What have been the key moments in 2024? (Part Two)
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton's decision to leave Mercedes and join Ferrari has been certainly the biggest taking point of the year, but the season saw a series of other key movements. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reflects on the key moments of the 2024 F1 season.
Alpine replaces Famin with Oakes
As the action resumes after the summer break, Alpine announced the departure of team boss Bruno Famin, who was replaced by Oliver Oakes.
The 36-year-old Briton, who was a world karting champion in 2005, became the second youngest team principal in Formula 1 history. Oakes founded Hitech Grand Prix in 2015, which for almost a decade, has been at the forefront of single-seater competition on the world and national stage.
Wheatley joins Audi/Sauber
Red Bull announced the shock departure of their sporting director, Jonathan Wheatley. The Briton left the Milton Keynes-based outfit at the end of the season to become Audi's new team principal.
Wheatley continued his role at Red Bull for the remainder of the year before commencing a period of gardening leave in the early stages of 2025.
Dohaan secures seat at Alpine
Ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, Alpine announced the promotion of reserve driver Jack Doohan into a full-time race seat for the 2025 F1 season.
Doohan joined Pierre Gasly to form the team’s driver pairing for next season, becoming the first Alpine Academy prospect to graduate into a race seat with the team.
The 21-year-old Australian – son of the legendary five-time 500cc motorcycling world champion – Mick Doohan – has served as the team’s Reserve Driver for the past two years after a successful junior career in international single-seater racing.
Doohan finished runner-up in the 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship and third place in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship, before becoming full-time Reserve Driver in 2024 where “he has been a valuable contributor in the team’s driver in loop simulator. “
The Australian became the first driver in Formula 2 history to take pole position, race win, fastest lap, and lead every lap of a Feature Race at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. He recorded six wins in the category as well as five pole positions and a further five podium finishes during two seasons of competition.
Logan out, Colapinto in
Following a very difficult weekend for Logan Sargeant at Zandvoort, Williams announced that Franco Colapinto would replace the American for the remainder of the 2024 F1 season, starting to compete from the Italian Grand Prix alongside Alex Albon.
The 21-year-old became the 49th Grand Prix driver for Williams Racing, and was the first Argentine driver in F1 for 23 years and the second Argentine to drive for the British outfit, following his countryman Carlos Reutemann.
Antonelli confirmed as replacement for Hamilton
On the eve of the Italian Grand Prix, Mercedes announced their 2025 driver line-up, with 18-year-old Italian Kimi joining multiple George Russell behind the wheel for next season.
Kimi Antonelli will make the step up from F2 and graduate from the team’s junior programme, just like a George Russell, who made the jump up to F1 in 2019 after a superb two-year junior spell with the Brackley-based outfit.
Newey joins Aston Martin
Aston Martin confirmed in September that star designer Adrian Newey committed his long-term future to the Silverstone-based Formula One outfit, with the British engineer set to join the team next March.
Adrian Newey announced his departure from Red Bull on the 1st of May. Since then, he had been linked to multiple teams, including Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes as well.
The British designer will begin working at the team's Silverstone HQ from 1 March 2025 taking up a new role as Managing Technical Partner.
Lawson replaces Ricciardo
Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, RB announced that Daniel Ricciardo would leave the Faenza-based outfit with immediate effect, bringing his second stint in Formula 1 to an end. The Australian was replaced by Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson.
Lawson had been a Red Bull reserve driver since 2022, making his Grand Prix debut in Zandvoort in 2023 during Ricciardo’s recovery period.
Bottas and Zhou leave Sauber
The Hinwil-based Sauber F1 team that will be Audi's works outfit from 2026 announced that Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu would leave the Swiss team at the end of the season.
After leaving Mercedes at the end of the 2021 season, Valtteri Bottas joined Sauber to partner Formula One's first Chinese driverZhou Guanyu. The Finnish and Chinese driver were team mates for the last three years, but they endured a difficult campaign in 2024 with the squad still pointless after 21 race weekends.
Bortoleto joins Sauber
After announcing the departure of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, the Hinwil-based Sauber F1 team that will be Audi's works outfit from 2026 confirmed that Gabriel Bortoleto wou,d complete their driver line-up to partner Nico Hulkenberg.
Hailing from São Paulo, Bortoleto began his racing career at the age of six in karting and, by twelve, he had moved to Europe with his family to pursue his Formula One dream.
He made a strong impression upon graduating to FIA Formula 3 in 2023 by dominating his debut season and winning the Championship, before moving to the FIA Formula 2 Championship only to win the series in his debut year.
Ocon dropped after Qatar
Following the Qatar Grand Prix, Alpine announced that Esteban Ocon would leave the Enstone-based outfit with immediate effect, and their reserve driver Jack Doohan would replace him.
Perez ousted, Lawson joined Red Bull
After the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull announced the departure of Sergio Perez despite the Mexican's existing contract that would have allowed him to drive for the team in the next two season.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit then confirmed that Liam Lawson would replace the Mexican to partner four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen in 2025 F1 season.
The New Zealand native joined the Red Bull Junior Programme in 2019 and after multiple junior formula successes made his Formula One debut with Scuderia AlphaTauri at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, in place of the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
He scored his first championship points in just his second outing at the Singapore GP and completed five races in all for the team. After taking up his Reserve Driver role with both teams at the start of 2024, Lawson returned to Grand Prix racing with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls with a points-scoring finish at this year’s United States Grand Prix.
Now, after completing the season with VCARB the 22-year-old takes the next step in his career with a seat at Oracle Red Bull Racing.
Bottas returns to Mercedes
Having departed from the Sauber outfit after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas would return to his former team, Mercedes, joining the Brackley-based outfit to become its reserve driver.
Bottas made his F1 debut with Williams at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, partnering Pastor Maldonado. Across four seasons at Williams, Bottas finished on the podium nine times.
The Finn was then signed for Mercedes in 2017, replacing the retiring Nico Rosberg to partner Lewis Hamilton. He took his maiden pole position in Bahrain and his maiden win in Russia, finishing third in the championship following further wins in Austria and Abu Dhabi. After a winless 2018 campaign, Bottas finished runner-up to Hamilton in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The Nastola-born driver took his final win for Mercedes at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, leaving the Brackley-based squad at the end of the 2021 season after contributing to five consecutive World Constructors' Championships. He joined the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo in 2022, but the Hinwil-based outfit confirmed earlier this year that the Finn will depart from Sauber at the end of the current season.
Hadjar joins Racing Bulls
After Red Bull announced the promotion of Liam Lawson, the Racing Bulls confirmed that Isack Hadjar would join Yuki Tsunoda for the 2025 F1 season.
The 20-year-old driver has been driving for the Campos Racing team in F2, and finished second in the drivers' standings behind Sauber-bound Gabriel Bortoleto in 2024.
Hadjar became AlphaTauri and Red Bull Racing's reserve driver after Liam Lawson filled in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix.
