Beyond The Score

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The 2024 Formula One Season was at risk of becoming another Max Verstappen processional exercise with little competition coming his way. The Dutchman won five of the first six races that he completed, creating a mammoth gap at the top of both the constructors and drivers standings.

However, additional competitors have emerged. Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton all have grand prix victories to their name (with the latter winning two). The question is: how has every team faired to this stage?

Red Bull: B-

With all these ratings, it’s a relative game. For most teams, leading the constructor’s standings would earn you an A+. However, as Red Bull have strolled to the title for back-to-back seasons, 2024 has been a step back in performance. For a team that won twenty-two out of a possible twenty-three Grand Prix last term, it’s been more chaotic.

Off-track drama has often dominated the headlines at Red Bull. An inquiry into indecent texts sent by Christian Horner, a departing Adrian Newey, rumours about Max Verstappen’s future up in the air ; it’s been a bit of a mess. To compound this, the Milton-Keynes based team have ordered the reigning world champion to cut out simulation racing games the night before a race, all I’d say is that it doesn’t seem to have harmed him much in the last few years.

Then there is the Sergio Perez drama. He looked set to be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo during the Summer break but Red Bull have been defiant in support of the Mexican driver. With Perez still behind the wheel, there is a legitimate threat of losing the constructor’s championship. In previous years five tenths off Max in qualifying would find him third, with a less dominant car it’s nearer eighth to tenth.

As you can probably gauge, for a team so dominant as of late, they are in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. On the track though, Max Verstappen still looks certain to bring home a fourth drivers Championship in a row.

Photo by Jakub Porzycki

Mercedes: B-

In the last two seasons, Mercedes have released a car with an aggressive no-side-pod design, matched by no other teams on the grid. When you go down a unique route it tends to mean one of two things. Either you have created a genius strategy no one else has cracked or there is a reason why no one else follows your lead. For Mercedes, it was unfortunately the latter.

Midway through 2023 they were humble enough to put their hands up and admit they had got their idea wrong and have gone down a more orthodox path. Therefore, it’s little surprise that with 2024 being the first full season with an improved concept, there has been an upturn in form.

While the start of the season wasn’t ideal, they have really showed up as of late. Before the Winter Break, they surged up the constructors’ standings to overtake Ferrari in third place, winning three out of the final four grand prix.

The elephant in the room is that Lewis Hamilton is set to part ways with Toto Woolf’s team after an eleven-year partnership. This is a team that will see a new identity in the coming seasons as they strive for a return to the top. Either way, things look on the up.

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McLaren : A-

The only reason for this being an A- is due to the poor start.

The fact McLaren are back fighting for the constructors championship is an achievement that cannot be overstated. Since Zak Brown was announced as the chief executive officer of McLaren Racing in 2018 they have come on leaps and bounds. So to start on a negative feels harsh.

Yet, had it not been for an underwhelming opening set of races where they failed to fight for race wins, they could be in contention for both championships.

The dynamic between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris has been interesting throughout, none more so than in Hungary where Lando Norris was leading and instructed to return the place to his Aussie teammate just three laps from the finish. It left a rather sour taste in one’s mouth seeing Piastri not truly earn his maiden Grand Prix victory. Moreover, it could have helped Norris in an unlikely fight for the Drivers Championship.

Thirty-eight points from the summit can certainly be clawed back, all they need to do is average 3.8 points more per weekend. With a consistently misfiring Sergio Perez, there is no reason why this can’t happen.

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Ferrari – C+

It started so well for Ferrari…

Wins in Australia and Monaco showed brief signs that the Scuderia were back in town. After 2023 where a considerable step back was taken, they looked as though they could be returning to the 2022 heights with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc fighting at the front.

Yet since then they have slumped into a chronic state of irrelevancy. They no longer challenge the top three sides, but are comfortably better than Aston Martin. They are in no man’s land.

What they have shown is that on certain track characteristics, they can perform, yet they haven’t got the tools to excel consistently.

It’s Fred Vasseur’s second year in charge, and major changes take time to come to fruition in the world of Formula One. They are certainly managed more professionally on race day, with fewer bizarre pit calls during the race. In terms of performance though, we are still to see the necessary steps.

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Aston Martin: C+

Aston Martin are growing as a team from an infrastructure perspective. Their new multi-million-pound team base situated across from the Silverstone race track is partly open, although there is still some work to be done on the brand new state-of-the-art wind-tunnel simulator ahead of the arrival of Honda as an engine supplier in 2026.

