Even through 14 rounds of the 2024 season, there is no question as to who the most outstanding, fastest and most consistent driver in the field is so far this year.
To the surprise of no one, it is the same driver who has been clearly the best on the grid over the last few seasons. And the driver who will very likely claim this year’s world championship title.Max Verstappen enjoyed a dominant two-year stretch over the first two seasons of F1’s ground effect regulations that even Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton could not match. And in the early phase of the 2024 season, it looked like it was going to be business as usual for the reigning three-times world champion.
Despite some dramatic stories coming out about the team over the opening months of the year, Verstappen ensured that his team were a picture of professional perfectionism out on track. Two rounds, two poles, two victories to start the season in Bahrain and Jeddah. Although he secured a third-straight pole in Australia, Verstappen would suffer only his first failure to finish for two years when his right-rear brake jammed on at the start, forcing him to pull into retirement as his brake temperatures skyrocketed.
If Red Bull’s rivals were under the illusion that they were now vulnerable after that setback, Verstappen soon gave them a hefty dose of reality with a crushing performance in Suzuka that gave him another dominant victory. China was more of the same. Despite missing out on pole for the sprint race in a wet qualifying session, he rose up from fourth methodically to win before securing pole for the grand prix and never looking under threat of being beaten in the race.
But after the first five rounds of the season were completed, it was as if Verstappen was hit by an adaptive difficulty spike. From this point on, he would never have things quite so straightforward at the front over the rest of the season. Although he took another sprint pole and win Miami, he lost his lead in the grand prix after a Safety Car came at the perfect time for Norris. At the restart, Verstappen could not match the McLaren’s pace after suffering minor damage from hitting a bollard at the chicane and was forced to settle for second place for the first time in what felt like forever.
McLaren’s pace was far from a one-off, however, as Red Bull soon discovered. It took a slipstream from Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas at the end of Q3 for Verstappen to just beat Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole position at Imola, then he had to hold off Norris over some tense final laps in the race to secure victory number five of the season.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Red Bull arrived at Monaco to find that the RB20 had no love for the bumpy Monte Carlo streets. Sixth place was the best that he could manage in qualifying after brushing the barrier on his final Q3 lap and he finished in that same position after a long and boring race. But the reality was that Red Bull just did not have the performance of their rivals around the street circuit.
Max Verstappen
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP start | 1 (x8) | 11 |
| GP finish | 1 (x7) | 6 |
| Points | 277 | |
By Canada, it was more than just McLaren who had joined the party at the front of the field. Now Verstappen was facing competition from Mercedes too, with George Russell beating him to pole position in Montreal with an identical lap time. But over a challenging race in changeable conditions, Verstappen showed how great his skills are, keeping calm and collected throughout the race while those around him faltered to secure yet another victory. The next time out in Spain, he would again triumph by taking advantage of others failing to make the most of their opportunities, getting ahead of Norris at the start and passing Russell for the lead soon after and controlling the race from there.
That would be Verstappen’s most recent victory to date, however. At this point, Red Bull had been truly caught by their rivals and were arguably no longer the team to beat. But Verstappen continued to battle for the win, even managing to win his third sprint race out of three at the Red Bull Ring. He found himself under intense pressure from Norris in the grand prix, however, leading to an intense multi-lap battle for the win between the pair that ended in disaster when they clashed at turn three, leaving both crawling back to the pits with damaged cars. While Verstappen was blamed by the stewards, opinion varied among the grid. But while Norris retired, Verstappen still came home in fifth to extend his championship lead.
Life got no easier for Verstappen at Silverstone, where he compromised his qualifying by running off track at Copse on a damp track, damaging his floor. However, despite this setback, he still managed to salvage fourth on the grid. He struggled for race pace early compared to the Mercedes and McLarens around him, but in the later laps with hard tyres, he put Hamilton under intense pressure and was just seconds away from snatching yet another victory.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Red Bull slipped away from the front of the field in Hungary, with Verstappen making little effort to conceal his frustrations at his car’s lack of competitiveness compared to McLaren. But although he produced another excellent qualifying performance to line up third behind Norris and Piastri, his race was uncharacteristically ragged. He swore up a storm over the radio waves and clashed with Hamilton while battling over third, costing him a potential podium finish and dropping him to fifth in a rare instance of Verstappen not maximising his result.
