Our writers pick their best drivers and favourite stories from 2024 – and who needs to up their game in 2025

With the dust settling on an action-packed 2024 F1 season, now is the perfect time to take a look back at what proved to be a thrilling and memorable 24-round campaign. From who performed best to what made them laugh the most – and which names need to do better in 2025 – we asked our writers Lawrence Barretto, Chris Medland, Will Buxton, David Tremayne and Alex Jacques to give us their take on all of the burning questions about the season gone by…

Who were the top five drivers from 2024? (In order)

Lawrence Barretto (F1 Correspondent & Presenter): This was Max Verstappen’s best championship triumph to date as he fended off threats from three rival teams for most of the year – so, for me, he’s top of the pile. Lando Norris announced himself as a genuine title contender so gets my P2, with Charles Leclerc’s brilliant consistency – even through the team’s rocky mid-season period – warranting the final podium spot. It’s very competitive thereafter but I’d put Carlos Sainz fourth after his strongest-ever season with Pierre Gasly’s superb final flourish to aid Alpine finishing P6 enough for him to snatch my P5.

READ MORE: Verstappen predicts 'proper battle' in 2025 as he reflects on 'up and down' year at FIA Awards Ceremony

Chris Medland (Special Contributor): Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, George Russell, Carlos Sainz. This felt particularly tough this year, and I think it’s because almost anyone in the top 12 in the standings could have snuck into this top five. Verstappen was clearly the winner given his ability to dominate when he had the car and limit the damage when he didn’t, and Leclerc takes second over Norris for me for consistency and a win in Monza he had no right securing. Norris was well-set in third but beyond that was up for grabs. Ultimately I don’t see how anyone not in this list would have delivered more than either Russell or Sainz in their respective cars based on the performances across the grid this year.

Will Buxton (F1 Digital Presenter): Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Sainz.

David Tremayne (Hall of Fame F1 Journalist): 1. Max Verstappen. 2= Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris. 4. Charles Leclerc. 5= Carlos Sainz/George Russell. Honourable mention: Nico Hulkenberg.

Alex Jacques (F1 TV Commentator): 1. Max Verstappen – peerless even without the fastest car. 2. Lando Norris – a breakthrough year and much learned about title battles. 3. Charles Leclerc – best ever podium tally and three hugely impressive wins. 4. Oscar Piastri – incredible Baku win marked out his mental strength under pressure. 5. Carlos Sainz – comeback win in Australia was outstanding and put in some of his best-ever drives from Austin onwards.

What was the best individual performance from 2024?

LB: Carlos Sainz’s victory in the Australian Grand Prix came just 15 days after he was on the operating table having his appendix removed. The Spaniard was mighty all weekend at Albert Park, despite having spent most of the previous two weeks in bed and went on to end Red Bull’s win streak. It was the stuff of legend.

CM: Let’s just agree that it was Max Verstappen in Brazil, so I can talk about another one. Because in the context of trying to help Ferrari overturn such a big deficit to McLaren, and starting from 19th in a dry and largely incident-free race (in terms of no significant Safety Car help), Charles Leclerc’s recovery to third place in Abu Dhabi was remarkable. The first lap was sensational, with Leclerc taking a really high-risk, high-reward approach, and the pace really strong for the rest of the race to capitalise on that. It genuinely was a brilliant performance. But nothing really comes all that close to Verstappen at Interlagos.

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WB: There were some towering individual performances this year, capped by Verstappen in Brazil which I think we can all agree was something staggeringly impressive. I'm sure one of my learned colleagues will have already chosen that so instead I'll go for Norris in Zandvoort. Lando's 2024 season proved he still has a long way to go before he can really challenge for a world crown, but his performance in Verstappen's back yard was proof that when he finds himself in the groove, he is a powerful force. His gaping advantage in qualifying translated into an absolute demolition job on Sunday, 23 seconds to the good across the line. And all in the volcanic intensity of the cauldron of noise created by the Orange Army. His best race of the season.

DT: Max was hugely impressive in Brazil, but for me it was Carlos Sainz’s victorious return in Australia. Having missed the Saudi Arabian race because of his appendectomy, he made the perfect comeback to break Max Verstappen’s run of nine wins on-the-bounce and inject fresh interest into the world championship battles. Stories like that are always the perfect riposte to those who somehow believe racing in F1 is easy these days. Honourable mention: Ollie Bearman’s last-minute stand-in rookie run to seventh with Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, after Carlos was incapacitated.

AJ: Max Verstappen in Brazil is the answer, but so you don’t read that five times over I’ll write about Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone. To hear the driver with the most wins in history doubt he could ever get back to the top step just showed how much pressure you endure in elite sport, even with his trophy collection. It was a wet/dry race in which five drivers could have triumphed in. To watch him end his long winless run with a supreme drive just showed all of his class and created one of the greatest ever Silverstone moments.

