10 moments you might have forgotten from the 2024 season

To say that the 2024 season has been action-packed would be something of an understatement; from huge news stories breaking off the track to some increasingly close battles on it, there were plenty of talking points throughout the year. With so much going on, it’s easy to forget some of the events that happened during the 24-race campaign – but fear not, we have rounded up a few big moments that you might have forgotten from 2024, including intra-team fallouts, an unusual item left on a car and the Safety Car’s long absence…

Tensions boil over between Ricciardo and Tsunoda

The RB team were never far away from the headlines in 2024 – what with the continued speculation over their driver line-up – but it was an incident at the season-opener in Bahrain that first got everyone talking about the squad.

In the latter stages of the race, Yuki Tsunoda was instructed by the team to let Daniel Ricciardo through, with the intention being for the Australian – sporting the soft compound in contrast to the hard tyres on Tsunoda’s car – to try to attack Haas’s Kevin Magnussen. After asking if they were “kidding”, Tsunoda then fulfilled the request.

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Ricciardo was ultimately unable to pass Magnussen but came home ahead of Tsunoda in P13. Once the chequered flag fell, a seemingly frustrated Tsunoda appeared to dive-bomb his team mate before then nearly taking out the sister RB as he returned to the track, prompting a baffled Ricciardo to comment: “F***, what the f***? I’ll save it.”

The 35-year-old later labelled the incident as “a bit of immaturity”, while Tsunoda stated post-race: “I don’t even want to talk about it.” Any tensions appeared to have been resolved by Round 2 in Saudia Arabia, but it seemingly marked the start of what would be a tough campaign ahead for Ricciardo…

2024 Bahrain Grand Prix: Tsunoda’s frustration boils over post-race after team orders row at RB

Williams’s driver swap after ‘unacceptable’ chassis shortage

Williams had their fair share of chassis dramas in 2024 – enduring three crashes in one day at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was a particularly tough moment – but those troubles started way back in Australia during Round 3 of the campaign.

Alex Albon suffered a heavy crash as first practice took place at Albert Park, with the damage to his FW46 proving too extensive to repair in time for FP2. To make matters worse, the team did not have a spare chassis available – leading to the decision being taken that Albon would take over Logan Sargeant’s car for the remainder of the weekend.

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While team boss James Vowles stated that the call had been “based on our best potential to score points”, he also acknowledged that Williams’s failure to have a third chassis ready in time for the event was “unacceptable”.

The Briton went on to insist that he still believed in Sargeant, who was praised for being a “consummate professional” in stepping aside. But the season did not improve much from there for the American, leading to Franco Colapinto replacing him from the Italian Grand Prix onwards.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 23: Logan Sargeant of United States and Williams looks on in the — Sargeant watched the Australian Grand Prix from the sidelines after his chassis was handed to team mate Albon

Magnussen’s Miami mischief and race ban

Kevin Magnussen has never been a driver afraid of getting his elbows out – something that became evidently clear during the Miami Grand Prix weekend, where the Dane engaged in a lengthy scrap with Lewis Hamilton during Saturday’s Sprint.

After defending heavily against the seven-time world champion – allowing Haas team mate Nico Hulkenberg to build a gap up ahead as he fought for points – Magnussen’s tactics landed him in hot water with the stewards, earning him 35 seconds worth of penalties.

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While he suggested later on that the punishments were “well deserved”, Magnussen hit further bother in Sunday’s race when he received a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with the Williams of Logan Sargeant.

All of this moved his tally of penalty points dangerously close towards the 12 that would automatically trigger a race ban – and a clash with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in Monza ultimately resulted in this happening. Magnussen served his ban during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, marking the first time that a driver has received this punishment since Romain Grosjean back in 2012.

2024 Miami GP Sprint: Magnussen cuts the chicane as battle with Hamilton hots up

Russell and Verstappen set identical pole times

While Max Verstappen and Red Bull initially looked to have carried over their dominant 2023 form when the season began, it soon became apparent that the reigning champions would face a much stronger challenge from their rivals this time around.

This was especially clear when F1 visited the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix, where Mercedes looked to have made steps forward as they put in a notable performance during third and final practice.

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George Russell continued to look strong during qualifying later in the day and provisionally secured P1 after the first flying runs in Q3, having pumped in a lap of 1m 12.000s.

Verstappen, meanwhile, improved on his own effort during the final moments – but incredibly set the exact same time as Russell, making it the first time that drivers have tied for pole since the 1997 European Grand Prix. Given that Russell had set his time first, the Briton was the one to start from the front – but Verstappen went on to win come Sunday.

2024 Canadian GP Qualifying: The moment Russell seals pole – despite Verstappen setting identical lap time

Leclerc and Sainz at odds after contact

During their four years as Ferrari team mates, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have been known to share a good relationship – but there seemed to be a rare moment of discord between the two after the Spanish Grand Prix.

Having lined up in fifth and sixth on the grid with Leclerc in the former slot, the Monegasque – who was trying to save his tyres early on – was squeezed by Sainz into Turn 1 on Lap 3 of 66. This then caused them to briefly make contact before Sainz ran off the track and took the position.

