The 2024 Formula One season left of where it ended in 2023 with Max Verstappen winning the opening two race weekends with ease. Round three in Australia was to provide the world champion with an opportunity to equal his F1 record of ten consecutive race wins, yet exploding brakes saw Verstappen quickly lose the lead of the race in Melbourne before eventually being forced to retire the car.

With Charles Leclerc claiming his maiden home race victory in Monaco and land Norris finally breaking his duck and winning in Miami, Verstappen remained in an imperious position having won seven the first ten Grand Prix.

Ferrari ruined their chances of title glory last year when they took a wrong development direction turn in their first big car upgrade for round seven at the Emilia-Romagne Grand Prix. This was though masked next time out as Charles Leclerc delivered the qualifying lap of his career to claim pole position and the win at his home in Monaco.

 

 

 

The memorable battles in F1 2024 were between Max and Lando

The team finally recovered the position in time for Ferrari’s home race in Italy as Leclerc stole a victory from McLaren Monza. From there on in, Ferrari were the team who scored the most points to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, finishing just fourteen behind McLaren who claimed the constructors’ world title.

Yet the memorable battles on track throughout the year were between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen and emboldened from his win in Miami, the British driver took it to Max whenever they were occupying the same piece of asphalt.

The first one of note came in Austria, when in the quicker car Norris  hounded Verstappen for lap after lap. Yet Max defended his lead stoically until the two came together at turn three ending the McLaren driver’s race with Verstappen finishing a lowly sixth after being penalised for the incident by the stewards.

Max’s race next time out in Silverstone was with Hamilton and Mercedes, as his superior tyre strategy almost saw him finish ahead of the British driver. But his next battle with Norris was to come later in the year, as the McLaren driver was rapidly closing down Max’s lead in the title race.

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USGP driving standards controversy

In Austin Texas the two disputed the same piece of tarmac for several laps, before Norris completed the move along the back straight. Yet the every thinking Verstappen realised if he braked later than Norris, he would reach the apex of the turn first, and under the stewards guidelines issued by the FIA this meant he had the right to the corner.

This right allowed Verstappen to leave the circuit on exit with. O penalty and even drive his papaya liveried rival completely off the track without penalty. In fact it was Norris who irked the stewards and was penalised, having completed an overtake of the Red bull driver whilst outside track limits.

Next time out in Mexico, Verstappen was less clinical in his duel with Norris,  and received two race busting ten second penalties from the stewards which ruined his race. However, the debate about Max and his driving standards now raged within the paddock, though strangely few of the drivers were openly critical of Max despite the media frenzy.

Charles Leclerc was rarely in the same race as Verstappen last year and his most recent wheel to wheel battles with Max are remembered from the year of 2022. There the pair duelled throughout the races in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi opening rounds of that year when they went head to head for race wins in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with the Ferrari driver finishing just over half a second behind Max in the race along the Jeddah Corniche.

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Leclerc agrees with Verstappen’s ‘risk’ taking

Speaking to RN365, Leclerc admits he will take “risks” like Verstappen if push comes to shove. “You’ve got to pick your battles, and I feel like Max knows how to adapt to different situations, and we’ve seen it,” Leclerc ruminates.

“There were moments where he was not aggressive, but when the end of the season arrived, and Lando was coming back there, you could see him play with the rules a lot more, and I feel like I’ve got that in me.

“I know that whenever big things will be at stake, when it will be the moment to take those risks with the right people, I’ll go for it.”

Despite rarely contesting there same piece of asphalt in recent years, given the superiority of the Red Bull cars, Leclerc explains racing Max is “always more exciting” and particularly so now he is a four time world champion.

“Hamilton owes Ferrari honesty about his pace and motivation”

 

 

 

FIA to write F1 rules of engagement

Leclerc also revels in the mental challenge of the fight with Max from their racing days together in junior categories. “But that’s also why I’ve always enjoyed racing with Max, the mentality of the driver is a big part,”  added the Monegasque.

“We’ve known each other for a long time, and so it is always more exciting when we’re fighting together.

“Unfortunately, because at the beginning of the season, he had quite a dominant car and we were not in the fight with him. He had no reason to be aggressive with us in some kinds of ways, and then we were playing catch-up.

“By the time we were competitive, there was Lando in-between, so he never really saw us as a direct competitor, so, there weren’t these fights.”

The incidents in Austin and Mexico City have forced the FIA to reconsider the secret document on the rules of engagement issued to the stewards at the start f each season. They have offered to collaborate with the drivers to see how these could be improved, in particular the interpretation over who has the ‘right’ to the corner.

Whether the document will be published this year is unknown, however the fact the issue is now top of the drivers agenda should see some amendments, although as history shows, racing drivers will always find a way of pushing the regulations to the limit. Something Leclerc believes to be fair and leads to exciting racing.

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Ferrari cave in to Hamilton’s car design demands

As the long winter months drag on with just the Dakar Rally to quench motorsport enthusiasts thirst for action, Ferrari are bending over backwards to accommodate their new Formula One superstar driver, Lewis Hamilton.

The seven times world champion is being given the Maranello red carpet treatment as he begins the final chapter of his F1 journey with the sport’s most iconic racing team. Hamilton is no stranger to working with the Scuderia boss, Fred Vasseur given their successful partnership back in Lewis’ GP2 championship winning days before his step up into F1 with McLaren.

Hamilton, unhappy with his one year deal agreed with Mercedes late in 2023, accepted the offer from Ferrari group chairman John Elkann to ‘pick up the phone’ during last year’s winter break. And whilst he is not the preferred choice of Vasseur who stated he wished to retain Sainz and Leclerc before the bombshell from Hamilton dropped, the boss of Italy’s national racing team is bending over backwards to accommodate the seven times world champion… READ MORE