After Red Bull dominated the last two seasons, 2024 has seen Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari compete and beat the reigning champions at several races. With seven different race winners in the first 14 races of the season, it is turning out to be the most competitive season since 2012. Still, back in 2012, four different teams did not win multiple races.
Red Bull has still been the most successful team in 2024, with seven race wins (all thanks to Max Verstappen). But three other teams have won at least two races each, something which hasn’t happened in F1 since 1990. That year, McLaren and Ferrari both crossed the finish line in P1 six times, whereas Williams and Benetton won twice each.
This stat is evidence of the competitiveness this season, despite it seeming like a one-horse race in the beginning. Other teams and their drivers rose to the occasion, and with strong upgrades, they all racked up wins.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the first non-Red Bull race winner at the Australian GP. This was followed by Lando Norris’ win in Miami. Meanwhile, Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc also ended his Monaco GP curse by winning it.
Seven different F1 race winners from 14 races.
The sport has never been more back. #F1
— The Fast And The Curious (@fastcuriouspod) July 21, 2024
Mercedes has been the most successful team other than Red Bull, winning three races. George Russell won in Spain, and Lewis Hamilton in Silverstone and Belgium.
2024 also saw a first-time race winner in Oscar Piastri, with the Aussie winning the Hungarian GP.
All these changes in the pecking order have been down to F1’s regulation reset in 2022, which at the time seemed like it would favor only Red Bull. But with time, others have cracked it, and are now in the mix for wins on an almost regular basis.
The current regulations will stay in F1 for another season, before there is another overhaul in 2026. That could bring the field even closer. Or on the contrary, pave the path for a team to start its own era of dominance.
