The 2024 Formula One season is over with and what a season we had.
From a record number of multiple race winners, a Constructors’ Championship drought broken and some new heated rivalries emerging, it was arguably the most entertaining season we’ve seen in quite some time.
But as we head into the off-season, just what are the key talking points to mull over as we rest, reset and rethink all things F1 to draw out the year that was.
Let’s get to them and more in the final talking points for 2024.
No matter what is thrown at him, Verstappen is still the best
After such a dominant year in 2023, who doubted that Max Verstappen wouldn’t emerge as Champion in 2024?
In fact, both myself and fellow Roar F1 writer Jawad Yaqub easily picked him as our Drivers’ Champion in our pre-season predictions (more on those later).
But while on paper it was an easy pick, the circumstances in 2024 were much different than they were a year ago.
In 2023, we were talking about records for Verstappen. Most wins in a season. Most consecutive wins. Biggest win percentage. It all kept piling up. And at the beginning of the year, it looked like it was heading in the same direction.
Remember that heading into Albert Park in March, he was on track to once again break his record of most consecutive wins. That seems like an eternity ago doesn’t it?
After that race, things seemed to even up somewhat, particularly come the Miami Grand Prix when Lando Norris broke through for his first ever win, McLaren became the best car and we then spent the rest of the season talking about a Championship battle that we could’ve never imagined we would’ve had.
Through all of this though, Verstappen emerged on top, securing his fourth World Championship in Las Vegas to cement himself as one of the all-time F1 greats.
That is the true nature of a Champion. The ability to overcome obstacles. The ability to drive the wheels off your car when it isn’t the best in the field. The ability to keep your cool under pressure and even when you have moments that some question, still emerge on top to showcase your skills and show why you are a World Champion.
Max Verstappen did that and more in 2024, and you’d be a very brave individual to bet against that happening once more in 2025.
Norris needs to iron out the inconsistencies to become World Champion
It was a watermark year for Lando Norris who finally broke through for his first race win and entered the Championship battle for the first time in his career.
That breakthrough win in Miami was followed up by three more in 2024, and he put it up to Max Verstappen as best as he could to end the season as the Championship runner-up.
But despite all the success, there are still very much some elements to his driving that need to be fixed.
His starts for example. The main talking point for Norris across the year by far. His ability to not be leading after the first lap starting from pole was a bad habit by the popular Brit, and something that as much as he avoids talking about, knows he must improve moving forward.
On that note, eight pole positions is a great result for any driver. Converting only three of them into wins, not so much. Saturday wins won’t win you the World Championship, and being the best qualifier on the grid won’t either. Just ask Charles Leclerc about that and he’ll have plenty to tell you.
And race craft too is something that can be worked on moving forward as well. His battles with Verstappen were quite contentious throughout the season and for the most part, it wasn’t his fault when Max is always going to push the limits in moments like that. But it does take two to tango, and if Norris wants to be battling at the front regularly with the likes of Verstappen, he’ll have to get used to how it’s done and use that to his advantage if he wants to be World Champion.
There’s no doubting that Lando will be a World Champion one day. It just is a matter of when a few more things can be fixed to get him there.
The unlikely driver to take out Driver of the Year
Nico Hulkenberg is the driver of 2024.
No, he didn’t win the World Championship. No, he didn’t even finish in the top ten. But he did everything in his power to showcase his skills in a car that many said at the beginning of the year wouldn’t even score a point.
It was an incredible turnaround for Haas based on where they were a year ago, and an incredible turnaround for Hulkenberg who only a few years ago wasn’t in the sport and looked like he would only ever play the role of ‘super sub’ when someone else was injured or sick.
Hulkenberg scored in ten of the 24 races in 2024, scoring 41 points and only finishing one point behind Pierre Gasly in the Championship to end the year in 11th.
He scored more than double the points of his teammate Kevin Magnussen, qualified in the top ten 11 times across the year and was always a threat in races for points no matter where he ended up.
It’s a shame, therefore, that he is about to take a step back and go to Sauber for 2025, but we all know it’s a case of short-term pain for long-term gain for Nico as the team switches to the Audi works team in 2026.
And while that elusive podium is still missing from his CV, one thing that has definitely been added is an incredible season and the title of The Roar’s driver of the year. Bravo Nico, bravo.
Aussie F1 hopes are in good hands
12 months ago, I said Oscar Piastri will be Australia’s next F1 World Champion. It’s a fact that I clearly stand by given the success he had across 2024.