Although he was not in contention for victory in the latest round in Belgium, he could at least be comfortable in the knowledge he had a power unit grid penalty to blame for that. He was almost certainly the best driver on the track at Spa over the weekend, setting the fastest time in qualifying by a significant margin to line up 11th on the grid, then climbing six places in the race to finish fifth on track, which became fourth after Russell’s post-race disqualification.
With 277 points, seven grand prix victories, three sprint race wins, eight pole positions and nine podium finishes, Verstappen comfortably sits atop the championship standings even having not won a grand prix in four rounds. Through all his achievements so far, it’s easy to overlook the fact that he is currently whitewashing team mate Sergio Perez on both Saturdays and Sundays in 2024 – although that says a lot more about Perez than Verstappen.
Although he is facing more competition now than he has for the last two years, there’s still little reason to doubt he will take title number four by the end of the season. Only an unprecedented collapse is likely to deny him.
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Formula 1
- Red Bull left it as late as possible to tell Verstappen about his latest penalty
- Fights with Verstappen showed where I need to improve next year – Norris
- Bollard incident in qualifying cost Hamilton shot at final Mercedes win – Wolff
- Norris achieves feat which eluded Hamilton by taking McLaren to constructors’ title
- Does Leclerc’s strategy show Hamilton should have finished higher than fourth?
Jere (@jerejj)
16th August 2024, 8:29
I more or less agree with all rankings apart from Russell-Piastri, Zhou, & Alpine duo to a lesser extent.
Simon
16th August 2024, 20:55
You don’t decide the rankings. The author does…
André
17th August 2024, 0:29
The author decides what he wants to write. He doesn’t decide on what is to be the truth.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 9:07
Max has been the best. Has he been perfect? No. Do we now expect Schumacher levels of dominance over the team and the pack? Probably. Truthfully, behind the scenes at Red Bull looks chaos, his teammate doesn’t help him for the majority of the season and he’s shown that stress on too many occasions. His passion always has been and always will be his fatal flaw. But we shouldn’t take away for unbelievable drives in Canada, the China sprint, Imola pole, Spain. He’s won races he shouldn’t but we can’t measure all other drivers against reasonable human limits and Max against perfection. He’s the best driver in the world.
frood19 (@frood19)
16th August 2024, 9:19
Canada should be remembered as one of his best wins – riding his luck a bit (most wet races are like that) but he just mastered it in a way no one else could, calm heads on the pit wall and devastating pace when needed. He’s won so much it’s easy to forget races like this.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th August 2024, 11:20
Definitely was a race any mclaren, mercedes or red bull could’ve won and he made the lowest amount of mistakes in challenging conditions.
notagrumpyfan
16th August 2024, 9:17
As the mid-year ranking is complete now I can repeat Will’s average weekend scores.
20 (4.54, 20 =) Logan Sargeant
19 (4.64, 19 =) Sergio Perez
18 (5.07, 17 +1) Zhou Guanyu
17 (5.14, 18 -1) Lance Stroll
16 (5.36, 15 +1) Daniel Ricciardo
15 (5.43, 16 -1) Kevin Magnussen
14 (5.54, 14 =) Pierre Gasly
13 (5.79, 13 =) Yuki Tsunoda
12 (5.86, 12 =) Valtteri Bottas
11 (5.93, +3) Lewis Hamilton
10 (6.00, +1) Alexander Albon
9 (6.07, -1) Esteban Ocon
8 (6.08, +1) Carlos Sainz Jnr
7 (6.14, -4) Fernando Alonso
6 (6.21, =) Nico Hulkenberg
=3 (6.29, =) George Russell
=3 (6.29, =) Charles Leclerc
=3 (6.29, =) Oscar Piastri
2 (6.64, =) Lando Norris
1 (7.29, =) Max Verstappen
It’s exciting to see how close positions 3-13 are and no surprise that many commenters have vastly different rankings.
