The F1 season is over and many reputable websites are providing their opinion on which drivers were the best of the best in 2024, and this website is no different with The Gurgler’s 2024 F1 Driver of the Year.
But we not only offer our 2024 F1 Driver of the Year, but we also throw in some stats summaries for each driver and a barely interesting point or two.
Our 2024 F1 Driver of the Year mainly follows our Driver Ratings points we offer after each round, but sometimes the points don’t tell the whole story so there is a bit of subjectivity about it.
So enjoy our dive into the F1 drivers in 2024. And if you’re into more F1 from 2024, why not follow the link for our Full 2024 F1 Season Review.
2024 F1 Driver of the Year – Season Stats
Here is the overall 2024 F1 Driver of the Year results.
2024 F1 Driver of the Year – Driver by Driver
You’ve seen our Driver of the Year Rating, but here is our definitive thoughts on who the best and worst drivers were this season.
1 – MAX VERSTAPPEN
Was made to work for his fourth title in 2024, which would have been hard to believe early in the season as a streak of pole positions led to a lot of victories. But as the competitors caught up he was forced into battling other drivers on track and producing some more patient drives to points rather than coasting out in front. Fair to say his racing with other front runners left a lot to be desired in the middle part of the season, but then he produced the Brazilian Grand Prix masterclass to end any realistic Championship hopes for anyone else. Won our Driver of the Year title on points by a mile, but that can be heavily tilted towards someone who thrashes an uncompetitive team mate.
STAT – Max Verstappen ended up a full 6.42 ahead of Sergio Perez in average qualifying position in 2024.
STAT – Abu Dhabi was the only race this season where Max Verstappen lost places on the first lap.
2 – LANDO NORRIS
An outstanding season, where he got his deserved first victories in F1 and mounted a Championship challenge. Was always a factor in qualifying and often took pole, but did fail to convert more into wins. Pushed hard by a very competitive team mate, who he had covered in qualifying on the whole and mostly in races. Just made small errors at crucial times during the season to sustain a Championship tilt. Scored points on all but one occasion and podiums in over half of his races.
STAT – Lando Norris scored the most Championship points in between Max Verstappen’s win in Round 10 and Round 21, finishing one point ahead of his team mate Oscar Piastri.
STAT – Lando Norris had the best qualifying form on Classic tracks in 2024 with an average qualifying position of 2.4 vs Max Verstappen’s 3.5 which was next best.
STAT – Lando Norris had the best improvement in % from pole position in 2024, just ahead of his team mate Piastri.
STAT – Lando Norris set the most fastest laps this season with six. Three better than the next best Charles Leclerc.
3 – CHARLES LECLERC
Like most of the non Red Bull top eight, had days where he was out the front and cruising, like Monaco, or his charge from the back of the field in Abu Dhabi to the podium. Occasionally the Ferrari wasn’t on the pace but Leclerc still gave it plenty, and on street tracks Leclerc seemed to gain a tenth or two. Good H2H record v Carlos Sainz, who himself had a very good season. Leclerc will need to do that again if Ferrari have built a rocket ship and he has a new team mate in Lewis Hamilton.
STAT – Leclerc was only just behind Max Verstappen in average qualifying position on street tracks (3.67 v 3.50) but ahead on the distance from pole position (100.28% of pole v 100.30%).
STAT – Charles Leclerc outscored Lando Norris 182 to 176 from Round 14 onwards.
4 – OSCAR PIASTRI
Might have been higher if he had not faded slightly in the final part of the season. A magnificent season from the second year driver, and does it all with an outward expression of not being overly fussed. He certainly doesn’t appear to be overwhelmed by his ultra competitive team mate and gave Lando Norris plenty of worries in 2024. His lack of outward excitement also translates into very few mistakes as a good flip side. He looks Championship ready. Qualified in Q3 for all but one race and finished every lap of the season. Only real shame of the season was the terrible team orders playing out that really ruined his fist win. The last McLaren driver to be handed victory via team orders was Mika Hakkinen, who went on to win the next two F1 titles.
STAT – Oscar Piastri ended up with only the sixth highest average qualifying over the final five rounds, (7.8 not helped by Las Vegas Q1 exit). His % from pole stat is even worse falling behind Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg.
STAT – Oscar Piastri had the best overall average position for Free Practice this season.
5 – CARLOS SAINZ
It seems almost absurd that Carlos Sainz is heading to Williams after what was one of his best seasons in F1. At a minimum he should have filled the Red Bull seat of Sergio Perez, but F1 isn’t always fair. On the occasional days in 2024 Carlos Sainz was class of the field, and thereabouts on a lot of others. Overall, he got the better of his team mate in one of every three races and made fewer mistakes than previous years.
