After visiting four continents, covering 14 races, and seeing seven different drivers win, the paddock enjoys a well-deserved rest during the summer shutdown. This mandatory 14-day break, during which teams are prohibited from making any changes to the car’s performance, is a crucial period for reflection and planning. It’s a time when teams can’t do any work on the car’s performance, but it’s hard to imagine some won’t reflect on their performance ahead of the final 10 races.
The expectation heading into 2024 was that Max Verstappen would continue to dominate. Instead, the Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes drivers have won races this year (Lewis Hamilton is the only two-time 2024 race winner out of those six competitors). McLaren is closing the gap to Red Bull thanks to the consistency of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and the fight at the top of the grid is tight.
There have been plenty of surprises up and down the grid compared to this time last season. Here are our top 10 drivers from the first 14 races of the season. As always, let us know your thoughts in the comment section at the bottom.
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It hasn’t quite been the dominant Max Verstappen of 2022 or 2023 when F1 Sundays became routine: lights out, wait 90 minutes, and hear the Dutch national anthem. Yet he has remained at the very top of his game, making up for Red Bull’s slip in performance compared to its rivals.
The early phase of the season followed the well-worn script, as Verstappen won at a canter at Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Japan and China. But since the start of F1’s European season, he’s been forced to dig deep and produce some terrific displays to keep winning. Winning at Imola and Barcelona despite the threat of Lando Norris in the McLaren required Verstappen to be at his very best; he didn’t miss a beat. Even a race like Spa, where he could only finish fourth, took a mighty effort from 11th on the grid.
It hasn’t been a spotless season so far by any means. Verstappen’s clash with Norris in Austria and his move on Lewis Hamilton in Hungary showed that his aggressive edge, not required in the past two years, is still there—not always to his benefit.
Despite Red Bull’s recent performance dip and McLaren’s emergence, Verstappen has extended his points lead in five of the last six races. He may no longer have the outright quickest car, but Verstappen remains remarkably hard to beat.
Photo:
(GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)
(GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)