A single rating point is worth some 0.07, thus a minor disagreement with Will’s ratings can cause a big shift in the rankings. Especially a poor weekend hurts a lot. A good weekend only give them an ‘8’ (two bonus points above the average) whereas a disastrous weekend can be as low as a ‘2’ (Perez, Magnussen) which penalises by four points of the average.
Thus rating peak performance more would make a clear difference; e.g. double counting the 8’s will move Lewis and Alonso up.
It only requires a minor rating change and some small weighing tweaks to get the ranking you’re more comfortable with ;)
Jmlabareda
16th August 2024, 11:18
This is a good analysis, thanks for sharing. The largest variances are Hamilton who I think suffers from the effect you mention – bad weekends followed by not enough good weekends, but it’s difficult to rank a driver with two wins lower than 8th.
Re Alonso, I am not so sure what explains this variance ? Has he been over rated in individual weekends?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th August 2024, 11:24
If anything alonso has been underrated in these mid season rankings, 11th is quite low even accounting for some bad weekends, the race for example had him 9th, which makes more sense to me.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
16th August 2024, 9:48
The 2024 version of Max Verstappen has been so much more entertaining than the 2023 version where he was cruising at just less than maximum capacity for most of the season and dominated every race. This year we have seen some of Verstappen at his best such as Spain where the McLaren was probably a slightly better car but Verstappen beat him off the start and just about outdrove him over the race. It was good to see Verstappen really stretched to drive at his absolute best. Canada was also very good despite Norris’ bad luck as he looked to have a slower car but won anyway. Imola I am less sure about as Norris appeared to keep his tyres in shape better but it was still an excellent win, while the first four were standard, run of the mill 2023 wins.
But of the seven races Verstappen lost, there were some that were beyond his control and he did the best he could, but others with genuine mistakes. Australia was a mechanical failure, Miami a poorly-timed safety car, while in Silverstone and Spa he got the maximum out of inferior machinery. But Verstappen also showed cracks for the first time in a long while when he lost a lot of places with the mistake in Monaco qualifying, crashed into Norris in Austria, and botched an overtake on Hamilton in Hungary. He is still by far the best driver on this list.
I have probably never agreed more with the Racefans driver rankings than this year. Mine so far would be:
1. Max Verstappen
2. Lando Norris
3. George Russell
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Oscar Piastri
7. Carlos Sainz
8. Nico Hulkenberg
9. Fernando Alonso
10. Esteban Ocon
11. Alex Albon
12. Valtteri Bottas
13. Pierre Gasly
14. Yuki Tsunoda
15. Daniel Ricciardo
16. Kevin Magnussen
17. Lance Stroll
18. Sergio Perez
19. Zhou Guanyu
20. Logan Sargeant
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
16th August 2024, 10:17
Yeah I completely agree with each section.
I’d maybe have Hamilton a couple of places lower and swap Lance and KMag but otherwise I think we have the same list.
notagrumpyfan
16th August 2024, 13:25
I’ll give you my ranking as well, and the process I used:
First I defined the best driver per team, and ranked those from 1-10: VER, NOR, LEC, RUS, HUL, ALO, ALB, OCO, TSU, BOT.
Then I slotted in the individual teammates, starting with the closest paring: SAI fell in just behind RUS; HAM just behind HUL (but almost came ahead, but when reviewing the whole season again it seemed correct there), PIA had enough room to fit before LEC (less really disappointing weekends), GAS (and the rest) behind BOT in their own order.
