McLaren improved the most compared to last year, Red Bull scored 132 points less
Following an eye-catching first half of the year, it is no wonder that McLaren have improved the most in terms of championship points compared to the previous season. F1Technical's lead journalist Balazs Szabo reflects on the first part of the season.
Although the opening part of the season indicated that Red Bull Racing might continue its dominance in the 2024 Formula 1 season, things have massively changed since then.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez kicked off the year with a dominant one-two at the Bahrain Grand Prix with the Dutchman continuing his fine form by winning three of the next four races.
However, after the Chinese Grand Prix, the 2024 Formula 1 season has become a three or even four-horse race in recent races, but Red Bull is keen to re-assert its dominance.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit scored 540 points after the first 14 races last year while they scored 132 points less this year. Verstappen won twelve races in this period last year compared to ‘only’ seven victories this year. His team-mate Perez scored two victories and six further podium finished in the opening 14 races last year compared to just four podium places this season.
McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have all been more successful over the opening 14 races in 2024.
The Woking-based outfit has displayed the biggest improvement so far, having scored a whopping 255 points more so far compared to the same period of 2023.
In the first 14 races in his rookie season, Oscar Piastri failed to finish in the top three and scored points only in five races. By contrast, the Australian secured his maiden F1 triumph at Mogyoród, and stood on the rostrum in three other races.
His team-mate Lando Norris scored only two podium finishes in the first 14 races last year, and scored points in seven other races. By contrast, he secured his maiden F1 victory in Miami this year, and scored seven further podium finishes.
Despite the issues with its recent upgrade package, the Scuderia achieved a big improvement, having collected 134 points more than in the same period of last season.
Ferrari endured a difficult start to its 2023 campaign, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz having only scored three and one podium finish respectively.
In the same period of 2024, the Monegasque has already won a race and added four other podium finishes to his tally. The Spaniard has also been victories this year, and stood on the podium in four other races.
Mercedes has also scored more points compared to the first 14 races in 2023. Interestingly, the Brackley-headquartered outfit has only scored 11 points more than last year. It might be surprising given the fact that Mercedes appears to have improved the most in terms of pure pace in the past weeks which led to three victories in the last four races.
The first 14 races of 2023 saw Hamilton score four podium finishes while Russell only one. By contrast, the latter has already won a race this year and added another podium finish to his tally. The seven-time world champion driver has been victories two times this year and stood on the podium on two other occasions.
