Photo by Peter Fox – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
As the second half of the 2024 F1 season looms, a look back at the magical first half of the campaign
The long Formula 1 summer shutdown is finally, perhaps painfully, drawing to a close.
The reason for that pain? It lies in just how wonderful the first half of the season has been.
Next week the grid will roar back to life, as the sport descends upon Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix. Given everything that happened over the first half of the F1 season, it may be hard to top what we see down the stretch. However, the prospect of a true title fight in the Constructors’ Championship as well as an outside shot at a fight between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship makes for some incredible storylines as the second half of the season beckons.
We will start to tackle those next week. But for now as the shutdown comes to a close, here is a look back at the ten best moments from the first half of the season, as selected and then ranked by one solitary sportswriter. As you may slowly glean from these rankings, they lean into the emotional side of things, and certainly you may disagree.
But here is a look back at a special start to the 2024 F1 campaign.
10. A prince arrives in the paddock
We will get to the on-track moments in a second — and there are plenty of those to cover — but we start with more of a light-hearted development from the 2024 campaign.
When Charles Leclerc and his partner Alexandra Saint Mleux introduced the world to Leo Leclerc:
The miniature longhaired dachshund immediately took the F1 world by storm, perhaps even joining Lewis Hamilton’s bulldog Roscoe as the most famous canine in the sport. As luck would have it, Hamilton and Leclerc are going to be teammates next year at Ferrari, and the introduction between the two dogs was as cute as you could imagine:
Just imagine the content Ferrari will produce next season with those two.
9. Zhou Guanyu’s Chinese Grand Prix
Zhou Guanyu earned a full-time spot on the F1 grid for the 2022 season. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, his home race was canceled that year, as well as last season.
This meant that when the grid returned to Shanghai this year for the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix, Zhou could finally race in front of his home fans.
While Sauber has struggled this season, and Zhou did not finish in the points in either the F1 Sprint Race or the Grand Prix itself, the roar of the crowd every time he took to the track, or his C44 rocketed down the main straight, was something to behold. So too was the sight of Zhou following the Grand Prix, soaking in the moment:
Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images
Whether Zhou is back next year for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix remains to be seen, as his spot for next season remains in doubt. But seeing Zhou get the chance to race at home after two long years of wondering if he would get the change is one of the more emotional moments of the season to date.
8. Oliver Bearman’s stunning debut
Shortly after the grid arrived in Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix word emerged that Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr. was battling an illness. Sainz skipped media duties on Wednesday before taking part in both FP1 and FP2 on Thursday, but then it was announced that the driver needed an appendectomy, and would be sidelined for the Grand Prix.
Enter Oliver Bearman.
The F2 driver and Ferrari reserve had just one hour of practice in the SF-24 to get acclimated before stepping into his first F1 qualifying session, and he handled that challenge well, advancing to Q2 and narrowly missing out on Q3. As for the race itself, Bearman shocked the F1 world, finishing seventh in his debut and holding off countrymen Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton — both with fresher tires — down the stretch to bring home six points in his first race.
Those six points are still enough for Bearman to stand 14th in the Drivers’ Championship standings despite racing just once on the year.
Bearman will be back next year, having secured a full-time seat with Haas for the 2024 season. But it will be hard to top his stellar debut.
7. Qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix
1:12.000.
There have been many moments during the first half of the current F1 season where it was evident something special was happening. One such moment came following the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix when Lando Norris came up just short of chasing down Max Verstappen for the victory. As noted F1 analyst Will Buxton stated at the time the difference between 2023 and 2024 became stark at that moment. A year ago teams wanted another car to challenge Verstappen. This year? They just want another lap.
Another moment that crystallized the fact that this season is shaping up to be special? Qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix. On that Saturday George Russell and Verstappen posted the same time in Q3 — the above-noted 1:12.000 — but because Russell finished his lap first, the Mercedes driver started on pole with Verstappen alongside him.
While Russell could not convert his starting spot to a win, he managed to finish third, delivering the team’s first Grand Prix podium of the season (Hamilton finished on the podium in the F1 Sprint Race at the Chinese Grand Prix). It was the first sign that a Mercedes resurgence was coming — more on that in a moment — and another indication that 2024 was going to be special.
6. Carlos Sainz Jr.’s heroic win Down Under
Medicine has come a long way since I had my appendix removed during my sophomore year of high school, but it is worth noting that in the days after my appendectomy, it was a struggle to stand upright, let alone walk. And the thought of getting behind the wheel of a road car two weeks later — let alone an F1 car in a Grand Prix — was unimaginable.