1. Max Verstappen
2. Lando Norris
3. Oscar Piastri
4. Charles Leclerc
5. George Russell
6. Carlos Sainz Jnr
7. Nico Hulkenberg
8. Lewis Hamilton
9. Fernando Alonso
10. Alexander Albon
11. Esteban Ocon
12. Yuki Tsunoda
13. Valtteri Bottas
14. Pierre Gasly
15. Kevin Magnussen
16. Daniel Ricciardo
17. Lance Stroll
18. Zhou Guanyu
19. Sergio Perez
20. Logan Sargeant
David BR (@david-br)
16th August 2024, 12:23
Races 1-7: best driver? yes (Red Bull car dominant).
Races 8-14: best driver? no (Red Bull car dominance marginal or non-existent).
I’d put Verstappen first but with a big question mark over his performance when pressure for the races increased. Driving well when your car is seconds ahead and your teammate nowhere requires certain skills Max has shown in abundance since mid 2022: aside from pace, total consistency, ruthlessness at snuffling any threat (especially from Pérez) and good decisions about when not to risk too much, knowing race pace would bring victory. Verstappen continued that approach and maintained his level at the start of this season. Really impossible to fault.
But. Driving under genuine pressure from a team mate or other cars/drivers requires other skills. I completely agree that perhaps what’s been most impressive this season is (or was) his ability to focus despite the turmoil behind the scenes at Red Bull, also involving his father/coach. The collision with Norris in Austria was a turning point, though, a glimpse of a pre-2022 Verstappen that also returned in Hungary. I feel Verstappen is being given a huge pass by Will Wood on these incidents, since they’d be a strong negative against had any other driver done the same..
Still good enough for first? Why not. But in a sense because no other driver has been outstanding. We’ll see how the rest of the season pans out. If it’s like races 8-14 in terms of competitiveness, it’ll be a real test again for Verstappen’s aggressive racing and whether it can achieve victory. Meanwhile it will be fascinating to see which team mates dominate from the other pairings: Norris or Piastri? Russell or Hamilton? Sainz or Leclerc? (my bet: the latter driver in each case, presuming they’re seriously competing for podiums and race wins).
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th August 2024, 14:54
Unless they say how long they have been using the brake biasing on the rears and maybe fronts, then there is a huge asterisk. No longer does he appear to be able to leap out of the corners and overtake people down the straights, but it appears he has lost the plot all together, maybe why he was losing his marbles and turning in to Lando after hitting him at the turn, then veering in to him, after it was clear his tire was missing, causing Lando to run off the circuit a second time.
The plot is gone. The usurper has been ruled out, and Max’s dad’s plot to ruin RBR before going to Mercedes w/ Toto has been all but foiled.
SteveP
16th August 2024, 15:47
You’re assuming that the FIA “clarification” regarding braking systems with a left right bias to achieve a turning effect was aimed at something that RBR were doing – there is no evidence* of that. Much as it might please me to see the RBR advantage ripped away, I think it’s a great leap to connect recent down turn in performance with the FIA technical rule clarification.
* If there is then I, for one, have no knowledge of it
timber
16th August 2024, 21:59
Aren’t you just so very very busy to attack Verstappen at every chance you get! You are completely obsessed with it.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
18th August 2024, 21:26
I am a lumber jack’s lack of surprise.
Robbie1
16th August 2024, 16:17
@fanboy BR
“But. Driving under genuine pressure from a team mate or other cars/drivers requires other skills.”
Yes, it’s the possession of those skills that made him beat the most succesfull driver in F1 history despite driving lesser material, having more bad luck and being send to the hospital after one of the dirtiest moves in history.
A move that should have resulted in a DSQ and a raceban.
David BR (@david-br)
16th August 2024, 17:49
Seriously? You can’t have a discussion on a divergence of opinion without resorting to mindless insults? There are other sites for lowbrow interaction at your new level of commentary Robbie.
Verstappen collided twice with different drivers this season, in the second quarter when the racing became tighter. It’s a valid point.
André
17th August 2024, 1:14
You’re very disingenuous.
Any true F1 enthusiast knows:
– The 2021 Redbull was not “lesser machinery”. It was the better car in the 1st half of the season, and the Mercedes was the better car in the 2nd half. Over the season they were very much equal.
