The 2024 Formula 1 season was one of its most thrillingly open contests in years.
Not only did seven drivers from four different teams win races, all of them picked up more than one victory.While Max Verstappen clinched the championship for the fourth year in a row, Lando Norris was still in the hunt with three rounds to go – despite having reached the podium once over the opening four rounds.
McLaren and Ferrari’s drivers filled the four positions in the championship standings behind Verstappen. Charles Leclerc scored popular wins on home ground for himself and his team, while Oscar Piastri claimed his first victories in his second season. Carlos Sainz Jnr said farewell to Ferrari with a pair of well-taken wins, including a gritty comeback from an appendectomy in Australia.
The Mercedes drivers were often flummoxed by their car. But Lewis Hamilton and George Russell joined the fray at the front when the W15 was up to it, the seven-times champion ending the longest victory drought of his career.
There were many stand-out performances in an intensely-fought midfield. Esteban Ocon led Pierre Gasly to a dream podium double for Alpine in Brazil. Fernando Alonso finished ‘best of the rest’ more times than anyone for Aston Martin. Nico Hulkenberg regularly scored well for Haas.
There were no rookies on the grid when the season began but three turned up over the course of the season. Oliver Bearman uniquely scored points in his first two starts with two different teams. Williams were impressed by Franco Colapinto’s first performances for them while Jack Doohan was thrown in at the deep end at the season finale for Alpine.
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The late conclusion to the season means RaceFans’ annual rankings won’t appear until the new year – but we want to see how our readers rated the drivers of 2024. Name your driver of the year below and look out for the verdict in just over a week’s time.
Who was the best F1 driver of 2024?
Which Formula 1 driver impressed you the most over the 2024 season? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2024 Formula 1 season?
- No opinion (1%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
- Logan Sargeant (0%)
- Jack Doohan (0%)
- Oliver Bearman (1%)
- Kevin Magnussen (1%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (7%)
- Zhou Guanyu (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (0%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
- Liam Lawson (0%)
- Franco Colapinto (1%)
- Alexander Albon (0%)
- Pierre Gasly (1%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (1%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Oscar Piastri (2%)
- Lando Norris (12%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (3%)
- Charles Leclerc (7%)
- George Russell (2%)
- Lewis Hamilton (2%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Max Verstappen (55%)
Total Voters: 210
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Debates and polls
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GechiChan (@gechichan)
17th December 2024, 8:13
My best 3 top and bottom drivers:
Best: Max, Charles, Lando
Worst: Logan, Lance, Sergio.
Terrion (@terrion)
17th December 2024, 8:17
I really enjoyed the Haas duo this year. Hulk was doing some black magic getting the car to places where it really shouldn’t have been. And K-Mag was just so fun watching. The best team mate you could have wished for. I’m just sad they are both heading different ways.
Also Gasly was unstoppable the last 4-5 races
kuvemar
17th December 2024, 8:29
To make it as simple as possible: Charles beat 2 faster and 1 equal car, Lando beat 1 faster and 1 equal car, Max beat 1 equal car.
So Charles.
magon4 (@magon4)
17th December 2024, 12:08
Say what?
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
17th December 2024, 15:03
Ya the Redbull was the faster car because Max was driving it.
My take is that Max is a notch above Charles, Lando, Carlos, George, Fernando and Lewis who are all probably a notch above any driver in the history of the sport.
If that seems a stretch I might direct you to athletics where we can measure accurately how performance improves from generation to generation. Now with better training/driving techniques and a larger pool of budding F1-drivers-to-be the drivers are better than ever before.
Piastri is a notch below that lot, but has the potential to join them.
HT Onk (@pweb87)
17th December 2024, 20:07
A notch above Schumacher?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th December 2024, 3:54
Yes, a very odd take, none of those drivers proved to be better than schumacher; alonso was incredibly consistent and was probably around that level, hamilton won almost all he did with a dominant car and consistency wise he wasn’t great, he also didn’t get the most out of a bad car like alonso or schumacher did and leclerc, norris, sainz and russell are far from the top 10 atm, though some of them have potential to be around there eventually.
