We have now come to a two week break in Formula 1 and wanted to get a chance to look back and discuss what has happened during this 2024 season. As of now, the much expected Max Verstappen dominance has not been seen, in fact he has not won the past eight Grands Prix, which is surprising due to his complete dominance this past season. Last season, he won every single Grand Prix but the Singapore Grand Prix, which was won by Carlos Sainz. This season, during the past eight Grands Prix the wins have been divided between the other three major teams: five wins for McLaren, three wins for Mercedes, and one win for Ferrari. These Red Bull mistakes have resulted in the driver’s champions being brought down to only a 52 point difference, with Verstappen still leading the drivers title race. Although now the Constructors championship is being led by the McLaren team, by 44 points. The McLaren team has recently shown total domination, with a staggering difference of 20 seconds in multiple races, between the McLaren cars and the Red Bull cars. In fact, in the recent Singapore Grand Prix, Lando Norris finished 20.945 seconds in front of Max Verstappen, taking first place.
In recent news, Max Verstappen has been involved with a scandal, in which he has had some recent swearing issues with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). During the press conference on September 19th, Verstappen said some swear words and was subsequently given a day of community service by the FIA. This was very controversial and thought by many to be stupid and not productive on everyone’s part.
During the last Grand Prix, in Azerbaijan, Ferrari had an awesome race, but it just was not good enough. On Saturday, they made all the crucial mistakes that cost them a podium, and possibly a win, during the qualifying. In fact, these are actually some of the last moments of brightness that we will see Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari seat, because in the 2025 season he will be moving to the Williams Racing team. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be very emotional for all because we will be seeing the last race for Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari seat, with Leclerc as his teammate. Lewis Hamilton will be taking his spot, and the rookie Kimi Antonelli will be taking his spot at Mercedes. The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has cited George Russell as a potential target for the Red Bull future. To these statements, the Mercedes team principal has answered back by saying that the only reason Horner said this was “to stir s*** up”. George Russell in the most recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix, failed to attend all the post – race press conferences due to feeling overheated and sick, which has occurred on many instances to previous drivers, because Azerbaijan is known as being a very hard and physical track and race.
The next driver that deserves a mention is Daniel Ricciardo. As of today, the Singapore Grand Prix is expected to be Daniel Ricciardo’s last race as a Formula 1 driver. It was never officially announced, but most Formula 1 fans understood that he started crying in front of the press because it was probably his last grand prix. During the Singapore Grand Prix he got the fastest lap of the race, and he also got “Driver of the Day”, which was a great way to be “sent off” from Formula 1. He has been driving for the past 14 years in various teams. His most famous Formula 1 stint has been with the Red Bull racing team. During his period at Red Bull, he had Max Verstappen as his teammate.
Lastly, to finish it off with what is happening on the Stake Kick Sauber team, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas are both fighting to keep their F1 seat and to get their futures sorted as soon as possible. Hopefully all the official news will be announced before the next Grand Prix, “The American Grand Prix” which will be held in Austin on the weekend of October 19-20th. Last year’s Austin Grand Prix winner was Max Verstappen, followed by Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. We will see what happens next and we will keep you posted!
