The 2024 Components 1 season turned so shut and aggressive it was exhausting to keep in mind that after the primary race it appeared little had modified following a yr of Purple Bull dominance.
“Enterprise as typical” ran our headline after the Bahrain Grand Prix, the place Max Verstappen cruised to victory, the closest non-Purple Bull 25 seconds adrift. Few thought his closest championship problem can be Lando Norris, who took the chequered flag 48 seconds behind in sixth place that day.
However inside a couple of months the aggressive order was turned on its head and Purple Bull out of the blue had a battle on his fingers. The championship held on the query of whether or not Verstappen may battle a rearguard motion to maintain Norris from catching him.
However after 24 rounds and 30 races, who had the quickest automobile outright over a single lap in 2024? Verstappen gained the drivers’ championship however ought to Purple Bull have claimed the constructors’ title too? RaceFans crunched the numbers:
10. Sauber
Common deficit to quickest lap: 1.90%
Finest rating: seventh (x2)
Worst rating: tenth (x11)
Sauber’s C44 was the one automobile which was slower than the sphere common at each spherical in 2024, and all their rivals have been faster than them in half of the races this yr. Provided that, it’s no surprise the workforce took till the penultimate spherical of the season to get any factors on the board.
There was some trigger for optimism by the top: Sauber completed the season on an upward curve and final weekend’s race was one in all its best showings. Valtteri Bottas claimed their finest qualifying place of the yr in Abu Dhabi with ninth place, however a pair of collisions in the course of the race ended his hopes of avoiding a point-less season.
Advert | Turn into a RaceFans supporter and
9. Williams
Common deficit to quickest lap: 1.54%
Finest rating: fifth
Worst rating: tenth (x5)
Williams started its second yr below the management of James Vowles in a compromised state of affairs because of the late completion of its newest automobile, a consequence of the restructuring which is happening on the workforce because it appears in the direction of future alternatives. The FW46 was initially chubby, and the workforce’s efforts to develop it have been sophisticated by a collection of crashes, one in all which lowered them to working a single chassis within the Australian Grand Prix.
A delayed mid-season replace introduced some features, however the workforce’s hopes of repeating its seventh place within the championship pale as extra crashes pressured additional compromises on them over the ultimate races. Nowhere was that extra apparent than in Brazil, the place Alexander Albon threatened to assert a spot on the entrance row of the grid earlier than crashing.
The workforce made a swathe of main technical appointments at mid-season and can count on to make important progress subsequent yr, and when new rules arrive in 2026.
8. Alpine
Common deficit to quickest lap: 1.45%
Finest rating: third
Worst rating: tenth (x4)
Alpine introduced up the rear over the primary 4 races of 2024, resulting in but extra adjustments behind the scenes as a number of leaders members of its technical workforce have been proven the door, then it modified workforce principals but once more. It did safe the companies of David Sanchez, who briefly appeared at McLaren after leaving Ferrari.
The workforce made faltering progress, selecting up low-end factors locations after a weight discount programme, then slipping again, earlier than rallying on the finish of the season. Their double podium end in Brazil was one of many greatest shock outcomes of the season. Pierre Gasly obtained the one examples of their remaining updates and used them to good impact as they clung on to sixth place within the constructors’ championship which flattered their tempo in comparison with Haas and RB.
Advert | Turn into a RaceFans supporter and
7. RB
Common deficit to quickest lap: 1.28%
Finest rating: 4th
Worst rating: ninth (x4)
For a lot of groups, 2024 was the yr of the ‘downgrade’. Extracting extra efficiency from the present era of automobiles proved difficult even for the likes of Purple Bull.
Their second workforce RB endured maybe the clearest instance of an improve which backfired. CEO Peter Bayer described it as a “stomach flop” and also you don’t need to look exhausting on the graph beneath to identify its introduction on the Spanish Grand Prix. The workforce struggled to regain the misplaced floor, however have been in higher form by the top of the season.
6. Haas
Common deficit to quickest lap: 1.25%
Finest rating: third
Worst rating: ninth (x2)
One workforce which bucked the ‘downgrade’ pattern was Haas, who deserved sixth within the championship on pure efficiency alone, however needed to accept seventh behind Alpine. New workforce principal Ayao Komatsu tackled what he felt was a defeatist inner mindset when it got here to upgrades, and the workforce made clear progress with its new packages at Silverstone and Austin – although the acquire made with the latter wasn’t instantly obvious.
Advert | Turn into a RaceFans supporter and
5. Aston Martin
Common deficit to quickest lap: 1.19%
Finest rating: 2nd
Worst rating: tenth (x2)
Aston Martin didn’t construct on the outstanding progress they made final yr. If something, their late-2023 dip in kind persevered all through this season, leaving them outsiders for factors by the top of the yr. They have been slowest outright in Interlagos and Las Vegas.