The only driver out of those mentioned that could be considered better than schumacher is verstappen, because of his consistency, which is 2nd to none imo.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th December 2024, 5:37
Max is the only one we can say is a notch above Schumacher. I would put Fernando and Lewis in the Schumacher category.
Charles, Carlos, Lando and George still need to prove themselves over a longer period of time.
notagrumpyfan
17th December 2024, 8:36
Best driver for 2024 (mostly objective): Verstappen
Impressed me most (strongly subjective): Hulkenberg
Rookie Driver of the Year: Colapinto
‘Times’ Driver of the Year (most in the news): Perez
Lifetime Achievement Award (leaving his team after many impressive years): Hamilton
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
17th December 2024, 14:23
Haha, there’s no such thing as bad publicity!
elchinero (@elchinero)
19th December 2024, 14:23
# 44
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
17th December 2024, 9:03
Who’s voting Hulkenberg? His quali record against Bearman was 0-2.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
17th December 2024, 9:45
Yea Hulkenberg is getting rather over voted. He caused Ocon and Colapinto to retire in Qatar only to beach himself as well later in the race. Then he got himself stuck in Brazil too then later disqualified.
He also had a period of 9 races where him and Magnussen scored 9 points each, despite Magnussen only competing in 7 of those. This to me showed that Hulkenberg had a pretty big slump in well over a 3rd of the season. He wasn’t without mistakes at the start either when he collided with stroll and damaged Bottas in the first race and got a penalty.
He was extremely inconsistent. He had a lot of great results, but on the whole, it really wasn’t a great season.
PeteB (@peteb)
17th December 2024, 11:17
You’ve got to pick someone if you hate Max… No-one else in the top 4 teams did much to deserve a vote so you’re looking into the bottom half of the grid for a name.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th December 2024, 3:58
It’s not necessarily a hate thing, some people might say: verstappen will win with over 50% of votes anyway, so let’s increase the % of some driver who got less votes than he deserved; I thought that too, but verstappen has been too exceptional this year, and 60% of votes is not excessive imo.
PacificPR (@streydt)
17th December 2024, 10:11
+ 1 don’t understand it either and I think next year he might have a very tough time indeed to beat his rookie teammate..
F1Genova (@f1genova)
17th December 2024, 18:22
same type person who voted Doohan
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th December 2024, 4:09
Logan Sargeant (1%)
Jack Doohan (1%)
Oliver Bearman (1%)
Kevin Magnussen (1%)
Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
Franco Colapinto (1%)
Pierre Gasly (1%)
Fernando Alonso (1%)
Sergio Perez (1%)
It’s not just doohan, look: all these drivers are in contention to be the best driver of the season, obviously there’s more who got 2-3%, and I would say 2 of these had a pretty bad season!
Matthijs (@matthijs)
17th December 2024, 9:41
Well that’s an easy pick!
GongTong (@gongtong)
17th December 2024, 13:44
At the time of writing, 42% still struggled!
I think this would be much better if we all submitted our rankings and it combined them into average positions. I think a lot of people refuse to give the “obvious” answer. Not just because they hate Max either. It just feels boring perhaps.
SteveP
17th December 2024, 18:05
It’s the car.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th December 2024, 3:59
The obvious pick is perez, he got 1 vote!
Moi
17th December 2024, 9:53
I look forward to all the comments rationalizing why they did not pick Max.
DaveW (@dmw)
18th December 2024, 18:45
I got you. I was considering Tsunodas comments after the test that the RBR was not nearly the same as his midfield car. This is a harder call than it seems. You have to fairly evaluate people like Alonso best of the rest in poor Machinery. Or Russell who had a banger of the end of the season with a very inconsistent car. In the end I don’t want to chose anyone. It’s like the ballon d’’or impossible to disaggregate the team factor.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th December 2024, 10:12
Ultimately, I feel Max deserves the DOTY honor the most as he maximized opportunities to the best extent.