What was your favourite story from 2024?

LB: McLaren winning their first constructors’ championship for more than two decades. This was a team that was on the brink financially during Covid – and then at the back of the pack a couple of years ago. Now they’re champions of the world after one of the most competitive seasons in Formula 1 history.

CM: Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari. It came out of nowhere and completely blew the driver market wide open even before the season had started, but also provided an added factor to his Silverstone victory. Plus it opened up a chance for an exciting young talent in a competitive car in the form of Kimi Antonelli – it just had so many knock-on impacts. Against the backdrop of Ferrari’s ongoing progress – and McLaren’s resurgence – making it so competitive at the front, it has set up 2025 beautifully (unless your name is Carlos Sainz, who is massively unfortunate to be without a front-running drive). The story broke nearly a year ago now, but it was massive news beyond just F1.

READ MORE: ‘I was 99% sure I was going to continue with Ferrari’ says Sainz, as he admits ‘hurt’ at being replaced by Hamilton

WB: Jack Doohan signing for Alpine made me smile. He's been a wonderful part of the F1 TV broadcast for some years now, his insight proving invaluable, his way with words connecting deeply with the audience and his questioning of drivers and team bosses often harder hitting than the hosts themselves. But this was always a part-time gig, and the work he did behind the scenes at Enstone in the sim was a huge part of the team's shock transformation into a competitive outfit after their early season struggles. It was great to see one of the really good guys get the reward he deserved with a full-time seat for 2025 even if it means F1 TV loses one of its best driver analysts.

DT: Lewis winning the British GP. I’m a sucker for the poignant stories that show the humanity behind the stardom. And what was more poignant than the winningest driver in F1 history finally getting another one – a record ninth for a single venue – after 945 days. A success drought that, he later admitted once the oh-so rare tears had dried, had affected his mental health and left him, of all people, agonising whether he was still good enough.

AJ: Charles Leclerc achieving his family’s dream of winning the Monaco Grand Prix was a very special moment. All of the drivers on the grid have worked so hard to be there, and careers are littered with sliding door moments where the heroes of today might easily have never made it to the grid. To endure the heartbreak he’s been through and to keep such a great attitude throughout made that last lap in Monaco a special thing to witness.

What shocked you most in 2024?

LB: Alpine’s form this year. They were woefully overweight at the first race in Bahrain and locked out the back row. Come the end of the season, they were arguably the fifth fastest car as they snatched P6 in the constructors’ championship (albeit aided by a freak race in Brazil where they secured a double podium). Fair play.

CM: The struggles for both Red Bull and Sergio Perez. The way McLaren and Ferrari caught up – and the mid-season upgrade difficulties for Red Bull – showed just what a great job Christian Horner’s team did in 2023. But they seemed to pre-empt their own downfall, with all of the off-track controversies and disagreements at the start of this year. For Perez to then be handed a new contract and immediately struggle from that point onwards was a real surprise, even if we’ve seen him have difficulties at times in a Red Bull. Out of the final 18 rounds of the season you can only really point to Baku as being a good weekend, even if the result didn’t end up matching the potential, and Red Bull were so passive that finishing third in the constructors’ championship became an inevitability. 49 points scored after the first six races compares to 42 for Pierre Gasly across the same span, and Gasly even failed to start a race at Silverstone in that time. Let’s be honest, nobody could have foreseen such a reversal in form for both Red Bull and Perez leaving Miami.

ANALYSIS: Perez had a contract for 2025 – so why has his Red Bull journey come to an end now?

WB: How deeply unprepared McLaren were for the world championship fight. Outwardly at least, they were by far the last team in the paddock to realise they were the ones to beat, by which time they had already haemorrhaged so many points that in another season they might have forfeited the title. They made team orders far more complicated than they needed to be, and opted only really to enforce them once their best shot at the drivers’ title had passed. Their pit wall decision-making was ultimately lacking all season, evidenced by the constructors’ title going down to the wire. They should have put it to bed far sooner. All of this was evidence, of course, of how far ahead of schedule this title tilt truly was for a team which had entered the season with any thoughts of fighting for the crown far further down the road. A reflection of how far they exceeded even their own expectations, but as the signing of Will Courtenay from Red Bull showed, even they had to acknowledge how lacking their strategic decision-making was.

DT: This has to be the moment I was chatting with mates at our local garage and somebody said that Lewis was going to Ferrari. People pick up all sorts of fake news from odd websites, but the immediate “No way!” reaction quickly gave way to shock as it was confirmed. I certainly didn’t see that one coming! But in many ways it became logical once you got used to it, and after suggesting back in 2012 that moving to Mercedes was “career suicide,” (something I’ve rightly never been allowed to forget!), I’ve learned to accept that he does his due diligence very, very carefully.

