As the 2024 Formula One season draws to a close, this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi brings into focus the last nine months of thrilling, dramatic and sometimes contentious wheel-to-wheel racing.
From a 2023 campaign where Red Bull won every race bar one, this year has seen seven different winners – with multiple victories – and a genuine fight at the top of both championships.
Max Verstappen masterfully claimed his fourth-straight drivers’ title while McLaren are the frontrunners as they look to claim the constructors’ championship ahead of Ferrari.
But who has overperformed and which drivers have not been up to the task?
Now, ahead of the 24th and final race, The Independent grades all 23 drivers to have taken part in more than one F1 race this year, in order of the current constructors’ standings.
McLaren
Lando Norris – B+
While the overriding sense by the end was ‘what could have been’ in terms of a first world championship, it should not be forgotten the new heights Norris has reached this year. Likely to be guiding his team to a first constructors’ title in 26 years, he claimed his first F1 win and three victories in total. A handful of wins, however, did slip through his fingers. He will have learned plenty, in combat with Verstappen, as he eyes a 2025 title charge.
Oscar Piastri – B
The Australian has proven himself capable of challenging the leading stars of the sport, in just his second season in F1. Two wins – in Budapest and Baku – speak to that. He does, however, need to improve his race-by-race consistency. The big question heading into 2025 is: will he accept No 2 status at McLaren? (The answer is no).
Ferrari
Carlos Sainz – A-
Full credit to the Spaniard for performing, on the whole, so well after the crushing news which preceded his season in losing his seat to Hamilton. With two wins in Australia and Mexico, Sainz has fully earned the respect of his peers for his professionalism. You feel for him, in many ways, ahead of his move to ninth-placed Williams next year.
Charles Leclerc – B
Dream weekends in Monaco and Monza have overshadowed some lower moments this year for Leclerc, such as missing out on the top-10 in three out of four races from Canada to Silverstone. If he wants to genuinely win a world title, particularly with Lewis Hamilton’s arrival, his Ferrari team will have to eradicate those horror shows.
Red Bull
Max Verstappen – A+
A near-flawless year for the world champion, who won his fourth title in a car which will finish third in the constructors’ championship – the first time that has happened in 41 years. With nine, he has treble the amount of race wins to anyone else, too. Can he win five on the spin?
Sergio Perez – F
While his teammate won the title, Perez lies in eighth place – 277 points behind Verstappen – with his spot at Red Bull in serious doubt. His likely axing is set to bring the curtain down on what has been a highly commendable 14-year career in F1.
Mercedes
George Russell – B+
Was 2024 the season he became the team leader, a year earlier than expected? Two victories – one by luck in Austria, one by skill in Vegas – and a stunningly impressive qualifying record against Hamilton (18-5 in his favour) show how the Briton has made the most of another inconsistent breed of Mercedes car.
Lewis Hamilton – C
A lower grade would be on the horizon if it wasn’t for Hamilton’s win at Silverstone, where he reminded the world of his enduring talent and racecraft. Saturdays have been woeful, even he admits, with a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly on race-day. Needs a fresh start at Ferrari.
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso – B
Thirteen top-10 finishes in a car in no man’s land in fifth place in the constructors’ championship represent another solid year for the veteran. He will be praying Adrian Newey can work his magic; if not for next year, then for 2026.
Lance Stroll – D
While his teammate is bang on par in ninth in the standings, Stroll is down in 13th. Astonishingly, he has not scored a single point since the summer break, a run stretching back 10 races to Hungary in July. And for the sixth season running, he will be outperformed by his teammate.
Alpine
Pierre Gasly – B-
From the worst car on the grid early on this season, Alpine are on the cusp of sixth place in the constructors’ championship and have been spearheaded by Gasly in recent weeks. He has earned eight top-10 finishes this season, lies 11th in the drivers’ standings, and will have the responsibility of lead driver next year. The 28-year-old looks ready.
Esteban Ocon – C
A second-place finish in Brazil aside, an underwhelming year for the Frenchman – his last with Alpine. Pastures new beckon at Haas in 2025 and, such is his focus on next year, he will not take to the grid for the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Trails Gasly by 13 points, despite that second-place in Sao Paulo.
Haas
Nico Hulkenberg – A
What a return to F1 it has been for the 37-year-old German. After scoring points in three of the first five races, amid a Ayao Komatsu-inspired Haas renaissance, Hulkenberg landed a seat at Sauber (soon-to-be Audi) next year. He has finished in the top-six twice and is a point ahead of Gasly as he looks to finish in the top-10 in the standings.
Kevin Magnussen - C+
The Dane has often hovered just outside the top-10 but has still recorded a respectable 16 points. Not enough, however, for the 32-year-old to retain his seat for next year – he will make way for British teenager Ollie Bearman – as his ninth and final season in F1 nears its end.
Ollie Bearman – A
Most drivers only get one shot at landing a seat in the pinnacle of motor racing – and British teenager Bearman nailed his main opportunity. Deputising for an ill Carlos Sainz for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, he finished seventh – above Lewis Hamilton – and looked the part. He also scored a point in Baku for Haas but by this point, his ‘dream’ 2025 spot was already secured.
RB
Yuki Tsunoda – B
Another solid if not spectacular year for the Japanese driver, who will record his highest-ever points tally if he can finish in the top-eight on Sunday. Perhaps missing a standout result which could well have solidified his chances of landing the Red Bull seat next year.
Liam Lawson – B+
Promoted with six races remaining to cause a storm, Lawson is on the cusp of a call-up to the mothership next year. He ruffled feathers in Mexico and he’s scored points in variable conditions. The New Zealander now seems in pole position to land Perez’s Red Bull spot.
Daniel Ricciardo – E
What could have been for the Honey Badger. Aside from one sprint race in Miami, he did not impress and certainly not enough to reclaim the prized Red Bull seat. He was dropped for Lawson after September’s Singapore GP.
Williams
Alex Albon – C
It’s not been great for Williams this year. After a season of promise in 2023, they are set to finish ninth in the constructors’ standings and their lead driver only has four top-10 finishes to show for his name. Albon also has not finished a race since Baku in September, a run of form he will be desperate to end in Abu Dhabi.
Franco Colapinto – B-
Things evolve quickly in F1. From being mooted as a possible Red Bull target to three crashes on the spin, the Argentine has revitalised support for the sport in South America. Unfortunately, his recent form means his 2025 seat chances now look dead in the water.
Logan Sargeant – F
His axing, after a fiery crash in Zandvoort, was a long time coming. The American failed to score a point all year and recorded just one point in 37 F1 races in total.
Sauber
Zhou Guaynu – D
Three years and out for the Chinese driver in F1, but he has not been helped by a wretched car this season. However, he did score his team’s first points of the year with a drive to eighth in Qatar on Sunday.
Valtteri Bottas – E
This is not how it was meant to end, Valtteri. A genuinely sad conclusion to a hugely respectable 13-year career in F1, with no points on the board at all this season. Admirably, he has kept his sense of humour throughout it all.