Other impressed drivers: COL, HUL, even BEA, but no one else truly stood out.
As for most disappointing ones: PER, SAR, ZHO, & RIC.
notagrumpyfan
17th December 2024, 10:57
I wouldn’t include SAR in the disappointments, as his performance was fully in line with expectations (at least mine).
Zhou even performed better this year than my (low) expectations, and ended up close to Bottas this year.
Perez and Ricciardo though were able to disappoint me, even though I expected not a lot.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th December 2024, 11:12
My choices were based on the average overall season situations, & more specifically with SAR, I didn’t rate him much in his rookie season but as he failed to improve for last season, I felt he deserves to be mentioned & Zhou may have improved later & ended up close to Bottas, but for the most part, he was often on average the slowest driver in the entire field.
Frank
17th December 2024, 10:14
There was only one driver who was relentlessly fast and reliable in qualifying and races. The debate is not who was the best driver, but rather by how much he outperformed the next-best driver on the grid.
It would maybe be more interesting to ask the users to tier-list the drivers.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
17th December 2024, 11:29
Given the massive kick in the teeth he received, yet still put in classy performances, I gave it to Sainz.
Still think the red team will fairly quickly realise they dumped the wrong driver who really should have been grabbed by RBR as a huge improvement over their No2 driver.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
17th December 2024, 12:40
Leclerc has been the faster driver every season him and Sainz raced together, and has beat him on points in 2022, 2023, and 2024. He would have beat Sainz on points in 2021 also, had it not been for the DNS in Monaco (Where Leclerc was set to start from pole).
With that said, I think Sainz helped elevate Leclerc. They have been a fantastic driver pairing, and Sainz deserves so much more than replacing Sargeant at Williams.
It may not be last we have seen of him, however. Hamilton will do 2026, and maybe 2027-2028 at most. By 2029, Ferrari will need someone else. It might be Bearman, it might be Dino Beganovic, or it could well be the return of Carlos Sainz. And financially, it’s a fantastic decision by Ferrari. Lewis will bring sponsors, fans, and attention like no other.
SteveP
17th December 2024, 18:10
That kind of thing tends to happen when you park the car solidly in the barrier and damage internal bits.
OK, the team were dumb not to have taken the car apart more to find the full extent of what Leclerc broke, but at the end of the day who broke it?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th December 2024, 4:04
Yes, this is borderline: ferrari should’ve checked better, it’s their job to make sure the car is ready for the day after and they had all the time, but the story of 2021 is indeed that leclerc was faster but sainz was a safer pair of hand, and with a fairly slow car like that sainz’s approach worked better.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th December 2024, 4:05
hands*
MG1982 (@mg1982)
17th December 2024, 13:09
Between SAI and LEC, dropping SAI seems the logical thing to do. Unfortunately, LEC is still doing mistakes, but he has more potential than SAI. Looking at the last race of the season, I have doubts SAI would have managed to replicate LEC’s performance: start 19th, finish 3rd. LEC I think had chances to fight for the win, to say the least, but starting from 19th canceled his chances… and that was 50% his fault.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th December 2024, 4:06
Yes, leclerc starting ahead would’ve been in with a chance to fight norris, maybe it wouldn’t have worked, but he would’ve ended up much closer and put some serious pressure.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th December 2024, 5:42
For anyone saying that Ferrari should have retained Carlos instead of Charles, maybe they need to recap the 2022 season. Ferrari started the season with a car as fast as the Red Bull, and only one Ferrari driver showed up for a title challenge that season. In fact, Sainz was so bad, that his performances took him out of the championship hunt by the 6th or 7th race of the season.
If you’re Ferrari and you have a championship contending car, there is no way you want Sainz as your primary challenger.
