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Written by Nina Rogerson
We are five rounds into the 2024 Formula 1 season and as we head into the Miami Grand Prix, we’re taking a look at what we’ve seen so far this season!
Image via formula1.com
Bahrain GP
We started the season with a bang in Bahrain. Max Verstappen converted pole position into his first race win of the season, crossing the line 22 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez.
There was a thrilling fight for the third step of the podium between the two Ferrari drivers. Ultimately, Carlos Sainz came out on top after Leclerc struggled with tyre degradation and multiple lockups to take 4th.
The Mercedes duo struggled with battery issues throughout the race, George Russell had to settle for 5th whilst Lewis Hamilton was stuck in 7th. Lando Norris put his McLaren in-between the two Mercedes in 6th with teammate Oscar Piastri in 8th, making it a double top ten for the team.
The Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll rounded off the top 10 to take double points for the team despite Stroll being involved in a lap 1 incident that punted him to the back of the field.
It was a fairly tame way to start the season, but it was clear from the start that the Red Bull dominance was to continue…
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Saudi Arabia GP
It was another dominant victory for Max Verstappen in Saudi Arabia. The Dutchman started from pole and managed to hold an assured lead despite the action that unfolded behind him.
Once again it was Verstappen’s teammate Serio Perez who followed him home in 2nd. Charles Leclerc took his first podium finish of the season to finish in 3rd.
Lance Stroll crashed into the barriers on lap 7 which brought out the Safety Car, therefore prompting a flurry of action in the pitlane with a number of drivers taking advantage of the Safety Car to make their pitstops.
Oscar Piastri came home in 4th after a large portion of his race was spent trying to get past Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso held onto 5th as the sole Aston Martin to finish the race. George Russell put pressure on Alonso towards the latter stages of the race but ultimately had to settle for 6th.
Oliver Bearman had his Formula 1 debut after Carlos Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis early on Friday and the young Brit was drafted in. He had a memorable debut with an impressive drive, and several overtakes brought him home in 7th ahead of fellow Brits Lando Norris in 8th and Lewis Hamilton in 9th.
Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 after teammate Kevin Magnussen aided him by keeping a pack of drivers at bay whilst Hulkenberg to take his pitstop and hold onto his points position.
Saudi Arabia was another dominant show of force from Red Bull and a sensational debut from Oliver Bearman, who is destined to be a real force when he graduates to F1.
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Australian GP
It was a dramatic Australian Grand Prix with Max Verstappen suffering from an early technical problem that meant he had to pull into the pits and retire from the race. Sainz was able to capitalize on Verstappen’s technical problems and take the lead going into lap 2 and maintaining the lead right up until the chequered flag to take his first race win of the season.
He was followed across the line by teammate Charles Leclerc former McLaren teammate, Lando Norris. It was the first Ferrari one-two since the start of the 2022 season. Norris also brought home McLaren’s first podium of the year.
Home favourite Oscar Piastri crossed the line in 4th after being asked to move aside for quicker teammate Norris and then losing further time due to an excursion off track. He was followed home by the lone Red Bull car of Sergio Perez.
George Russell was pushing to carry out a last lap move on Fernando Alonso when he suffered a high-speed crash that brought out the virtual safety car to finish the race. Alonso was given a post-race penalty of 20 seconds for playing a part in Russell’s incident. This meant that Alonso’s teammate Stroll came home in 6th with Yuki Tsunoda finishing in 7th ahead of penalised Alonso in 8th.
The Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top ten, bringing their team a handful of points.
It was a double DNF for the Mercedes team as Lewis Hamilton also suffered with technical issues and was forced to bring his car to a stop at the side of the track.
A dramatic race with some big names watching from the garages and a race winner who only 2 weeks prior, was in a hospital having his appendix removed!
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Japanese GP
Max Verstappen came back from his DNF in Australia with another commanding drive to victory in Japan. It was another pole-to-victory for the Dutchman with his teammate Sergio Perez finishing behind him in 2nd and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz once again rounding out the podium.
The red flag was brought out early on by a crash with Alex Albon in the Williams and Daniel Ricciardo in the RB and once the barriers were repaired, the race was resumed with a standing start.
Leclerc finished in 4th after managing to keep Norris at bay in 5th. Fernando Alonso finished in 6th just in front of the scrap between George Russell and Oscar Piastri for 7th place. A battle which Russell came out of on top.
Lewis Hamilton brought it home in 9th despite having questioned the team’s strategy earlier in the race. The home hero Yuki Tsunoda took the final point on offer to get a top 10 finish in front of his home crowd after a series of impressive overtakes.
After a technical blunder in Australia, we knew Verstappen would be back on top form to show his dominance once again!
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Chinese Grand Prix
Once again, Verstappen converted pole position to victory to make it four wins from five races in 2024. Lando Norris capitalised on Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car drama to complete one single pitstop and make the jump on Sergio Perez to take 2nd place with Perez following in 3rd.
The Ferrari pair also completed just one pitstop each despite Leclerc worrying that his tyres would not last to the end. Leclerc crossed the line in 4th with Sainz finishing behind him in 5th.
George Russell led the Mercedes duo to finish in 6th just ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who was forced into a late pit stop for mediums and carried out a number of overtakes to take 7th.
Oscar Piastri was Alonso’s final victim finishing in 8th with Lewis Hamilton crossing the line in 9th after a hard race for the 7-time world champion due to a poor qualifying.
Once again, it was Nico Hulkenberg who claimed the final point and rounding out the top 10.
It was an emotional day for Zhou Guanyu as he got to race in front of the home fans for the first time in his career.
Other Big Stories
In amongst all the racing action we’ve witnessed this season, there’s also been big news off the track.
With a large portion of the grid out of contract for next season, we knew silly season would start fairly soon. The first of the in-season signings was Fernando Alonso who signed another multi-year contract that takes him into a new era for Aston Martin with their partnership with Honda.
Nico Hulkenberg also confirmed his seat for 2025 announcing that he will leave Haas at the end of the season and head to Kick Sauber for 2025 and beyond. Kick Sauber are soon to be taken over by German manufacturer Audi and it’s clear this made a difference for Nico.
When speaking about his new contract he said: “The prospect of competing for Audi is something very special. When a German manufacturer enters Formula 1 with such determination, it is a unique opportunity. To represent the factory team of such a car brand with a power unit made in Germany is a great honour for me.”
Another big story that’s been going on off track is the rumoured departure from Red Bull for Chief Technology Officer, Adrian Newey. Whilst nothing has been confirmed, the reports that Newey is looking to leave Red Bull are strong and there’s a lot of speculation on where he would go if he were to leave. Stay tuned to find out how this story develops…
That’s your round-up of things you might have missed in the first 5 rounds of the season! We head to Miami this weekend for another sprint weekend so it’s sure to be an exciting one!
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