The fantastic thing about the 2024 Formulation One season thus far could be instructed and described in some ways.
Even perhaps many gestures.
We will begin with a smile. Daniel Ricciardo’s smile is perhaps probably the most well-known on the complete grid, however that smile had disappeared earlier within the season. It was not current when Riccardo spoke with the media on Thursday forward of the Miami Grand Prix, however it returned when Ricciardo delivered a surprising fourth-place end within the F1 Shootout forward of the Miami Grand Prix and held on to that place to complete fourth within the F1 Dash Race itself.
That smile was actually there when Ricciardo got here to talk with the media after that end. It was nonetheless there when Ricciardo came visiting to talk with the media after a tougher qualifying session for the Miami Grand Prix itself, because the glow from his F1 Dash Race end result was nonetheless on everybody’s thoughts.
The story of the 2024 F1 season could be instructed by way of an embrace, such because the one shared by Oliver Bearman and his father when the younger driver climbed out of the SF-24 after making his F1 debut instead of an ailing Carlos Sainz Jr. on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Not solely did Bearman end the race, and never solely did the younger phenom end the race within the factors, however he held off each Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton down the stretch to complete seventh.
Talking of these two Britons. ..
One other chapter of the 2024 F1 season thus far could be instructed by way of a trio of exhales felt across the paddock, and the world. There was the one mere hours after Ricciardo’s trademark smile returned in Miami when Lando Norris shrugged off the “Lando No-Wins” moniker that had been placed on his again to seize his maiden F1 victory in Miami.
And will lastly exhale on the highest step of the rostrum.
There was an identical exhale a number of weeks later in Monte Carlo. After so many heartbreaking finishes and disappointments in his residence race, Charles Leclerc lastly broke by way of with a victory within the Monaco Grand Prix, on the streets the place he realized to drive as a toddler, and delivered an exhale felt all through the Principality. A hometown prince was lastly king.
Then there was Silverstone.
The positioning of the British Grand Prix, the place Lewis Hamilton had tasted victory eight instances earlier than. However on this Sunday it was completely different. It was not a win that got here amidst a string of victories and championships, a win that got here throughout a interval of Silver Arrows dominance.
No, it was a win that got here after years of questioning if Hamilton would ever win once more. However on that Sunday one other favourite son and hometown hero, one of many biggest drivers the game will ever know, after practically 1000 days and not using a win, reached the highest step at Silverstone.
His residence race, and his closing residence race with Mercedes. Years of doubt, of questioning if it might ever occur once more, erased with one unbelievable drive, and one emphatic exhale.
There are extra gestures, after all, that may inform the story of the primary half of the season. Resembling a smile exchanged by Norris and his good friend — and rival — Max Verstappen at Silverstone within the cooldown room after the British Grand Prix. Or Verstappen’s hand on Norris’ shoulder within the moments proper after the race ended. Quiet tributes between associates per week after their sudden rivalry resulted within the wheel contact in Austria heard across the sport, and questions of what would occur subsequent.
What occurred subsequent? A return to onerous and honest racing, and the concept that a title combat could possibly be coming.
In the end, the gesture that the majority tells the story of the primary 12 race weekend of the 2024 F1 marketing campaign is a wink. A wink that was delivered by Ferrari Group Principal Frederic Vasseur in my course following his assembly with the media that Sunday night in Miami. The rationale for that wink? The quiet confidence of a Group Principal who had simply completed speaking about how groups like McLaren, Mercedes, and sure Ferrari had closed the hole to Pink Bull, and have been lastly placing the defending Constructors’ Champions below strain. The wink was clear, and so too was the message.
The combat on the entrance is on.
Pink Bull might finally emerge victorious in that combat, but when they need a 3rd straight Constructors’ Championship they are going to completely must earn it.
We’re within the center level of a dramatic Formulation 1 marketing campaign that has supplied so many twists and turns to the story, and but extra twists and turns await.
We’re witnessing what’s shaping as much as be maybe a four-way title combat, that includes Pink Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes. 4 giants of this sport, 4 legendary groups battling for glory.
And whereas Max Verstappen actually seems each bit the a part of the Drivers’ Champion but once more that title combat is on no account, form, or type carried out and dusted as of but. He will definitely be seen as the favourite and will proceed to inch away from his rivals with one other victory or sturdy end this weekend on the Hungarian Grand Prix.
However he might not, and certainly not is that title settled in the way in which it has been over latest years.
Lately the Formulation 1 season felt like extra of a coronation than the rest. A sluggish march to the inevitable celebration in Pink Bull’s storage because the crew, and one other of the best drivers the game will ever know, marks one other triumph.
However this season, it feels completely different. The celebration would be the identical come fall, however it’s going to have been a lot more durable to earn.
Because the grid embarks on the second half of this marketing campaign, there’s all the pieces to play for, and there’s all the pieces doubtful. There are battles up and down the grid, drivers preventing for his or her legacies, and even their futures inside the sport, and 12 grueling race weekends left to resolve all of it, a schedule that can take the game from Hungary to Abu Dhabi, and in all places in between.
Welcome to the Hungarian Grand Prix, and the beginning of what could possibly be an unbelievable second half of the 2024 Formulation 1 season.