SteveP
18th December 2024, 7:18
I’m not convinced that you’d want Leclerc as your primary challenger either
Frank Chong
17th December 2024, 12:17
To me is Hulkenberg. Half of his race finished in Top 10. He should be rank higher than Gasly as Gasly got it lucky on Brazil.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
18th December 2024, 7:23
Gasly got lucky… Meanwhile Hulkenberg got himself disqualified. Then he took out 2 cars and himself just 2 races later. He certainly hasn’t been driver of the season.
LosD (@losd)
18th December 2024, 8:56
Ah yes, outqualified by a rookie in all three qualifying events (2 normal, 1 sprint), beaten in the race where they both finished. Truly the stuff of champions.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
17th December 2024, 12:36
Tbh, I’d give it to Verstappen just for Brazil, but he’s been (for the most part) excellent all year. The other I’d have voted for was Colapinto, given I don’t think anyone saw him being as good as he was. Stroll still picking up the ‘why are you still here’ award.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
17th December 2024, 12:37
It is obviously Max Verstappen, by every meausurable way:
* Most points
* Best result compared to team mate
* World champion
* Most wins, most pole positions
* Fewest mistakes (honestly, his one genuine mistake in 2024 was the divebomb on Piastri)
He crossed the line a few times, notably with Norris in Las Vegas and Mexico, but those were tactical rather than mistakes.
Leclerc was brilliant in that Ferrari and made few mistakes. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell winning twice each in the Mercedes is nothing but impressive. Gasly’s end to the season was incredibly impressive, and Alonso dominating Stroll at his age is nothing short of remarkable (Stroll IS a pole sitter, podium finisher, and F3 champion). But nobody reached Verstappen’s level across the season.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
17th December 2024, 13:04
My ranking of those who started the season:
1. Verstappen (easy)
2. Leclerc
3. Norris
4. Russell
5. Sainz
6. Gasly
7. Piastri
8. Alonso
9. Ocon
10. Hulkenberg
11. Hamilton
12. Magnussen
13. Tsunoda
14. Albon
15. Riccardo
16. Bottas
17. Stroll
18. Zhou
19. Perez
20. Sargent
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
17th December 2024, 14:32
I don’t think the gap between Russell and Hamilton is warranted (I feel they should be more like 6th and 9th perhaps), and in return I don’t think Ocon should be that high up. But overall, this is a solid ranking. Well done!
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
17th December 2024, 21:58
Hamilton is a difficult one indeed. Probably because I had much higher expectations I voted him down slightly. And he had so many shockers and so few highs. But from Gasly to Hamilton it’s so close anyway. I’d be happy with any order. Ocon imho did really well over the the first two thirds of the season (and Brazil) dragging that car into positions it doesn’t really belong.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th December 2024, 5:48
Agree with your top 4 rankings, but I think you’ve flattered the Alpine drivers a little too much. They had one great race in Brazil that skewed their end results. Gasly was impressive towards the end of the season, but still not enough to be ranked over Piastri and Alonso.
I would definitely put the Hulk, Alonso and Lewis over Gasly and Ocon.
David BR (@david-br)
17th December 2024, 13:10
I voted for the driver whose racing I most liked and most impressed me: Leclerc.
Based on the season’s evidence, in the same powered cars, I’d bet on him beating Verstappen because the latter, again, demonstrated that under intense pressure for the title, his racing deteriorates, however fast he can be.
Dex
17th December 2024, 15:36
His racing deteriotes so much that his lead increased…
David BR (@david-br)
17th December 2024, 18:02
Yes, despite the penalties. Depends what you enjoy watching as racing. For me Leclerc’s skill at close racing surpasses Verstappen’s shoving his rivals off track.
David BR (@david-br)
17th December 2024, 19:23
And I should have emphasized my point was that against a more savvy championship rival like Leclerc, the Verstappen tactics wouldn’t have worked, especially now that they’re under heavier scrutiny.
SteveP
17th December 2024, 18:14
As does the repair bill for rivals who don’t jump out of his way.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
17th December 2024, 13:13
Not his fan, but VER seems the logical choice. In my opinion he did the best job of them all.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
17th December 2024, 13:44
A lot of these votes are 40% car, 30% team, 30% driver.