The workforce confirmed technical director Dan Fallows the door having employed him from Purple Bull two years in the past. Nonetheless its incoming recruit from the identical workforce is none lower than star designer Adrian Newey, of whom large issues can be anticipated when new guidelines roll round in 2026.
Advert | Turn into a RaceFans supporter and
4. Mercedes
Common deficit to quickest lap: 0.55%
Finest rating: 1st (x3)
Worst rating: sixth
Mercedes continued to wrestle with the ‘floor impact’ rules launched two years in the past, however regardless of falling to fourth within the constructors’ championship arguably produced their finest automobile of the final three seasons. The W15, the product of a change in philosophy in comparison with its predecessors, appeared near unbeatable at occasions.
The issue was Mercedes have been seldom in a position to make it persistently function at its finest. They hit a quick purple patch on the center of the season the place they gained three out of 4 races, and ended the yr in good condition, however have been too typically pissed off to see their sturdy efficiency early in a race weekend disappear for causes they couldn’t fathom.
Go ad-free for simply £1 per thirty days
>> Discover out extra and join
3. Ferrari
Common deficit to quickest lap: 0.43%
Finest rating: 1st (x4)
Worst rating: seventh
One other workforce which fell sufferer to a mid-season’ downgrade. Ferrari really set the quickest time of all within the opening spherical – simply fractionally forward of Purple Bull – however continued their 2023 pattern of not fairly with the ability to match their rivals’ race stint tempo at this early stage within the season.
After shedding their approach with a flooring improve, Ferrari engineered their approach out of their dip, although not fairly shortly sufficient to beat McLaren to the constructors’ championship. It was typically nip-and-tuck between them for who had the quickest automobile over the ultimate races, nonetheless.
2. McLaren
Common deficit to quickest lap: 0.27%
Finest rating: 1st (x9)
Worst rating: fifth
Purple Bull undoubtedly began the yr with the quickest automobile and McLaren clearly set the usual later within the season. However when and the way the 2 groups overlapped is vital to understanding which workforce was quickest and when.
The uncooked numbers put McLaren very barely behind on common over the yr. However the hole – simply 0.02% of lap occasions on common over the season – is so small it was greater than sufficient for driver efficiency to tip the scales over the course of the yr.
McLaren lagged behind over the opening races however the improve launched in Miami – on Lando Norris’s automobile solely to start with – put them on the fitting path. It was not a ‘mild swap’ second, nonetheless – the Security Automobile helped Norris to victory that weekend and so they didn’t set the outright quickest lap time at a race weekend till Catalunya, 4 rounds later.
From then on they have been often within the hunt and on events they have been merely untouchable, notably at Zansvoort and Singapore, which Norris dominated.
1. Purple Bull
Common deficit to quickest lap: 0.20%
Finest rating: 1st (x8)
Worst rating: 4th (x4)
Purple Bull had the quickest automobile on common over the entire of 2024, regardless of the very fact they solely set the outright quickest time at any grand prix twice over the past 17 rounds. That is partly a mirrored image of how aggressive 2024 was: At some occasions Purple Bull weren’t quickest, but they have been nonetheless forward of McLaren, who had the next-quickest automobile on common.
A lot hypothesis surrounded the rationale for Purple Bull’s drop in kind after the primary seven races. It appeared an excessive amount of of a coincidence that it adopted the departure of Newey so carefully, and the workforce can be watched carefully for indicators it has righted its course in 2025.
Advert | Turn into a RaceFans supporter and
Deficit to quickest lap time – season averages
Whereas Purple Bull had the quickest automobile on common, McLaren set the outright quickest lap time barely extra typically: 9 occasions to their rivals’ eight. When McLaren have been forward, it was often not by as giant a margin as Purple Bull loved once they have been at their finest within the early a part of the season.
Nonetheless the defining function of this yr’s championship in comparison with earlier years is much less a matter of which of these two groups have been forward, however how shut the season was for a lot of the time. Many can be hoping that pattern continues into 2025. If it does, F1 may have one in all its most open and aggressive championships in years.
Deficit to quickest lap time – all races
The opening races of 2024 appeared much like a lot of the earlier season. Purple Bull have been comfortably forward, with a tight-knit group of groups behind.
That each one modified round a 3rd of the way in which into the season. The sphere started to converge and the battle for victory from weekend to weekend turned way more fascinating. Verstappen’s back-to-back wins in Canada and Spain have been the final consecutive victories for any driver all yr.
The information and its limitations
The evaluation above is predicated on the quickest lap occasions set in each session at each grand prix this weekend. How nicely it displays the efficiency of every automobile could fluctuate for various causes.
Quickest lap occasions are often set in qualifying periods. As observe circumstances have a tendency to enhance all through qualifying, and automobiles are eradicated because the periods progress, the slower automobiles’ deficit to the quicker automobiles tends to be barely exaggerated. Moist climate circumstances can additional distort the image.
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a each day e-mail with all our newest tales – and nothing else. No advertising and marketing, no adverts. Join right here:
