driver leave due to an unreliable car and perhaps a hint of old-age slowly hitting the 7 time world champion amongst a crowd of youngsters. As Lewis Hamilton prepares for his emotional departure which would bring a tear to anyone's eye after the permanent staple he's left behind in the sport, there's no better way to sum up his torn feelings than his latest Instagram post bearing the caption "This is really it." And what better way to send off from the team than by taking that fearless win at his home circuit towards the beginning of July; his last 'proper' win if one would agree that Belgium was a stroke of luck on his side because of his teammate's disqualification. The King of Silverstone will be a hard throne to overthrow after 9 successful wins, and the fight may not be over just yet.
Overall, this is a year of single seater racing that will live throughout the history books. Quite frankly with the many changes that are occurring for the 2025 season, we may possibly never see anything like it. Lewis joining Ferrari for what will most likely be the end of his career path and Carlos Sainz now moving to his 5th F1 team in the form of Williams Racing. Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Logan Sargeant have left their mark on the sport for an eternity and it seems that we are dawning a new age of rookies within the likes of Ollie Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto, ironically bearing some of the most famous numbers in the sport like 5, 7 and 12.
It seems that Formula One once again could be seated for young man championship unless the older likes of Verstappen and Norris think they can hold themselves up in the ranks to demonstrate who's boss, just as they have done over and over again. All will be revealed soon...
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