Written by Aashna Singh, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
The summer break for the 2024 F1 season is coming up in one race weekend. During the first half of the season, we’ve learnt and seen many things that will account for future race wins, future team decisions and more.
Starting off strong, we learnt of Lewis Hamilton moving to Scuderia Ferrari after the 2024 season, he would be replacing the Spanish driver; Carlos Sainz.
Rumours have sparked before of Hamilton moving to Ferrari, and it was no doubt Ferrari have tried to recruit Hamilton and have been rejected, but the final pen and paper decision was made on 1st February, 2024.
Hamilton voiced that he would end his career in Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team but during an interview in the pre-season by F1, Hamilton was asked about what changed during the signing with Mercedes and Ferrari.
He said: “In the summer we signed, and obviously I, at that time, saw my future with Mercedes. But an opportunity came up in the new year and I decided to take it.”
This does lead up to whether or not Carlos Sainz has a seat for next year. It’s been rumored that he was to join Kick Sauber - the team turning into Audi in the 2026 season, but since the rumor was sparked, there are many other opportunities around him as teams are not signing many drivers.
Mercedes are eager to replace Hamilton with 17-year old F2 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli. As of right now, July 2024, no further decisions have been made on that matter. Rumours of Sainz declining a one-year contract with Mercedes have also been going around.
Haas announced in July 2024 of Ollie Bearman, racing for Prema’s Formula 2 operation, joining the American team for the 2025 season, signing a multi-year contract after impressing the world at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Briton raced for Ferrari, filling in for Sainz after he was out due to appendicitis. Bearman finished seventh on the road.
In this regard, Nico Hülkenberg will be departing Haas at the end of the season to join Sauber. Both the existing Sauber drivers are set to depart the team at the end of 2024.
Drivers, Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon, Daniel Riccardo, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, do not have a seat for the next season as of July 2024.
The first race of the season was won by Max Verstappen, with Sergio Perez in second and Carlos Sainz in third. It wasn’t a surprise for Red Bull to have a one-two in the first race of the season. It was as though the stage seemed set for another dominant year
The answer to that question was made two races later, when Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix after returning from missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to being in the hospital, surgically removing his appendix.
He took the win after Verstappen retired his car due to a fire on his rear brakes. Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris were the runners up behind Sainz.
Verstappen won the next two races, just like the beginning of the season, until Norris snapped his winless streak by winning the Miami Grand Prix, his first win in his five years of racing.
Verstappen and Leclerc were the runners up beside Norris. Was this the beginning of the end of Red Bull’s dominance? After all, Norris finished the Grand Prix with a gap of over seven seconds to the good from Verstappen.
Verstappen took his fifth victory of the season in Imola, not without Norris breathing down his rear; he took the checkered flag with only a 0.725s gap between Norris and himself.
Despite Ferrari giving both cars an upgrade, Leclerc finished third, a little less than eight seconds behind Norris, while Sainz finished fifth, 22 seconds behind fourth-placed Oscar Piastri.
For 93 years, Monaco had not seen one of their own win their Grand Prix. In May 2024, Charles Leclerc, a fellow Monaco local won the Monaco Grand Prix and made history. He won ahead of Piastri in second and Sainz in third. Verstappen came sixth, just behind George Russell.
The Dutchman took victory in the Canadian and Spanish Grands-Prix, both times with Norris behind him in second place. Not as close as the previous races, but still the only driver who's been able to keep up with Red Bull’s pace. In both races, behind Norris were the Mercedes drivers.
On Sunday, the 30th of June 2024, every F1 fan was on the edge of their seats. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were battling it out for the lead in the final laps of the race.
However, when they both got too close to each other, Norris’ wheel clipped Verstappen’s rear and they both made contact. Both drivers went off track, and George Russell, who was enjoying their battle from behind, snatched the victory of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Behind the striking silver arrow was Piastri in the papaya McLaren and Sainz in the bright red Ferrari.
The 12th race for the first half of the season kept fans’ heartbeats thundering with excitement and anxiety. The British Grand Prix was the greatest race to be at if you were a Mercedes fan.
Mercedes won two races in a row, and Hamilton broke many records; Nobody has ever won a Grand Prix after their 300th start. Nobody has ever won at the same track nine times. And nobody has won a race 17 years after their first.
Behind Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen was close behind in second and Norris was in third.
The Hungarian Grand Prix wasn’t a great day for the Red Bull and McLaren strategists. The race showed fans that the dominating Red Bull team aren’t in the ascendancy anymore. Piastri overtook his teammate Lando Norris at the start, and flew through the race with no cars in front of him.
In the end, Piastri won the Hungarian Grand Prix, his first win in F1. Though he took the win this weekend, fans got a look inside at the McLaren’s strategists' mistakes that caused Norris to come up front after the pit-stop, ahead of the Australian. He pulled away to open up the gap to around six seconds, before relinquishing his lead to the Australian late on.
Joining Piastri on the podium were Norris and Hamilton. Leclerc came fourth and Verstappen fifth after bad strategist calls from his team wall. Out of desperation to overtake Hamilton, he made slight contact which let Leclerc take his place.
What’s next for the second half of the 2024 F1 season? We’d have to wait and see, but all F1 fans know this won’t be a boring season. After all, Verstappen isn’t dominating any more, and neither is Red Bull. Their competitors in the Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari are lurking in the background.
Hopefully the second half of the season gives us the answers to Sainz’s next team, as well as that of Sargeant, Magnussen, Ricciardo, Ocon, Zhou, and Bottas.
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