Tag: motorsport

Biggest talking points for the F1 2024 season: Red Bull

The gap between Verstappen and the rest of the field is closing.

In 2023 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won every race of the Formula 1 season. Verstappen continued that dominance in the first half of the 2024 season, winning seven of the first ten 10 races. Yet the tide began to turn, Ferrari, Mercedes and in particular McLaren were catching the Red Bull outfit, Verstappen was no longer invincible.

After Verstappen’s win in Spain at the 10th race of the season he wouldn’t win another race until the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 21st race of the season. It was one of Verstappen’s greatest wins, coming from the back of the grid to win the race at Sao Paulo. He would win again at the Qatar.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Mercedes George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would all win multiple races during the 2024 season.

Verstappen would win the 2024 drivers championships by only 63 points over McLaren’s Lando Norris. This is compared to the 2023 championship, he won by 290 points.

Perez couldn’t rise to the occasion at Red Bull in 2024.

The second driver has become a poison chalice at Red Bull with drivers including Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon all struggling in the role. Sergio Perez had been at Red Bull since 2021 but there had been continued speculation with his spot at the team. He finished the 2023 season in second but 290 points behind his team-mate Verstappen.

Red Bull sister team RB signed Daniel Ricciardo for the 2024 season. Continued speculation in the pitlane that Ricciardo would replace Perez at Red Bull if he exceled at RB but Ricciardo couldn’t live up to expectation in the early part of the season. Perez started the season in brilliant form finishing on the podium in four of the first five races and signed a two year extension in June.

After a confident start to the season, Perez’s form deteriorated quickly and the pressure began to rise for the Mexican driver. After the fifth race of the season Perez would only finish in the top 5 once for the rest of the season. He didn’t finish 5 races and be completely out of the points another three. Perez finished the drivers championship in 8th place with 152 points, 71 points behind Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton in seventh. Red Bull finished the constructors champions in a disappointing third place.

On the 18th of December Perez and Red Bull announced that they parted ways with immediate effect.

The next day Red Bull announced Liam Lawson as the second driver or the 2025 season. Lawson replaced Ricciardo at RB for the last five races for 2024 season finishing in the points on two occasions. He also raced for RB when Ricciardo was injured in 2023 for again five races finishing in the points once. Lawson is from New Zealand and is 22 years old.

Review of the Belgium Grand Prix Qualifying Part 1

Q1 and the first five eliminated

Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou and William’s Logan Sargeant have both struggled throughout the 2024 season and both haven’t recorded a top ten finish. Their miserable seasons continued with both drivers finishing 20th and 19th respectively. They are both expected to not be not on the grid in 2025.

They both will move up a position on the grid for Sunday’s race as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda will start from the back of the grid due to being handed a 60 grid penalty due to different infringements with the car. Each driver is allowed four internal combustion engine changes a season, this was Tsunoda’s fifth. Other infringements included having his third third energy store and a new set of electronics.

The two Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finished in the 16th and 17th respectively.

Q2 and the next five eliminated

The weather can have a big impact on qualifying and an F1 race. It was drizzling at the start of Q2 but it got heavier half way through Q2 with all drivers going on the intermediates.

William’s Alex Albon missed out on the top ten by the tiniest of margins, only 0.003 seconds to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who finished in 10th. Perez has been under immense pressure to hold his spot for the remainder of the 2024 season and beyond.

As it was getting wetter at the Spa track, RB believed their driver Daniel Ricciardo had done enough to make Q3 and decided he that he didn’t need come out of the garage to do a final lap. This decision backfired and Ricciardo finished in 13th. Ricciardo spoke with the F1 media after qualifying about his teams decisions.

“Of course we’re all a little disappointed but it wasn’t a call that we’re all kicking ourselves over, it’s just the one we made and wasn’t the [right] one” he said.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has had many peaks and troughs in the 2024 season. Struggling in the first seven races, only managing to finish 13th or lower. But the next four races were such an improvement finished in the top 10 in all four but the last two he has failed to finish. He will start the race in 12th and will hope for another top ten finish.

Like his teammate at Sauber, Valtteri Bottas hasn’t recorded a point this season. He will start the race in 14th and it will be an uphill battle to make the top 10.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll will start the race in 15th.