Formula One latest: As title race is on, Who’s been the standout driver throughout 2024 season?
The Formula One season has endured a back and forth that not many were expecting. Lando Norris has tirelessly challenged Max Verstappen and has completely changed the form of races throughout the calendar. So what are the outcomes and why has there been such a change of play for Red Bull?
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00:00So, Daniel, obviously the Formula One season has been quite an enthralling watch compared
00:07to the last few seasons. We discussed Red Bull's dominance before and how that may have
00:12been fading a little bit with their car changes, etc. But what have your thoughts been on the
00:17season as a whole so far?
00:19Well, certainly it's got better. I think at the start of the season, we all thought it
00:24was just going to go straight into the same sort of pattern as it has. And for the last
00:29two or so years, Max Verstappen and Red Bull sort of ran away with it quite early on. And
00:33it looked that way for the first couple of months and they were winning the races. And
00:38then there came a bit of a shift and he's not won for a while now. And you've had different
00:44winners. You've had Oscar Piastri winning of McLaren. You've had Lando Norris winning
00:49also of McLaren. You've had Charles Leclerc winning of Ferrari. And obviously Lewis Hamilton
00:53has won a couple of Grand Prix, Mercedes, George Russell as well. So it's really been
00:57sort of a mixed bag towards the second half of the season. And it's ended up with a case
01:02where Lando Norris of McLaren is in a situation where he could overtake Max Verstappen now.
01:11And who's sort of impressed you the most going through the Formula One season? Obviously,
01:15you mentioned we've got a title race on, which hasn't really happened for the last few campaigns
01:19this late on in the season. You know, we've had multiple race winners as well, which you
01:24also mentioned there. Who's impressed you the most? And, you know, maybe drivers you
01:29think weren't going to get a win or, you know, have really shone through in such a tough
01:34season?
01:35Well, I think it's, we can't really look past Lando Norris for stars and that's probably
01:39the obvious answer. But the fact that he's in a title battle with Max Verstappen, which
01:43wouldn't have been expected at the start of the season, is a credit to him and his team
01:48for the drives he's shown and also the car they've produced for him in the second half
01:52of the season. In terms of other drivers, I think, looking at McLaren again, Oscar Piastri
01:56has really stood out as being, you know, I think only in his second season of F1, but
02:02he's really shown that he's got the speed, he's got the capability, not only to hold
02:08his own in sort of maybe the top battle, but to beat his teammate on a couple of occasions
02:13as well in Lando Norris. Now, as good as I've just said, Norris has been, Piastri has been
02:17pretty good as well and has held him to account. In terms of other drivers as well, I like
02:24to mention Lewis Hamilton because it's been a tough time for him after what happened at
02:27the end of 2021 and the Mercedes car not really being that pacey for a lot of times, especially
02:34in 2022 and large parts of 2023. For him to claim, well, one victory in Silverstone, which
02:41was fantastic at the time, has just shown that he's still got that pace and that drive
02:45and that will to win in him and that if he perhaps goes to Ferrari next year and they
02:49have a car that's good enough, he could be up there again and obviously the rules change
02:54in 2026 and if they get that right, could he win his eighth?