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Top 5 Storylines to Follow as the 2024 Formula 1 Season Wraps Up

It is that time of the year when law students scramble to finish summaries and readings, and pray that they end up on the right side of the curve (especially as a 1L student). Some of these students will also be asking a burning question: when will I fit the time to watch the last three races of the Formula 1 season? 

2024 has quickly become one of the best seasons in recent memory. Six drivers have won multiple Grand Prix races this year for the first time since 1981. Combined with McLaren’s mid-season resurgence, which brought the title fight to defending champions Max Verstappen and Red Bull, fans have been blessed with some amazing storylines. With three rounds to go at the time of writing (Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi), we have yet to see how some of these storylines will end. Here are the ones to keep an eye on as the 2024 Formula 1 championship comes to a close. 

  1. Can Lando Close the Gap?

Heading into Las Vegas, Verstappen still sits at the top of the championship. Despite Lando Norris’s best attempts to close the gap, the chaotic, rain-soaked São Paulo Grand Prix summarized the state of both drivers’ seasons. While Norris failed to convert another pole position into a victory, Verstappen rolled back the years to his 2016 wet weather masterclass around Interlagos, taking the win from a seventeenth place start. Poetically, just as Verstappen made the race-winning overtake, Norris misjudged his braking into turn one, rejoining the track in seventh and only recovering to sixth place. 

With a sixty-two-point gap between the title contenders heading into the final triple-header, it seems inevitable that Verstappen will leave Vegas with his fourth consecutive Driver’s Championship. Yet with eighty-six points still up for grabs, Norris still has a mathematical chance. Simply put, if Verstappen outscores Norris in Vegas, he will be crowned champion. If Norris manages to outscore Verstappen by three points, the fight moves on to the Sprint Weekend in Qatar. Unfortunately for McLaren fans, Verstappen looks to have a stronger hand. However, one thing that Formula 1 and Vegas have in common is that anything can happen. 

2. The Three-Way Battle for The Constructors’ Championship

While the Drivers’ Championship looks to resolve, the battle for the Constructors’ Championship has all but settled. What started off as a duel between a faltering Red Bull and a resurgent McLaren has become a three-way fight, with late-season upgrades from Ferrari propelling them to what could be the Italian team’s first Constructors’ Championship in sixteen years. With a projected $140 million prize for the winner to use towards future car development, there is more than just a trophy on the line. 

As it stands, McLaren currently leads the way with 593 points, Ferrari trailing by thirty-six points, and Red Bull a further forty-nine from the top. On paper, McLaren should have the edge in both car and driver performance. However, McLaren has struggled in Vegas and Abu Dhabi. McLaren only scored two points in last year’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, and in the past five seasons, a McLaren car has never finished higher than fifth place in Abu Dhabi. Compared to Ferrari and Red Bull, who have had at least one driver on the podium in Vegas and in the last three Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, there is every chance that McLaren might be looking in their wing mirrors as they hope to seal their first Constructors’ Championship since 1998. 

3. The Four-Way Fight for P6 

Prize money is just as important for the bottom teams. With the difference in prize money between finishing sixth and ninth  is approximately $30 million, every little point matters for these lower midfield teams looking to start next year off on the right foot. 

What was a three-way fight between Haas, Visa CashApp RB (VCARB), and Williams has now become a four-team scrap with Alpine’s unexpected double podium in São Paulo, propelling the team up from ninth to sixth place. With P6 to P8 (Alpine, Haas, VCARB) separated by five points, and Alpine’s performance proving how quickly a team’s fortune can change in the unpredictability of Formula 1’s midfield, all four teams—even Williams, which trails VCARB by twenty-seven points—will be pushing their cars and fellow drivers to the limit to secure the prize for their respective outfits.

4. Who will get the remaining Red Bull/VCARB seat? 

While Verstappen looks set to win another Drivers’ Championship, all is not well for Sergio Pérez. The Mexican driver currently sits P8 in the driver standings, 242 points behind his teammate, having not won a race and only finishing on the podium four times. That poor form is costing Red Bull millions of dollars in the Constructors, and with 2025 set to be an even more competitive season, Red Bull needs to find a driver who can better support Verstappen at the front of the field. Although Pérez has a Red Bull contract until 2026, Red Bull does not have the best record at respecting driver contracts. And they are not short on options. 

Red Bull can turn to VCARB, their junior team, and promote either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson. Both drivers have performed decently—especially Lawson—justifying Red Bull and VCARB’s decision to drop Daniel Ricciardo in just three races. However, the frontrunner to take Pérez’s seat seems to be Williams’ stand-in Franco Colapinto, or at the very least, to be Tsunoda’s teammate, with VCARB the sole remaining seat for 2025. Having replaced Logan Sargeant after the Dutch Grand Prix, Colapinto has had a stellar run, scoring points in Baku and Austin and giving senior teammate Alex Albon a run for his money. Unfortunately, the Argentine has to give up his Williams seat to Carlos Sainz next year, meaning either Red Bull or VCARB are Colapinto’s last hope of getting a well-deserved drive for 2025. With so much at stake, expect to see all four drivers give it their all in the remaining races of the season

5. The Last Dance 

Abu Dhabi will be the last race for Sauber drivers Zhou Guaynu, the first full-time Chinese driver in F1’s history, and Valtteri Bottas. The Finnish driver leaves with ten wins, sixty-seven podiums, twenty pole positions (all as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate), and 1,797 points scored. The drivers are heavily rumored to become Ferrari and Mercedes reserve drivers. The sport also waves goodbye to Haas’ Kevin Magnussen as he makes way for rookie Oliver Bearman. 

Many drivers will also be racing their final races with their current teams. The biggest one is Lewis Hamilton, who, after twelve years with Mercedes—which helped power him to six  of his seven championships and eighty-three of his 105 race wins—will leave to achieve his childhood dream of racing for Ferrari. Mercedes has already announced that they will have a special livery on Hamilton’s car in Abu Dhabi, which will feature the names of 150 lucky fans, one of the many ways Mercedes will bid farewell to a legend that has been affiliated with the motorsport legend in some capacity since the start of his career. 

Other drivers include Carlos Sainz, who moves from Ferrari to Williams after vacating his seat for the incoming Hamilton, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg moving to Sauber (which will then rebrand as Audi in 2026), and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who will replace the outgoing Hulkenberg at Haas. All these drivers will no doubt receive varying degrees of celebratory farewells as they approach the finale in Abu Dhabi. However, drivers like Sainz, Ocon, and the Haas drivers still have unfinished business in the Constructors race. The closer we get to the end of the season, the more risks they will take, leading to entertainment for the fans.

Hopefully, with all these stories left to be concluded, it will help close what has no doubt been an incredible season of Formula 1. On our end, we are left to find the time to watch them unfold as our Fall term also comes to a close.

About the author

Justin Huh
By Justin Huh

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