In the sport of F1 car racing, the ten teams with their pair of racers make their way around tracks around the world for a chance of winning the title of world champion. The teams on the grid include Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercades, Aston Marton, Visa RB, Haas, Albine, Williams, and Kick Sauber. Each year is a new surprise with shifts in teams and points; this pertaining to this season as well. Already halfway through the 2024 season and the F1 grid is staying exciting across the board. From a player dropping from the rest of the season to teams falling off in points, this season is not yet finished with throwing curveballs.
Throughout the season, the Red Bull team has held strong in first place. Max Verstappen has been the head racer, being the main point leader for the whole season and for Red Bull. Verstappen has had three world championships under his belt and is going for his fourth. But his recent performances have not been up to par with what is expected of him to do following the past three years of being the world champion. Verstappen has yet to secure first place since the Spain race in June. For having been a leader and having consecutive wins, it is hard not to notice the drop off in his performance. Though Max has spoken out and even stated work must be done and to “basically change the whole car.” It has been seen that his car has been holding him back from his full potential.
On the other hand, teams like Ferrari and McLaren have only improved on their cars. In the day before the race, racers drive around the track to try scoring the fastest lap out of the twenty. From the scores set, players are given their pole position of where they start from fastest to slowest. The McLaren team of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris has been seen taking pole positions in the top five more and more. In the Italian Grand Prix, Norris took first pole position with Piastri right behind him in second. Securing such positions on the grid gives not only the player, but the whole team an advantage and higher chance of being in scoring range for higher points. As well as team Ferrari beginning to have higher rankings, racking up points fast. In the latest races, Ferrari has been inching higher on the pole rankings. During races, Ferrari has also been seen to be faster on the track with them leading in the fastest lap rankings.
Stats between racers have also been fluctuating at almost the same speed as the racers (with the top speed ever being 231.5 mph). For some time, Logan Sargent was ranked 21st despite only 20 racers officially contracted to race due to a fill in racer doing better than Sargent. Then the only USA native racer dropped out of F1 after the Netherlands race on August 25. Since then, Sargent’s seat on Williams has been filled by Franco Colapinto and is already showing potential for the team. The drivers’ standings have also been changing around for who is in the top 10. Though there has only been one change in the racers in the top ten, their positions have changed. Sergio Perez, a racer with Red Bull, was signed with the agreement that he would stay within 100 points of his partner Max Verstappen but has only scored 40 points between 11 races. All the while Max has collected 177 points between those same 11 races. Rankings still have much room to change through these next eight races of the season and are projected to cause uproar.
The 2024 season is still in progress and waiting to show us more. But this all leads to the exciting anticipation of the 2025 season starting. Contracts are still being made with the filling of seats for racers with two still being up for grabs in RB and Kick Sauber. Though seats that have been filled include some new faces. On Mercedes is Kimi Antonelli, Alpine is Jack Doohan, and Haas is Ollie Bearman. With new, young faces added to the lineup, people are excited for what is to come to the sport of F1 racing.