Best races of 2024 (revisited)

Over the unexpectedly long break between Singapore and Austin, back when both championships were still undecided and there were six races to go, I wrote an article about the best five races up until that point of the season. My choices were, in chronological order, Canada, Austria, Monza, Azerbaijan, and Silverstone, with Bahrain, Miami, and Hungary as honourable mentions. Back in October, I expressed the hope that the list would change significantly after the final races of 2024. And change it did. 

My goals when creating the list were to keep it as objective as possible and try and look at the races as a whole, rather than focus on their most shocking or interesting parts. So what does a race need to have to be seen as one of the best? It has to be interesting, no matter the team you support. It must involve some great racecraft or impressive strategies. And, above all else, it needs to be entertaining. 

In a season as great as the one behind us, it wasn't easy to narrow it down to only five Sundays so, to give myself a bit more space, I once again chose some runner-ups that missed the list by the skin of their teeth. Of course, it would make sense to push all the races that made it into my first top five but missed out on the second into the 'honourable mentions' but, to keep things more interesting, let's assume that they are out of contention. 

HONOURABLE MENTIONS 

Out of the three races I included in that section back in October, the Hungarian Grand Prix is the only one that deserves to keep its spot. The heated radio messages coming from both McLaren drivers made the race quite entertaining, and Piastri getting his maiden win, only added to its general importance. The winner wasn't clear up until there were only a few laps left until the chequered flag and everyone wondered what the two young drivers would have to say once they got out of their cars. All in all, the race was great if you focused on McLaren, but faded away once you decided to widen your gaze and include the other teams. 

Miami was the one U.S.-based race I included in my last article and this time I want to replace it with another one, that one held in Austin, Texas. After Norris' dominant drive in Singapore and Verstappen's win in the sprint race, it seemed all but certain that the fight for the win would be between the two of them... Until the first corner. As the two title contenders began their fight for the lead, Leclerc cleverly took advantage of their distraction and flew past to become the leader. He kept the position for the rest of the Grand Prix and won for the third time in the season, all while Verstappen and Norris were locked in a tense fight for points since, by that point, the fight for the driver's championship still wasn't over. The race ended with a 5-second penalty being awarded to Norris. The punishment that put him behind his main rival led to heated discussions among fans and multiple detailed analyses of the moment that had caused it. It was a great race and during many other seasons, it would undoubtedly make it to the top five. Not in 2024. 

And lastly, I want to exchange the first race of the season for the last. Abu Dhabi is known for providing some emotional and nail-biting moments and, even though this year we came into it with the driver's championship already resolved, it still delivered on the promise. After the mayhem of Qatar, both McLaren and Ferrari still had the constructor's championship within their grasp. McLaren had the advantage of 21 points so when both Norris and Piastri qualified on the front row and Leclerc was forced to begin the race from the very back due to an engine penalty, it seemed that Ferrari's chances of cinching the title had faded away before the race could begin. But when it comes to that team, it's never over until it's over. Once again, the Grand Prix changed its tune completely after the first lap. Piastri collided with Verstappen and fell to the back of the grid, while Leclerc managed to make up 11 places. Throughout the race, he moved up from P19 to the podium, where he stood alongside Norris and Sainz. Although his efforts were not enough to bring glory back to Maranello, the title fight that lasted until the very last lap gave us a race that will not be forgotten. As with the one in Austin, its only crime was the that other ones were even better. 

If the honourable mentions are this impressive then what races managed to stay in the official top five? And which, while still impressive, had to be demoted to make space for some newcomers?  

CANADA --> BRAZIL

The first race in my October lineup was Canada, a fascinating Grand Prix that sometimes went under the radar and was dismissed as yet another of Verstappen's early season wins. While I still think it deserves the praise, it doesn't come close to another Verstappen victory, the glorious Sunday in Interlagos. The weekend had promised to be unforgettable even before the race started as the qualifying session, which stretched out much longer than it usually would and had to be moved from Saturday to Sunday, saw 5 red flags that followed multiple drivers losing control in the heavy rain. By that point in the season, Norris and Verstappen were locked tight in their battle for the championship and this race could prove crucial in determining the champion. Especially since the young Brit qualified on pole, while his main rival, having been given an engine-related penalty, found himself starting 17th. The race did turn out to be a turning point but not to Norris' advantage. Once it began, after two aborted starts, Verstappen quickly showed that he wasn't going to give up without a fight. He managed to make up a significant amount of places throughout the first part of the race, but the moment that turned the Grand Prix on its head came on lap 28, after Hulkenberg spun off the track, bringing out a safety car. Some of the leading drivers, with Norris among them, decided to take advantage of the shortened stop and changed their tires. Their supposed advantage turned out to be a great mistake only two laps later when the race was paused due to heavy rain. The top three, consisting of Ocon, Verstappen, and Gasly, had not pitted yet and were thus essentially given a completely free change of tires. After the race was resumed, all three managed to stay on the podium, with the only change among them being Verstappen and Ocon switching places. Norris finished sixth which, while not a bad result, put his championship hopes in the ground. I think it's safe to say that it was one of the most exciting races we've seen in recent years. 

The last six races of the season may have been exciting but so were the eighteen that came before them. So much so, in fact, that the following three races, Austria, Silverstone, and Monza, kept their spots in the overall season's top five. Below, I will include the recaps I wrote back in October, so if you already read them in the previous article, feel free to move on to the second change in the ranking. 