STAT – Carlos Sainz, and his Ferrari team mate both had an average gird position in 2024 that was slightly worse than 2023.
6 – GEORGE RUSSELL
Thrashed his illustrious team mate, and like Carlos Sainz above him, had days where he was the best in the field. Made Q3 on all but one occasion and outqualified Lewis Hamilton 19 times out of 24. Had a third win taken away by disqualification, which was harsh but fair. Had an interesting end of year scrap off circuit with Max Verstappen, so hopefully the Mercedes continues improving and we have a real grudge match at the front in 2025.
STAT – George Russell had the second best average grid position for the last five rounds and was outqualified by Lewis Hamilton only five times in 2024.
7 – NICO HULKENBERG
The fact that The Hulk ended up in Q3 more than any other session in qualifying for 2024 say plenty, and Hulkenberg often hauled his Haas up to preposterously high grid slots. A shame the Haas is never quite as competitive over more laps, something Hulkenberg himself has been accused of over the years, but he did score points on ten occasions. Rewarded with an Audi/Sauber contract, which may not seem like much of a gift based on their form in 2024.
STAT – Nico Hulkenberg finished 11th seven times in 2024.
8 – PIERRE GASLY
Up higher on our list than some might expect, but given his late season heroics in the Alpine it was hard to have him much lower. The Alpine was the slowest car on the gird at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, but by the end Pierre Gasly was making Q3 and occasionally putting his nose where it didn’t belong. Dudded out of a lofty qualifying position in the Las Vegas race by a blown engine, Gasly got a podium in Brazil. He was behind his team mate that day, but it was a rarity in the second half of the season as Gasly got on top of feisty team mate Esteban Ocon.
STAT – Pierre Gasly outscored Sergio Perez (36 v 27) in Championship points from the summer break return of Round 14 onwards.
9 – LEWIS HAMILTON
Maybe it’s a bit harsh to have a driver who won two races in 2024 down in 9th, but amongst the days of glory, particularly another home win at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton looked like just an ordinary F1 driver.
STAT – Lewis Hamilton made up the most places from grid to finish in 2024 with 55 places made, a few ahead of the next best Guanyu Zhou at 48.
10 – FERNANDO ALONSO
Hamstrung by a car that went terribly backwards in 2024, but Alonso was still a factor in the midfield battle and occasionally threatened to annoy the front runners.
11 – YUKI TSUNODA
On the fringe of our top ten, and the top ten in qualifying, and as it turns out, on the fringe of a Red Bull drive that ultimately went to his short-term 2024 team mate. Handled the return of Daniel Ricciardo and effectively ended the Australian’s career. Also outperformed Liam Lawson in their time together, and occasionally shone in qualifying and the race, but never quite enough. As his rejection to the top Red Bull team proves.
12 – OLIVER BEARMAN
Effectively the reason so many F2 drivers will join the grid in 2025. His drive in Saudi Arabia was amazing, filling in for Carlos Sainz at the last moment and qualifying 11th and claiming point in his first race with a great drive under pressure from some fast cars. Conducted himself well when filling in at Haas a few times later in the season and earned his chance at a full time drive for 2025. Team bosses realising that there’s more upside to potential speed than keeping a driver purely for experience.
13 – KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Kevin Magnussen signs off from F1 for probably the last time and his bonus two years at Haas have worked out ok. Generally outpaced by Nico Hulkenberg, but he had his moments in 2024.
STAT – Kevin Magnussen made up the most positions on the first lap in 2024. Up until Round 20, Magnussen only lost a place on the first lap once.
14 – ALEX ALBON
Plenty of Q3 visits in his Williams this season, but somehow 2024 feels like a bit of a disappointment for Albon. Sure he thrashed Logan Sargeant while he was around, but Franco Colapinto sharpened him up a bit. Involved in a few too many accidents, as his Williams team found out in general from all their drivers.
STAT – Albon lost the most places on the first lap in 2024.
15 – FRANCO COLAPINTO
Immediately better than Logan Sargeant, which admittedly wasn’t hard but he did keep Alex Albon very honest and did a very good job until the mistakes crept in as the season grew. He wasn’t the only Williams driver though, as all of them seemed hellbent on inflicting maximum damage in the budget and mechanics in 2024. However, such is the poisoned chalice status of the second Red Bull seat, as soon as Colapinto was being rumoured of being linked with replacing Perez he started to crash more. And more.
