Year of living dangerously: our season awards for 2024

Kieran Jackson on best driver, biggest shock and much more

- Kieran Jackson

That’s a wrap. After a record-breaking 24 races, the 2024 F1 season concluded on Sunday in Abu Dhabi with Lando Norris guiding McLaren to constructors’ glory.

What a topsy-turvy, constantly evolving season it has been. From Red Bull’s dominance on the track and turmoil in the paddock at the start of the season to multiple winners and riveting racing, there has been drama at every turn.

For the first time since 2021, too, we had a genuine title race, and while Max Verstappen ultimately claimed his fourth successive world championship, Norris pushed him to the final three races.

Seven drivers won races in total, with Norris and Oscar Piastri claiming their first F1 victories while Lewis Hamilton broke a near-1,000-day win duck with an emotional victory at the British Grand Prix.

Now, The Independent picks the winners and losers of a 2024 season that has already set the tone perfectly for potentially an all-time 2025 campaign.

Best driver

Max Verstappen – It’s boring, I know. The world champion gets the top gong. But before November, the answer would have been Norris.

Yet the most impressive drive of Verstappen’s life in Brazil – from 17th on the grid to a win margin of 20 seconds – changed that. It virtually sealed the world title and, in the end, he claimed five more victories over the course of the season than the McLaren driver.

Four on the spin. Five in a row – in a Red Bull that no longer looks consistently quick – would put him among the greats.

Podium places: Lando Norris, Nico Hulkenberg

Best team

McLaren – It shouldn’t be understated how monumental an achievement this was for the papaya.