– Max won the 2021 season after Michael Masi broke the SC procedure, literally broke the rule that was his job to enforce as the FIA official, removing any remaining chance of Mercedes’ choice of staying out from paying off. The race would have finished under SC and Hamilton who was in the lead by 10 or more seconds before the SC would have won the race, deservedly, and 8th title, and you wouldn’t be here using the argument that Max won with lesser machinery. Alternatively, the race would have been red flagged, both drivers would have put fresh soft tyres and battled it out on track on equal footing. And possibly Hamilton would have won because he had track position, or Max would have won through true heroics under fair conditions. All things considered, Hamilton would have most likely won despite all Max’s dirty tactics on track throughout the season. Running people off, crashing onto them, brake-testing them. Even Horner who has complete disregard for truth and standards admitted that Max was naughty in Jeddah.
– The collision in Silverstone was, more than anything, a racing incident, not foul play. Just as Max out-braking himself in Hungary 2024 and causing a collision was not foul play. But sure, when Max does it, it is genius. When someone else does it, especially Hamilton, it is criminal. Such a take is just disingenuous, malicious distortion of facts to please the ego and incite people. Footballer mentality.
Obviously Max is good, but he still needs a capable car like any other champion. Give him some understeer and he suddenly isn’t any better than half of the grid.
David BR (@david-br)
17th August 2024, 12:38
Robbie (presuming the non-registered avatar is the same) used to be an agreeable Max fan with whom you could debate until 2021, when he swallowed the Red Bull marketing pill, vanished and then returned in this bitter, twisted form. A lesson for us all.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
18th August 2024, 21:36
the ability to think critically flees in the face of abuse. That’s why its so attractive to marketing peeps. Many people find it very difficult to see past an appeal to authority, the stewards play their part in not punishing Max, the commentators play their part in talking up his genius, and he got to literally punt his competition off the track with a superior (probably cheat) car for a couple years, so that F1 could ‘turn the page’ as it were with respect to their target demographics and media ‘plans’.
MotoGP did the same thing with Marquez and Bridgestone, shame about the fact that Ducati and others like Suzuki ended up getting Michelin (the french) back in the game and the ball landed back in Europe’s court. Surprise surprise, Marc went from walking on water, to walking on crutches because he didn’t have the same advantage he had before when Bridgestone were building tires for Honda and Yamaha (post 2008).
Its all about marketing and demographic appeal in racing, its no different than a TV drama, people want to see something else, or they sponsors see an opportunity for something else, they change the script. But when major stakeholders threaten to give the middle finger, things can change for the better. And look at Ducati, completely making the Japanese makes look like second hand bikes.
Horner gate was cover for removing a threat to the establishment in F1. Nothing to do with weird text messages. A threat Ford and RBR power trains look to make good on, and that can’t be controlled by Toto and his friends at Liberty.
DrG
17th August 2024, 14:10
We have some back and forth over the years Robbi
But coming out of hibernation to simply say – seriously?
You cannot believe that about 21 – you surely cannot!
Any DSQ requirement was absolutely in MV camp. Brake testing? Saudi?
He got comprehensively beaten by a guy who could not afford to lose a point in the last four races. Hamilton stepped up as he has done before.
Max – well he has never had any form of pressure driving thee most dominant cars in history – but when it’s a bit tight even with a massive lead, he reverts to type.
He was treated with some ridiculous kid gloves by the fia over those 21 races.
Races he lost. It has not made him a better or good racer.
He lost 21 Abu Dhabi – until the worst travesty in sport gifted him a title.
You can argue all day about the individual races that year but MV had no right to win that last race.
A normal year he would not even have been racing in it.
Have to assume this is a I should get off the computer as I have been drinking moment for you.
Mayrton
17th August 2024, 15:45
The thing is Austria was a marginal incident with disproportionate effect and 50% on Norris as well when comparing other duels through the years at the same corner. So I do not see that as an incident at all of which you can conclude anything, unless you really want to and let yourself be fed by the media that have an interest in conflict since it equals viewers and clicks. Hungary was definitely an off day, but then again that would be the first in 3 years.