Two wins, eight podiums and two fastest laps helped him towards fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and, of course, helped secure the Constructors’ Championship for McLaren. This meant that he became the first Australian F1 driver since Mark Webber in 2013 to be part of a Championship winning team.
With a bit more consistency by Oscar in 2025 and remaining closer to his teammate Lando Norris, we could easily see him battling deeper into the season for that elusive Drivers’ Championship that hasn’t been in the hands of an Aussie since Alan Jones in 1980. It’s something we are all hopeful will happen and could be a prospect very soon.
Outside of Oscar, we of course have Jack Doohan joining the grid full-time in 2025.
A debut in Abu Dhabi at the end of the year will release some of that pressure on his shoulders at the opening round in Melbourne in March, but it will still be a big learning year for Jack as he hopes to join Oscar at the pointy end of the field.
We did of course say goodbye to Daniel Ricciardo in 2024, but with a new team joining in 2026 in Cadillac, there are whispers that perhaps Danny Ric could be in the conversation for a famous comeback to the grid with them. A possibility? Sure. Realistic? No. But we can dream right? And the prospect of three Aussies on the grid in 2026 is definitely mouthwatering.
No matter which way you look at it, it’s a great time to be an Aussie F1 fan and looks likely to be so for many years to come.
Why this season sets up a mouthwatering 2025
Speaking of mouthwatering, 2025 is shaping up to be exactly that.
Given we had a Championship battle we weren’t expecting at the beginning of the year and the fact that the cars aren’t set to change too much between now and Melbourne in March, we should enter 2025 in the same way we did ending in 2024.
Could that mean a four-way fight for the Constructors’ Championship between Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes? Perhaps an eight-way fight for the Drivers’ Championship between all eight drivers from those four teams? It sounds outlandish, but could be possible given the uncertainty of most race weekends in 2024.
It is also the last season before we get a massive shakeup in regulations in 2026. With all the teams focusing on that shift, there will be less focus on 2025 and the improvements there, giving extra hope that the closeness of this season will continue.
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The driver market too is going to be incredibly spicy, even more so than what we saw this season.
With Sauber switching into Audi, Cadillac joining as a fully new team and rumours that even a 12th team may join, that alone gives some extra punch to the already tight driver field.
There are currently seven seats up for grabs in 2026, including Cadillac, which would be nine should a 12th team join. That of course is based on current contracts, which generally can mean nothing in the world of F1. All it will take is one move from one driver to make it even more crazy, something which more often than not happens.
That move in 2024 of course was Lewis Hamilton switching to Ferrari, and in 2025 we finally get to see one of the greatest of all time at one of the greatest teams of all time. It will be something incredible to witness.
The one final thing to be extra excited about as an Australian is the return to the opening round for Albert Park.
This always adds an extra layer of intrigue heading to the race, as it’s a completely blank slate for everyone at round one and can often lead to extra exciting racing and uncertainty.
No matter which way you look at it, 2025 is going to be a great year in F1.
Bonus talking point: Who emerged as The Roar’s best predictor?
A quick final note to recap our pre-season F1 predictions.
Before the first round in Bahrain, myself and Jawad gave our take on a few burning questions in the world of F1 to see just how smart we were in that department and if our crystal balls were going to work in 2024.
So how did we do?
Jawad correctly predicted Max Verstappen as Drivers’ Champion, Carlos Sainz as the Australian Grand Prix winner and that Sergio Perez would see out the season for Red Bull in his ‘bold prediction’ section. He was wrong in predicting Red Bull as Constructors’ Champion and Fernando Alonso going to Mercedes in 2025.
I predicted correctly that Max Verstappen would be Drivers’ Champion and that Kimi Antonelli would end up at Mercedes in 2025. I was wrong in saying Red Bull would win the Constructors’ Championship, wrong in my bold prediction that Daniel Ricciardo would end up at Red Bull and wrong that Charles Leclerc would win in Melbourne.
So that gives Jawad three points to my two. But there were two more areas in which we predicted. That being the order of the Constructors’ Championship and which teams would win their respective teammate battles.
For that, I’m giving a point to each person who got the closest to their respective position in the Constructors, and point to each person who got the teammate battle correct.
With that criteria, Jawad scored six and I scored eight in the Constructors predictions, and Jawad scored five and I scored six in the teammate battle predictions.
The final score? Jawad with 14, myself with 16.
A small win, but I’ll take it!
A fun win to end the year in what has been a fun season covering F1 for The Roar! Bring on 2025 and all the extra fun that will bring too!
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