While all this excitement goes on in the background, truthfully on the track they remain an insignificant contributor to the midfield battle. Fernando Alonso registered some promising results earlier in the season but trailed off and suffered a run of one point out of five races.

While fifth place isn’t a terrible place to sit, perhaps it’s the amount of noise around the off-track progress that makes this seem a disappointment. Lawrence Stroll has made it clear time and time again; he didn’t acquire Force India to make up the numbers, he is aiming for a world championship. Plus, there was the incredible jump forward they made at the start of 2023, as they looked to be the main threat to Red Bull’s reign. Since then it’s been a downhill trajectory.

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Alpine : D-

The season got off to a pretty horrendous start for Alpine, as they were the slowest car of the pack in Bahrain. From a team pressuring the top three at times during 2022, this was a consequence of horrendous mismanagement for an institution riddled with inconsistencies and lacking any sense of stability. For a start, their car was overweight so in the first few races they had to address that before developing the upgrades necessary to make progress.

Things have improved, Esteban Ocon finished in the points position in three of the final five races. However, the Frenchman is heading to the exit door this season with Haas as the new destination. After an ill-advised move down the inside of Pierre Gasly in Monacco, he was shown the exit door.

Off the track the authoritative merry-go-round continues as Oliver Oakes is the latest person to take the team Principle hot seat with Bruno Famin stepping down from the role he only took on last year.

There are rumours that in future seasons they will be leaving the Renault engine supply and moving to Mercedes, only time will tell. Either way, they will hope better things are to come in the second half of the season.

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Visa Cash App RB : B

A season of inconsistency for both drivers. Yuki Tsunoda started the much better of the two and was comfortably outperforming Daniel Ricciardo until Canada. Since then though, he has struggled and the Aussie has picked up form.

The frustration for Laurent Mekies is that they seldom perform at their peak level together. There are two really capable drivers in there, on their day it’s one of the best pairings in the grid, however, a lack of consistency is killing any chance they have of defeating Aston Martin.

Inconsistency isn’t just among the drivers either, it’s also a case with the machinery. In certain weeks such as Canada, theit car has shown terrific pace, fighting at the upper end of the midfield. Conversely at Barcelona, Daniel Ricciardo extracted the maximum out of the car and could only manage 15th while Tsunoda finished last.

The identity of the team is still somewhat of an unknown. They insist they aren’t the B-team of Red Bull but are instead the “sister team”. Perhaps, that is true as both their drivers have done better respective jobs than Sergio Perez this season but cannot seem to get a look in.

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Haas : B+

The team on the grid with the least resources continues to impress. Nico Hulkenberg has been one of the top performers, wrestling that VF-24 into the points time and time again. The recognition has come around the paddock, so much so that he earned himself a place in the exciting Audi project.

Luck hasn’t been on his side. The German has finished one place out of the points on five occasions, an extra five points would bump him above Lance Stroll to tenth place in the Drivers Standings.

Next year he will be replaced by Ollie Bearman, as Haas goes down the route of developing young talent once more. It didn’t work out for them previously although lightning doesn’t always strike twice.

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Williams : C-

It’s their second year under James Vowles as a team principle, and while things are still to get brighter on the track, behind the scenes there has been great progress. None more so than tying down Carlos Sainz on a contract lasting beyond 2025.

It was a necessary move as Logan Sargeant has struggled all season. Some brighter qualifying results lately fail to mask the fact that he has scored just one point in the thirty-eight races for Williams. Alex Albon cannot continue to carry this team on his back.

There is a rumoured major upgrade package coming to Zandevoort, perhaps a competitive second half awaits.

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Sauber: F

It’s dire, really dire.

Sauber are so far off where they want to be. Valtteri Bottas scrapes around the points from time to time and maxamises the potential of the clunky C44. Yet, it’s an uphill battle to score the team’s first point. In the opening year of these regulations, there were certain tracks such as Spain, where both cars could fight for the points. Those days are long gone.

Zhou Guanyu didn’t look a million miles off Valterri Bottas in previous seasons, yet this season it’s been a horror show. The twenty-five-year-old has struggled to create any sort of rythm and this season looks destined to be his last at the elite level of motorsport.

The future is bright with Audi joining in 2026 ahead of the new engine regulations. Before then though, times will be tough.

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