Edvaldo
16th August 2024, 12:44
Max is not dominating anymore but he did put it in the bag by dominating when he could.
The car is still good enough to fight for wins and he will win more races for sure, so 2024 is mostly done.
The question now is when.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th August 2024, 14:55
don’t be surprised if Max fails to finish a few more races.
timber
16th August 2024, 21:56
Don’t be suprised you are taking every opportunity to diminish his accomplishments. Nothing new to see, just the usual toxicity coming from you.
Mayrton
17th August 2024, 15:47
We get it. Lewis is the best.
slowmo (@slowmo)
16th August 2024, 14:19
The main reason Verstappen is first is because Norris has dropped the ball badly too many times. Hopefully he’s learning some lessons for the future. Had Norris delivered 2-3 more wins which he definitely had the machinery to do so then he’d have got the top spot imo.
As for Verstappen he has largely delivered what his car was capable of bar a couple of blips here and there, so as he had the fastest car for the most part it guaranteed a top 2 spot in these rankings. He’ll probably easily take the title now but whether he’s ranked number one at the end of the year when he’s under more pressure each race due to the loss of his dominant machinery we’ll have to see.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th August 2024, 14:56
the reason why Max is in first, is because his car was breaking the rules up until China/Miami.
the reason why Lando is not in first is because he is not favored on his team.
its that simple.
slowmo (@slowmo)
16th August 2024, 15:41
Who knows, you can bet though that even if their car was breaking the rules, they’ll never get punished for it. The real question is how long they might have had the alleged braking feature. Precedent is on their side though that there will be no restrospective action plus the stewards are cowards. Doesn’t really change the job that Verstappen has done with the hardware he’s had. When it was the best (albeit potentially illegal) car, he did the best job and dropped the ball less than others the rest of the time.
Had Norris been favoured and got the win he gave up it wouldn’t have elevated him to the top spot. He’s made some other howlers alongside his great performances.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th August 2024, 20:43
And piastri was more deserving that time, norris was only ahead because he got a favourably timed pit stop.
Robbie1
16th August 2024, 17:38
Ofcourse, a technical directive issued in July made the car slower in April….
Them being slower has nothing to do with the devastating viewership report in March stating viewership was down by 20% compared to last year, effectively meaning a drop in value of around 10%.
And this directive is surely ain’t published to quell the rumors regarding this report and make people look the other way.
And Magalaren Zak not throwing shade at Red Bull is just him being nice, right?
timber
16th August 2024, 21:57
Do you have any evidence for that drivel? Or are you really thinking that everybody goes along with the lies you tell the world?
Mayrton
17th August 2024, 15:48
We get it. Max doesn’t belong in F1. Is an outrage he is around.
Pete
16th August 2024, 20:07
He’s been the best for the first half of the season but now the other teams have caught up, he’s suffering from the same thing Lewis did – it’s difficult to snap out of “easy domination mode” and get back to fighting for positions.
Mog
16th August 2024, 23:27
Kyle Larson is better though, just ask him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th August 2024, 20:40
Perez is also better if you ask him, lots of drivers think they’re the best.
cassandra
17th August 2024, 1:12
#1 driver for team with best designer, best car for a year or two, well connected privileged rich kid, so he wins. Boring story.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
17th August 2024, 11:23
Come on, motorsport is only accessible to rich privileged, they all are. A basic karting tyre set costs 200€ and a single test day on a circuit in your GT car is like 2000€.
You’d like Norris to win instead? He’s probably the richer one of the two. You’ll likely be forever bored if this is your focus.
Max has shown outstanding performance, he’s not just “the richest in the best car”.
Mayrton
17th August 2024, 15:53
Yeah and a first time too we see it. Oh wait.. 2010-2013 Vettel, 2014-2020 Lewis. And these periods were even longer than just two for the current privileged kid.
Mayrton
17th August 2024, 15:50
A lot of people grasping at straws here. Love it. Rent free stuff and the like.