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While they ultimately finished the race in their original starting positions, the pair were left at odds as they reflected on the incident later on. Leclerc called it “a shame”, adding that he “probably wasn’t the right person” for Sainz to do something “spectacular” against.

Sainz, meanwhile, said of Leclerc that “too many times he complains after a race about something. Obviously hot, he might think that.” Fortunately the team mates had cleared the air by the next round in Austria, as they prepared to embark on their final races together at Ferrari ahead of Sainz’s impending departure for Williams in 2025.

2024 Spanish Grand Prix: Ferrari team mates Leclerc and Sainz make contact

Where did the Safety Car go?

The Safety Car made its first appearance in Formula 1 at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix – but, ironically, it was F1’s visit to Canada in 2024 that saw the familiar vehicle make its last outing for several races.

While the Safety Car is a regular sight in Grands Prix – with its deployment usually being triggered by an incident on track or changing weather conditions – this season saw an unusually long period of time in which it did not make an appearance during a race.

After being required on multiple occasions during a wet/dry event in Montreal, the Safety Car was then absent from the next nine races, the longest stint that it has not been deployed for in many years.

It made its return in the early stages of the United States Grand Prix following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement on Lap 3, while the end of the campaign saw some busy weekends for driver Bernd Maylander and his crew, with the penultimate event in Qatar featuring three Safety Car stints.

LUSAIL CITY, QATAR - DECEMBER 01: The safety car leads the field through the pits during the F1 — The Safety Car was busy during the Qatar Grand Prix, but there was a long period of absence for the vehicle during the middle of the season

An unusual incident for Albon

Alex Albon faced his fair share of bad luck during the second half of the season; in the final seven rounds he recorded three DNFs, as well as being unable to start the Sao Paulo Grand Prix following his crash out of a postponed qualifying earlier in the day.

His final points of the campaign came just before this difficult run at Round 17 in Azerbaijan, a triumphant race for Williams given that team mate Franco Colapinto also ended the event in the top 10.

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Something that may have been forgotten, however, is the unusual incident that affected Albon during Saturday’s qualifying in Baku. The Thai driver and Colapinto both impressively made it through to Q3 – but Albon was sent out for his final run with an airbox fan still attached to his car.

After the team realised their error, Albon stopped on track and managed to remove the fan himself. Unfortunately the time lost meant that he was unable to put another lap in before the end of the session, but we’d imagine that those points on Sunday meant that all was forgiven.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying: Bizarre moment sees Albon leave the garage with fan still on his car

Singapore track invasion from a lizard

It has not been unheard of for a lizard to make an appearance on track during F1’s visits to Singapore over the years – who could forget Max Verstappen’s encounter with “Godzilla” back in 2016, or the return of “Godzilla’s kid” at last year’s event?

The theme continued in 2024 and, with the monitor lizard being a protected species in Singapore, the drivers made sure that they stayed out of the way of the latest track invader during third and final practice at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

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But this particular lizard seemed keen to take in the action, positioning itself in the middle of the track near to the pit entry. As such, a red flag was thrown to ensure that the reptile could be safely escorted from the tarmac.

Cue some amusing scenes as the marshals attempted to catch up with the runaway lizard, which impressively displayed speed to rival an F1 car as it dashed along the side of the track.

2024 Singapore GP FP3: Final practice red flagged after lizard is spotted on track

McLaren and Ferrari invade one another’s celebrations

As their fight for the constructors’ championship played out right down to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, it would perhaps have been understandable if there had been some tensions between McLaren and Ferrari during the 2024 season.

And while both teams were clearly giving their all in the battle for the title, they still allowed for some light-hearted moments off the track – kickstarted by Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur invading Lando Norris’s debut win celebrations in Miami.

The Frenchman craftily hid himself amongst a throng of photographers as the McLaren crew posed for their team photo, before gamely accepting a papaya cap once he was spotted and then spraying Norris and his team with a bottle of champagne that he had been keeping at the ready.

This to and fro of celebration invasions continued throughout the season, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown photobombing Ferrari’s post-race victory photo in Mexico City – leading to Carlos Sainz promptly returning the favour when the Woking squad assembled for their own shot.

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 27: Race winner Carlos Sainz of Spain and Ferrari celebrates in front — McLaren and Ferrari developed a habit of invading one another's post-race celebration photos

Hamilton’s Senna tribute lap in Brazil

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend proved to be one of the most eventful and chaotic of the campaign, with treacherous weather conditions resulting in qualifying being postponed until Sunday morning before an action-packed Grand Prix unfolded.

But amongst all of this, a special moment took place when Lewis Hamilton was given the opportunity to drive his idol Ayrton Senna’s 1990 McLaren MP4/5B around the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in front of the late world champion’s home crowd.

After completing his laps around the track – which saw him hold aloft the Brazilian flag from the cockpit – Hamilton posed for photos with Senna’s sister, Viviane, and spoke of how getting behind the wheel of the iconic car had been “very, very emotional”.

It proved to be a poignant moment in what was a bittersweet season for Hamilton, given that the campaign marked the final chapter of his extensive relationship with Mercedes before his headline switch to Ferrari in 2025.