16 – VALTTERI BOTTAS
If one Kick Sauber driver was threatening to do something in 2024 it was Valtteri Bottas. The fact he dragged the Sauber into Q3 twice was an achievement, and his regular visits to Q2 allowed for brief glimpses of his speed.
STAT – Valtteri Bottas had the lowest average position for fastest lap set in 2024.
17 – ESTEBAN OCON
Scored a podium in Brazil, which although may have been helped by lucky circumstance, Ocon still drove well enough to keep that second place. On the whole he was shadowed by Gasly, especially when Gasly found some speed late in the season. Lucky not to be fired after going berserk at Monaco. Found a home at Haas for 2025, and may want to watch out for his new young team mate.
STAT – Ocon did outqualify Pierre Gasly more than he didn’t, including the first five races in a row.
18 – DANIEL RICCIARDO
Sadly it didn’t work out for F1’s most likeable driver, and he wasn’t awful in 2024, just not better than Yuki Tsunoda and thus lost his seat as there wasn’t much point for Red Bull to continue with him. He had his moments though, like the Sprint race in Miami, but those really good days were few in 2024. His exit though was poorly handled and deserved better. Although the number of Ricciardo clickbait articles since his exit have been quite annoying.
STAT – Daniel Ricciardo lost the second most places in total on the first lap in 2024, and made positive progress in only one race in 2024.
19 – GUANYU ZHOU
Possibly should be higher for scoring any points in the Kick Sauber, but more often than not was dead last in qualifying and obscure if not invisible during races. Escaped Q3 just four times, which makes his four points scored in Qatar all the more amazing.
STAT – Guanyu Zho was one of five drivers to have a worse % from pole position in 2024 than 2023. Zhou’s +0.21% increase was slightly worse than Sergio Perez’s 0.17%.
STAT – Zhou qualified on the back row of the grid in 15 of the 24 races in 2024, and was dead last 12 times.
20 – LIAM LAWSON
Liam Lawson’s return to F1 at the expense of Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t quite as impressive as his stint filling in last season. His short season was still better than the driver he is replacing for 2025, but that also becomes his hot seat, something hasn’t been done well by more experienced drivers. Funnily enough the replacing of Perez by Lawson at Red Bull is the second time Lawson gave Perez the finger to in 2024.
STAT – Liam Lawson had the best result for % distance from pole position out of the 2024 RB drivers.
21 – SERGIO PEREZ
It’s hard to remember a season where a driver underperformed in a race/championship winning car more than Perez did this season. Potentially back to the 1980’s. Sure the 2024 car was harder to drive than the all-dominant 2023 model, but this season’s Red Bull still won the most races and Max Verstappen another World Championship. Perez could barely make Q3 or leave Q1 in the end, and as a result of the lowly qualifying found himself in trouble with more incidents and accidents than ever before. The sad-ish postscript to the 2024 season is that Perez has been given the year off, or effectively fired by Red Bull. Which was a mercy for Perez and fans wanting a good car go to one of the best drivers.
STAT – Sergio Perez may have seen like he had a worse 2024 than 2023, and in so many ways he did, but his average grid position in 2024 of 9.33 was only slightly worse than 2023’s 9.07.
STAT – Counting all sessions, including all Q sessions and practice sessions, sprint races and beyond, Sergio Perez beat Max Verstappen just 13 over every single session in 2024.
22 – LANCE STROLL
The Aston Martin wasn’t as good in 2024 compared to 2023, and so Lance Stroll slipped down the field as a result. His season is best summed up by Brazil where he fell off the track on the formation lap, then his solution to rejoining the race was driving into the middle of the gravel trap. On the whole he didn’t look interested, and incidents were rarely his fault, the one in China with Daniel Ricciardo a shining example of his perfect mixture of arrogant incompetence. Kept his drive and into next year because he knows the boss. The downside of Adrian Newey going to Aston Martin.
23 – JACK DOOHAN
Qualified last in his only race, and finished well back, so hard to give the Australian a much higher ranking. He didn’t bin his car, placing him higher than Logan Sargeant.
24 – LOGAN SARGEANT
There was a reason he was the first driver sacked in 2024, because he was the worst driver of the 2024 season. Why else would his own team take his car at the Australian GP and give it to the other driver who just binned his. There were too many mistakes in his second season, although worth pointing out his more experienced team mate made quite a few also, but the crash in what would be his final race in Holland was the final straw. Sargeant’s credentials took a further hit when moderately performed F2 driver Franco Colapinto came in and was immediately better. Although, the curse of the second Williams did eventually continue when more crashes came.