Aside from Brazil where Horner said the car was “special” and Norris said the car could lap the field, I didn’t see much from Max that impressed me but that’s me. I tend to enjoy Messi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski, Zidane, Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Alonso, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Martin, Bagnaia, Marquez.
I see speed in Verstappen but all his teammates turn into Logan Sargeant with the car unable to score a point in the fastest car ever made. It looks like they’ve never driven before.
David BR (@david-br)
17th December 2024, 13:51
@freelittlebirds Well put! I like to see that combination of supreme talent and elegance, including in sporting attitude.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
17th December 2024, 13:55
How many Q3 appearances did Hulkenberg have? As someone pointed out, he was in the points in half the races and scored 7 P11s. I think in terms of maxing out the points and results, that was closer than anyone else.
Alonso’s performance was also overshadowed by the car.
An Sionnach
17th December 2024, 15:38
Max, Charles, Lando.
Whether Max would have won in a Ferrari is an interesting question, but I find it more interesting to wonder who else would have won in a McLaren. I think Charles would have been that much closer to do it, but then he and his team have already learned from the mistakes Lando & Co. will hopefully not make again. I reckon Lewis and Alonso would have also won in a McLaren. They would never pull over to allow Piastri in when they had the championship in their sights.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
17th December 2024, 16:11
Easy Norris vote for me, despite his mistakes. Love his fairness.
MichaelN
17th December 2024, 16:48
You’d have to say Verstappen on results, consistency and making the most of his opportunities. But since I’m just a fan and have no stake in this other than being entertained and admiring the skills of the drivers and teams, I’m going with Leclerc. He might not be entirely on Verstappen’s level, although he’s close, but he has almost none of the cons and is an overall great guy. Love his qualifying laps, too. There’s just something exciting about watching them compared to most others. He scored the most points of anyone after the disastrous England GP (206 to Norris’ 203), beat Piastri, Pérez and Sainz in the championship, and was quite close to Norris in the end. A great season for him, and if Hamilton can push him just a tad more in 2025, he’s looking great for a title challenge should Ferrari get him a competitive car.
Obviously also massive props to Sainz for doing as well as he did in what must have been a tough season.
Dex
17th December 2024, 18:25
To be fair, we have no idea who is a great guy, or who is a bad guy here. Leclerc seems like a decent young man, but I’ve never even met him. They are all kind of nice in public anyway, and they must be, it’s in their contracts too.
Peter707
17th December 2024, 17:21
It’s a bit of surprise how many people put Lando in top 3. Way too many skills needing improvement to be a serious title contender.
David (@nvherman)
17th December 2024, 22:43
What a ridiculous statement
Todfod (@todfod)
18th December 2024, 11:41
I’d have him at #4. I thought Russell was more impressive than Lando this season. He took 3 wins in the 4th fastest Mercedes (one stripped away in Belgium). Lando took 4 wins in the quickest car.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
17th December 2024, 18:17
Gone with Hulk for his constant eye-opening performances throughout the season.
It always makes me smile how many people just automatically vote for whoever won the WDC ;)
MichaelN
17th December 2024, 22:47
The front runners inevitably get more attention, but the Verstappen case is quite solid in 2024.
His race wins against the McLarens in Imola, Canada, and Spain were very strong. He crucially minimized points losses by salvaging 2nd placed in England, and the Norris-dominated races in the Netherlands and Singapore, and when Ferrari and Mercedes were strong he still stopped the points loss by beating Norris in Belgium, and USA Texas and USA Las Vegas.
Deerhunter
18th December 2024, 6:51
Verstappen, Leclerc, and Russell from the top teams.
Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Gasly for the F1.5.
Norris was immensely quick, but he either left too much on the table or was too timid otherwise.
Also, it’s quite notable that Alonso (again) managed to single-handedly put the Aston in fifth for the constructors’ despite the car being downright awful by the middle part of the season.
But yeah, mounting wheel-to-wheel racecraft issues aside, it’s still Verstappen in the end.