AUSTRIA

If someone asked me to point at the most unexpected podium of 2024, the Austrian one would be the first to come to my mind. After Verstappen put in an incredibly dominant performance on Saturday and managed to build a lead of multiple seconds in the race itself, the fate of the Grand Prix seemed to be determined: the Dutchman was to win it in front of a crowd of Red Bull fans. But a race is only over when then the checkered flag waves and not a minute earlier. As multiple drivers were penalised for various 'crimes', Verstappen and Norris, numbers one and two on track, dove into the pitlane on the same lap. Verstappen led the Brit by over five seconds, but the advantage melted to less than two after a disastrous pit stop, a rarity in the Red Bull garage. That, and the fact that Norris bolted on a new set of mediums while Max had to settle for used ones, meant that a proper fight for the lead broke out at the front of the field. Both drivers fought hard to remain on top, and Norris' aggressive attacks earned him a warning for exceeding track limits. He had to watch his driving more carefully. Or rather, he would have had to, had his McLaren not made contact with the Red Bull. Both cars sustained some damage and while Verstappen was able to rejoin the race after a quick stop, Norris' say came to an early finish. Neither of them had any chance of fighting for the win, especially after Max received a ten-second penalty for causing the incident. Russel, Piastri, and Sainz benefited from the accident, making for quite the unexpected podium. 

SILVERSTONE 

A race that Lewis Hamilton's fans will never forget will also go down in history as one of the best races of the 2024 season in the eyes of everyone who appreciates the sport. Well, maybe except for the fans of Charles Leclerc who would love to forget Ferrari's terrible strategic calls which led to their driver losing 12 seconds in one lap. As hard as he tried to salvage the race, there was nothing he could have done. The Grand Prix saw a great fight for the win between Verstappen, Norris, and Hamilton. For a while Russel and Piastri also looked like possible contenders, but the Brit had to retire the car after only 34 laps, and the Australian fell away from the top three before the race was over. As it often does, everything came down to the timing of the last pit stop and the tires chosen by the teams. Even though Norris was leading the race before his stop, a combination of poor timing and a less-than-perfect tire change led to him losing the lead to Hamilton. To add insult to injury, he then lost second place to Verstappen. Having left Norris behind, the Dutchman tried to catch Hamilton, but there was nothing he could do to stop the seven-time-world champion from taking his 104th win. After a long winless streak, Lewis Hamilton won where it mattered most. 

MONZA

While Silverstone was special for team LH, Monza will forever stay in the hearts of the Tifosi. It didn't seem like the race would be one for them to remember after their Ferrari Prince qualified 4th, behind two incredibly fast McLarens and the Mercedes of George Russel, but Leclerc proved them wrong as soon as the lights went out. Not a minute of the race had passed before he took advantage of the McLarens fighting each other and fought his way into P2. He stayed there until the cars began coming in for their pit stop and even though changing the tires pushed him back, he quickly got back where he belonged. The one person standing between him and a truly historic win was Oscar Piastri. The only way for Leclerc to take the win was to do something that the McLarens didn't dare to try: go for a one-stop race. Having decided on the strategy, he found himself in the lead, with the Australian 12 seconds behind, but on much fresher tires. For the last laps of the race, the eyes of every viewer were glued to the ever-decreasing gap between the two. In the end, it was a home win for the Maranello-raised Leclerc, after a race so captivating, that it wasn't even an option to look away from the screen. 

AZERBAIJAN --> QATAR

The last race on my previous list was the one held in Baku, in which Piastri first overtook and then defended against Leclerc for his second-ever win. It was a grand fight, but one that did not hold its own enough not to be beaten by the controversially chaotic Qatar, a race which was not only another one of Verstappen's impressive wins, but also filled to the brim with penalties. There were also plenty of safety cars, the first of which came after a crash on the very first lap of the race that put Ocon and Colapinto out of contention. It wasn't the only incident recorded during that lap and, in the end, the first turn around the circuit ended with three penalties handed out to Lawson, Hamilton, and Stroll. The Aston Martin driver served his penalty and retired from the race shortly after. Around halfway through the Grand Prix, a yellow flag waved over the start/finish straight, this one brought out by a stray mirror on the track. It was a crucial moment in the race, not only because it forced a second safety car to be brought out after a few cars lost their tires because of the debris, but also because it had Verstappen reporting that Norris did not lift under the flag and therefore should be punished. Even though the safety car ended after a few laps, it was almost immediately called in again after Perez stopped on track. Thankfully, its third run was not too long. Soon after it drove back into the pitlane, a race-changing decision was made by the stewards: for the infringement reported by Verstappen, Norris was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, which had to be served in the pits. By the time he rejoined the race, he had fallen to the back of the grid, and even though he managed to make up quite a few places before the chequered flag, it was not enough to secure the constructor's championship for his team. 

Of course, with races this exciting, it's hard to condense them into a measly paragraph. If you truly want to feel the emotions, I suggest either treating yourself to a movie night with one of the Grand Prix as the movie of choice or searching "The Anatomy of Formula One" for a longer and more detailed summary. All in all, we were lucky to witness a season in which it was this hard to choose the best races, not because there weren't any but because there were too many. One can only hope that with all the changes and new pairings on the grid, the 2025 season will be even better.