Carlos Sainz Jr., however, must be built differently.
After missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Sainz returned to the grid for the Australian Grand Prix and qualified second, just behind Max Verstappen. But when the Red Bull driver experienced a brake failure in the early going, it opened the door and Sainz charged through, leading most of the way to the victory.
“Carlos deserves a special mention because a little over two weeks ago he was undergoing surgery,” said Team Principal Frederic Vasseur following the race. “Now it’s as if that never happened and he managed to stay focussed throughout, to round off a sensational weekend.”
An absolutely incredible performance.
5. Oscar Piastri’s maiden win
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Given the strength McLaren showed during the first half of the season and Lando Norris’ maiden Grand Prix victory, it felt like Oscar Piastri’s first Grand Prix win was just a matter of time.
That day indeed came, as Piastri took home the win at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but it was an afternoon in Hungary filled with subplots, some of which we are still finding out about weeks later.
Of course, the headline was Piastri’s win, and how Norris was given team orders to let Piastri through in the closing stages, despite a series of strategy calls that saw Norris take the lead late in the race. As the laps ticked down F1 fans were treated to a variety of messages from Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph to the driver, pleading with him to let Piastri by. At one point Joseph even went as far as to say he was he was trying to “protect” the driver, insinuating that his status in the team could be called into question if he did not comply.
Eventually, Norris did pull to the side, letting his teammate through as McLaren converted their front-row lockout from qualifying into a front-row finish as they finished one-two as the checkered flag flew.
How McLaren handled that race became a matter of heated debate in the hours and days that followed, and as we look ahead to a potential title fight between McLaren and Red Bull, a lingering question may very well be how the Woking-based team handles similar decisions down the stretch. But it still capped off a tremendous week for the team, as McLaren banked 43 points on the weekend, vaulting them into second place in the F1 Constructors’ Championship.
If that were not enough, we learned in recent days that Piastri competed that week having suffered a rib fracture around the Austrian Grand Prix. So not only did he pick up his maiden Grand Prix win, he did so with a broken bone.
But, on a lighter note, his trophy survived the podium celebration at the Hungaroring.
4. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris come together in Austria
It is fair to say two things at this point: First, it is getting much tougher to rank these, and second if you were to put this moment at the top of your rankings, I would more than understand.
From where I sit, the three moments yet to be discussed carry incredible emotional weight, which is what vaulted them ahead of this moment at the Austrian Grand Prix. But if you wanted to make the case that Lando Norris and Max Verstappen coming together in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix was the defining moment from the first half of the season, it would be an easy case to make.
After all, from the moment Norris won in Miami, and then almost chased him down the following race weekend at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, it was clear that a moment between the two friends-turned-rivals was coming. That moment came in the closing laps of the Austrian Grand Prix, when a battle that played out over a series of laps ended with the two drivers coming together, causing both to suffer a puncture. Norris was forced to retire while Verstappen finished down in fifth, as George Russell was the driver on the spot who took the checkered flag.
Tensions were high in the post-race media scrums, and a war of words simmered in the days leading up to the British Grand Prix. There was even some thought that Verstappen would receive a villain’s reception at Silverstone. But the two drivers eventually spoke and put the matter to rest, and we all moved on from wondering where their relationship would go after that moment.
Again, if you wanted to put this moment atop your own list, all the power to you. That was truly an incident that captured the minds of F1 fans around the globe, and we have the page view numbers here to prove it. But on this list, which leans into the emotional side of sport, three different moments stand out.
3. Lando Norris finally gets his win
A moment of confession from yours truly.
It was so, so very hard to rank these next two moments from the first half of the season.
But trying to be as objective as possible, given the fact that I witnessed this moment in person, Lando Norris finally shedding the harsh “Lando Nowins” moniker with his win at the Miami Grand Prix was an incredible moment for not just the driver, but perhaps the first real sign that this was going to be a special season.
Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix only Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. had Grand Prix victories, giving the 2024 season a very similar feeling to the previous campaign. But on that Sunday in Miami Norris finally broke through, capitalizing on a timely safety car and holding on a charge from Verstappen down the stretch.
The podium pictures of Norris as he finally reached the top step tell the entire story:
Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images
However, this video I captured of Norris and McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella heading to that celebration, in my mind at least, captures that moment as well. You can almost see the weight being lifted off Norris’ shoulders as he, for the first time, was headed to a podium celebration as the winner:
Note: For readers on Apple News you need to click the link in the above paragraph to video this video posted to Threads).
McLaren fans may argue that this was the best moment of the season, and they are well within their right to do so, but in my mind, at least two other moments stand out.
