Top five most controversial moments from 2024 F1 season.
RacingNews365 has listed the top five most controversial moments from the year, listed in the order they happened!
31 Dec 2024
RacingNews365 Staff
RacingNews365

The 2024 F1 season was filled with dramatic and controversial moments - but which instances take our pick?

Opening lap chaos in Monaco: The Monaco Grand Prix was a joyous race for Charles Leclerc as the Ferrari driver finally won on home soil. Long before he reached the chequered flag, however, a major crash on the opening lap of the race sent Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg out of the race.

Verstappen and Norris clash in Austria: It was the moment the drivers' title truly felt alive this year. After battling for several laps, Verstappen and Norris came to blows in the final laps of the Austrian Grand Prix.
McLaren team orders in Hungary: Oscar Piastri captured his first win in Hungary following a tense period on the McLaren pit wall. The Australian took the lead on the opening lap but later fell back behind his team-mate as McLaren opted to pit Norris earlier.

Sainz and Perez's late clash in Azerbaijan: Two laps from the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a highly engaging battle emerged towards the front of the field.
Verstappen’s aggression on Norris in USA and Mexico: As the F1 season reached its final rounds, Verstappen was looking to kill off any remaining hope for Norris in the title fight. In the USA and Mexico, he deployed aggressive tactics in wheel-to-wheel combat as he forced his rival wide on several occasions.

‘Controversial’;

https://racingnews365.com/top-five-m...2024-f1-season


Why George Russell thinks 2024 put Mercedes in good stead for potential F1 title tilt
12 Jan 2025
Taylor Powling
Motorsport Week

“I feel really pleased with my own personal performance this year,” Russell, who out-qualified Hamilton 19-5 in 2024, told media including Motorsport Week last December.

“I think in qualifying I’ve been performing better than ever. Whenever the car has had a chance of being on pole, we’ve been on pole. Whenever we’ve had a chance of fighting for the victory, especially since Canada [where Russell went from P1 to P3], I think that was the only race that went amiss, we’ve been in that position to take it.”

“That gives me confidence. If we build a car that is capable of fighting for a championship, we’ll be there to achieve it,” he continued. “The few opportunities we’ve had this year, we’ve clinched it. As a team, we’ve won almost as many races as McLaren, which is crazy to think.”

‘Qualifying better’;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/...f1-title-tilt/


Fernando Alonso highlights ‘biggest positive’ to Aston Martin’s 2024 F1 slump
12 Jan 2024
Dan Lawrence
Motorsport Week

“[The season] goes up and down for everybody,” Alonso rued in the penultimate round of the campaign at Qatar. “Difficult to be sure of that, but I think we didn’t manage to improve the car much throughout the season.”

“So we started quite strong, but we are now in a position that we’re struggling to be in Q3 on some occasions. “All those difficulties, I think, probably are teaching us a lot of lessons, which we will apply into next year’s car,” he said.

“And that will be probably the biggest positive aspect of the second part of the year, you know, that even if we didn’t succeed in putting much performance on the car, I think it’s well understood what we are struggling with at the moment. So that will be applying in 2025.”

‘Teaching us a lot of lessons’;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/...2024-f1-slump/


McLaren ‘working a lot’ to address ‘inherent limitations’ prevalent on 2024 F1 car
30 Dec 2024
Motorsport Week

“It’s been a complaint of mine for the last six years and again we’ve still not been able to iron it out and get it out enough from our car,” Norris told media including Motorsport Week. “Some tracks that are more limited or certain things, these issues don’t arise but we’ve always been one of the worst teams for front graining.”

“When we do our front graining, we’re not the quickest car but as soon as the front graining is gone, we have a car that’s quick enough. When you can manage it to a certain extent, we can survive. Today, we couldn’t manage it enough. The problems were way too severe and they’ve been just as bad in many other races even like Montreal. Montreal, we were killing the fronts.”

“A similar case, low grip, street circuit vibe. A similar thing this weekend. There are traits. We have weaknesses in the car. They’re ones I’ve been saying for a while, but they’re ones which are very difficult to get out of our characteristic of a car. It’s something we’re working on a lot.”

‘Working a lot’;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2024/...n-2024-f1-car/


Lewis Hamilton’s test set to cause chaos at Ferrari HQ
14 Jan 2025
Michelle Foster
PlanetF1.com

“A kind of Hamilton mania has already started in Italy,” he told the James Allen on F1 podcast. “Since the New Year began, there is a big question mark that Italian Ferrari fans are trying to answer – when will the first test of Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari car take place?”

“I cannot imagine the number of people that will be around the track. I’m expecting the Maranello and Fiorano streets will be filled with people. I’m expecting something that we haven’t seen in years. So it will be hard work for the police in Maranello.”

“But I’m not surprised. All the national media, not only the sports media, are giving a lot of space to the man Lewis Hamilton. The mainstream is telling you who is Lewis, his passion and interest, the story of his career and his desire to end this career driving a Ferrari.”

‘Chaos’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lewis-...-at-ferrari-hq


Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari sim session now scheduled ahead of ‘most likely’ F1 test debut date
14 Jan 2025
Ben Evans
F1 Oversteer

Ferrari fans have been waiting for nearly a year now to see Lewis Hamilton in action for the very first time in one of their Formula 1 cars. Lewis Hamilton announced at the beginning of February 2024 that he would be swapping the Silver Arrows for the Scuderia ahead of the final stage of his F1 career.

Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari simulator session to take place next week. The report from Autoracer suggests that there is already ‘optimism and enthusiasm’ about Hamilton starting work at their factory in Maranello. He’s set to meet with his team of engineers in a few days before getting to work in the car. Ferrari won’t officially unveil Hamilton and the SF-25 until February 19, a day after F1’s official launch event in London.

However, by then Hamilton would have already done a significant amount of work behind closed doors. They report that Hamilton’s first session in the Ferrari simulator is scheduled for January 20. Ferrari’s test track at Fiorano is booked out from January 21-23 and they believe the ‘most likely’ date for his debut is January 22. However, Hamilton’s first Ferrari could change dates at the last minute if the weather isn’t good enough. Given he’ll only be allowed to do 1,000km of running in private tests this year, he and the team won’t want to waste it if it’s raining.

‘Optimism and enthusiasm’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/lew...st-debut-date/


Italian police on alert as Lewis Hamilton to cause something 'not seen in years'
Lewis Hamilton is gearing up for his first season at Ferrari after making the switch from Mercedes.
Jan 12, 2025
Charlie Gordon
Daily and Sunday Express

Speaking to the James Allen on F1 podcast, journalist Robert Chinchero claims that Italy is already in 'Hamilton mania'. He added that the streets of Maranello, and around the Fiorano Circuit, will be 'filled with people' to create a spectacle 'not seen in years'.

Chinchero expects it to be 'hard work for the police' if supporters turn out to show Hamilton their passion and hunger to see Ferrari back on top. Kimi Raikkonen was the last driver to win an individual title while driving for the Italian outfit, with his triumph coming nearly 18 years ago.

‘Italian police on alert’;

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...police-ferrari