After a spectacular Formula 1 season, BBC Sport and Getty Images have picked out a selection of the best images from 2024
Having crushed the opposition in 2023, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won four of the first five races in 2024 and we seemed set for more of the same.
The only race in that sequence he didn’t win was in Australia, where he retired after four laps. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who had missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix because of appendicitis, was victorious in Melbourne.
After failing to score in Australia, Verstappen was back on top at the Japanese Grand Prix, which was moved from autumn to April and was thus painted with the country’s famous cherry blossom for the first time.
Teenage dreams
On the Friday in Saudi Arabia, there was a shock when 18-year-old Briton Oliver Bearman was called up to replace Sainz and immediately had to drive in final practice.
Chelmsford-born Bearman was in Jeddah competing in the Formula 2 championship but suddenly found himself driving for the most famous team in F1 – and became the youngest Briton to do so.
After qualifying 11th, he finished seventh – in the points. He said he had “great fun” but was “physically destroyed”, adding: “I think I put on a good show for myself, which is the main thing, right?”
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Norris’ breakthrough
The complexion of the season changed from Miami in May, when Lando Norris secured his first F1 win in his 110th grand prix.
“About time, huh?” said the Briton, who took advantage of a mid-race safety car to make a pit stop and stay ahead of Verstappen.
From that point, the upgraded McLaren was more than a match for the Red Bull and Norris established himself as the only serious challenger to Verstappen in the drivers’ championship.