2. Charles Leclerc finally conquers Monaco
They were the streets where he learned to drive, and a circuit that took him and the other drivers past childhood landmarks such as his school bus stop, and the pool where he learned to swim. But for so many years those Monte Carlo streets, which formed the track of the Monaco Grand Prix, had proven to be a house of horrors. So many close calls, and so many heartbreaking moments.
All of which were erased on one shiny Sunday in May.
Finally, a hometown hero had conquered Monaco, as Charles Leclerc captured the Monaco Grand Prix.
For many, it was a rather drab affair. An opening-lap collision brought out the red flag, and the entire grid into the pits. The rest of the race had more the feel of a parade than anything else, and second-place finisher Oscar Piastri could never get close enough to truly put Leclerc under threat. The McLaren driver told me after the race that there was one moment where he thought about making a lunge at Leclerc but rewatching the race he realized it would have been a tall task. “I tried once into Turn Eight to try and get by. But, yeah, I watched it back and to be honest, I was even further back than I thought,” said Piastri. “So it definitely wouldn’t have worked. But yeah, that is just the nature of Monaco, I guess.”
But this day was all about Leclerc, and a hometown hero finally erasing years of heartbreak, in a race that means so very much to him. In fact, after the race, Leclerc admitted that his emotions almost got the best of him, while he still had a few laps to go. “F— Charles, you cannot do that now,” he told himself as he blinked away the emotion in the closing laps. “You still have two laps to finish.”
Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images
Leclerc also spoke about his father, who passed away from a long illness just days before Leclerc drove in an F2 race in Azerbaijan.
“Where I struggled the most to contain my emotions was during the last 10 laps of the race,” Leclerc said. “I realised actually two laps to the end that I was struggling to see out of the tunnel just because I had tears in my eyes and, especially on a track like Monaco, you have to be on it all the way to the end. It was very difficult to contain those emotions, those thoughts again of the people that have helped me get to where I am today.”
“It was very much in my mind,” he added. “I think in every race I have done, there has not been one single race where I was thinking about this kind of personal stuff inside the car, because you’ve got to stay on it.
“Maybe Baku in 2017, obviously everything was still very fresh for me, so it was difficult to manage mentally. However, it’s probably the first time in my career that it happened again while driving when you’ve got these flashbacks of all these moments that we have spent together, all the sacrifices that he has done for me to get to where I am.
“This is not only my dream, but it was both of our dreams to get here. Obviously, my whole family was supporting and obviously dreaming of that moment, which makes it even more special. That was probably the moment that makes it the most difficult to manage today.”
A difficult moment to manage, but one of the most memorable moments from the first half of the 2024 F1 campaign.
1. Lewis Hamilton wins in Silverstone
As emotional as the previous two moments were, one moment manages to top them, and in a year already filled with incredible images, the lasting one from the 2024 Formula 1 season may very well be another hometown hero, Lewis Hamilton, taking the win in his final British Grand Prix with Mercedes.
And breaking a lengthy winless streak in the process.
It was a win that featured some of the best Hamilton has to offer and included the Mercedes driver fending off a late charge from his rival Max Verstappen to hold on for victory. In the moments that followed after the checkered flag Hamilton let all his emotions out, first on the radio with his team, then with his father, as he brought his W15 to a stop, and finally as he grabbed a Union Jack and went over to celebrate with the throngs of fans surrounding Silverstone:
Photo by Mario Renzi – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
But it was what Hamilton would say in the moments following those celebrations that perhaps put this victory atop a list like this. Speaking during the FIA Press Conference the seven-time Champion opened up about his self-doubt since the dramatic 2021 season, and how he began to question whether a day like this would ever happen again. Asked by Daniel Moxon of The Daily Mail if he had such doubts, Hamilton responded at length.
“Absolutely. It feels different to previous races and particularly races where you’re having race after race after race or seasons where you’re having multiple wins,” said Hamilton. “I think with the kind of the adversity I would say that we’ve gone through as a team and that I personally felt, that I’ve experienced, those challenges, the constant challenge like we all have to get out of bed every day and give it our best shot.
“And, you know, there’s so many times where you feel like your best shot is just not good enough. And the disappointment sometimes that you can feel, you know, and we live in a time where mental health is such a serious issue. And I’m not going to lie, that I have experienced that. And there’s definitely been moments where you know, the thought that this was it, that that was never going to happen again.
“So to have this feeling come across the line, I think, honestly, I’ve never cried coming from a win. It just came out of me. And it’s a really, really great feeling. I’m very, very grateful for it.”
I think it is fair to say we all were.