AJ: How competitive the racing became. At one stage, in Bahrain testing, someone looked up the odds of Max winning every Grand Prix. To have so many teams and drivers in the mix for the win every weekend was fantastic, especially when expectations were upended so regularly.

What made you laugh the hardest?

LB: I laughed so much during 25 minutes filming a cooking show with Yuki Tsunoda in Abu Dhabi that it hurt. The Japanese racer’s enthusiasm for food is infectious and having tasted his steak and vegetables, the F1 crew and I can confirm he’s a hell of a cook. I can’t wait for him to open his own restaurant once he’s done with racing.

CM: After Lando Norris picked up the first win of his career at the Miami Grand Prix, the way Fred Vasseur was trying to blend in with the sea of photographers on the pitch at Hard Rock Stadium. McLaren had the whole team in front of their hospitality unit ready for the celebratory photo, and there were even special caps on offer that then got thrown to Fred to wear (he stood out like a sore thumb in a pale blue Ferrari top due to its new title sponsorship with HP). What was less obvious to McLaren was the fact Vasseur was hiding a bottle of champagne behind photographer Zenta Ohtaki, and ready to unleash it once the planned shots were complete. McLaren and Ferrari infiltrating each other’s photos or ambushing each other with caps became a bit of a running battle through the year, but it felt like an authentic appreciation for a big moment for a rival team and driver.

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WB: I can’t recall offhand but I’m sure it would have involved either Fred or Valtteri Bottas.

DT: Nothing printable. But I had a chuckle and a broad grin when I heard the news that GM-Cadillac are going to get an entry to F1 after all. We all know (especially, thanks to George Levy’s excellent new book) that GM was very active behind the scenes with Chaparral in the Sixties, and their Corvette programme in endurance racing has been very successful, but having such a major manufacturer coming into F1, when Ford are returning with Red Bull, is massive news and confirmation of F1’s importance and popularity.

AJ: We filmed an F1 TV show opener on a boat with Jolyon Palmer in Montreal. He failed to spot an oncoming wave and was completely soaked; the film crew were in hysterics and to make matters worse I was laughing so hard I missed my cue for the second take so we had to do another lap of the lake with him drenched.

Who needs to do better in 2025?

LB: Aston Martin admitted they simply didn’t do a good enough job with their 2024 car as they finished a lonely fifth in the constructors’ championship with a points tally that was just over a third of what they managed the previous year. Billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll has invested heavily in the team over the last few years and will be demanding significantly better next season.

CM: There’s a number of candidates here, and a few months ago I was certain I’d have been writing Alpine, but the turnaround in form on Pierre Gasly’s side of the garage suggests they are a team that are already starting to do better. And you might think Sauber, but they do feel like a team in a sort of holding pattern until 2026, while Aston Martin still have to wait for Adrian Newey’s arrival next year. So, I’m going to go with Williams. There was so much potential in this year’s FW46 but it was late and overweight, and then the spare chassis situation caught them out in Australia. But they definitely have the drivers in Sainz – a huge coup – and Alex Albon, to deliver results. Now they need to show further signs of progress. The end result in 2025 is less important, but 2026 could be a real opportunity for Williams to catapult themselves up the grid, and some of the rebuilding work that James Vowles has been doing will need to start to bear fruit next year to provide a platform to take advantage of the new regulations.

END OF YEAR REPORT: Williams - A mid-season driver swap, countless crash dramas and a true test of determination

WB: There isn’t a single team that doesn’t have areas to improve in the off-season, which makes 2025 tantalising in the extreme. The same is true of almost all drivers bar the champion who showed for me the greatest form he has ever displayed. But as he improves his craft week on week, the bar is continually raised for those hoping to beat him. But the big one is Lance Stroll. Aston are throwing everything at fighting for a title and, after a below par 2024, he needs to show a solid improvement next year.

DT: The simple answer is everyone, because that’s how racing works. But I’ll say McLaren, specifically. By their own admission they need to work even harder over the all-too short off-season to make sure that they are in a position to challenge strongly for both the world drivers’ and the world constructors’ championships in 2025. They pushed very hard in the former this year, and achieved the latter for the first time in 26 years, and are better placed than anyone to assess just what they need to do to improve further, ready to fight toe-to-toe with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. An odd suggestion? Not at all. The moment you are tempted to rest on laurels in this game, having attained a cherished goal, your rivals are already stealing a march. Zak Brown, Andrea Stella and their boffins are far too savvy to fall into that trap.

AJ: The boat driver in Montreal. Also Aston Martin, but luckily they’ve signed Adrian Newey so they will improve quickly after a disappointing campaign.

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