How teams have performed in 2024 compared to 2023

Red Bull completely dominated the 2023 F1 season as it clinched back-to-back constructors’ title by winning 21 of 22 grands prix – but 2024 has not been as kind.

Though the Milton Keynes-based squad still leads this year’s championship, the competition is much closer and Red Bull has won half as many races compared to this stage last season.

Aston Martin, McLaren and RB are amongst others to have big performance differences, so how does each team compare after 14 rounds in 2023 to after 14 rounds in 2024 with F1 currently in its summer break?

Red Bull

The RB19 is statistically the most dominant F1 car ever, as it won 95% of grands prix in 2023 which included a record-breaking 14-race winning run to start the year.

That means, at this stage last season, many wondered if Red Bull could go unbeaten due to its advantage over the rest of the grid with Max Verstappen as its leading driver. Eventually it didn’t though, as Carlos Sainz won the season’s 15th round in Singapore.

Red Bull’s rivals then made gains over the off-season, while its technical director Pierre Wache told Autosport that the RB20 “didn’t deliver what we expected”. So, despite a strong start with seven wins in 10, the signs were clear that Red Bull’s advantage was no longer significant – especially when Verstappen won in Imola by less than a second.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, pole man Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

It has culminated in Red Bull failing to win the final four grands prix before the summer break and although Verstappen leads the championship, his team-mate Sergio Perez is seventh and the only driver inside the top eight to not win a race.

So, even though Red Bull is still first in the championship, it is 175 points worse off than it was after 14 rounds in 2023 with seven fewer victories and nine fewer podiums.

McLaren

McLaren has arguably made the biggest gain over the last 12 months, as this time last season it was fifth in the championship with only two podiums in the opening 14 grands prix. Lando Norris was eighth in the standings without a grand prix victory to his name, which is something Oscar Piastri didn’t have either as he was contesting his rookie campaign and had made a steady start in 12th.

But in 2024 McLaren heads into each race gunning for victory with the quickest car at certain tracks and both drivers have become grand prix winners – Norris in Miami and Piastri in Budapest. This is the first time for 12 years that McLaren has scored multiple wins in a campaign, after making impressive staff changes over the off-season that included signing engineer Rob Marshall from Red Bull.

McLaren is second in the championship with 366 points, 251 more than this time last season, and on 12 podiums. So, the team firmly believes that it is in a title fight against Red Bull, as the British squad is just 42 points behind with 10 grands prix and three sprint races remaining.

McLaren’s improvement has perhaps masked the work of Frederic Vasseur at Ferrari, as the Scuderia is 117 points better off than this stage last season with two more victories – Sainz in Australia and Charles Leclerc in Monaco – despite remaining third in the standings.

So, looking from afar it might seem like Ferrari has stood still, especially when its form has tailed off slightly with three podiums in the last six after hitting a development plateau. But it has still been a season of progression for the Scuderia, which in Australia scored its first 1-2 for two years amid a strong start to the season that included eight podiums in the opening eight rounds, culminating in Leclerc’s emotional home win.

That continued a disappointing two years for Mercedes, who had just one victory – the 2022 Brazilian GP – since the turn of the ground effect era. But, it gradually improved as the Silver Arrows stood on the podium in Canada and Spain before Russell’s shock victory in Austria, where he took the lead with seven laps left after Verstappen and Norris collided.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG

Photo by: Erik Junius

Mercedes won the following weekend’s British GP as well, which ended a win drought of almost three years for Hamilton, whose previous victory was the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. The Silver Arrows continued its upward trajectory by fitting upgrades for the remaining rounds before the summer break and Hamilton scored a podium in Hungary before claiming another win at Spa-Francorchamps.

In Belgium, Mercedes actually finished 1-2 on the road but a post-race disqualification for Russell, who had an underweight car, gave the win to his team-mate. Those victories now mean that, despite Mercedes being seven points worse off than this stage last season, it has collected more wins, poles and podiums with the team being just as quick as the championship top three.

Aston Martin

So, Aston Martin is 144 points worse than this stage last season and has a 193-point deficit to Mercedes. The silver lining being that sixth-placed RB is 39 points behind, so Aston Martin is in its own league sitting fifth in the championship. 

RB

RB – then known as AlphaTauri – had an extremely disappointing start to 2023, as Red Bull’s sister squad was bottom of the championship after 14 grands prix with just three points. It improved in the latter stages though, as the Faenza-based squad scored 22 points in the final eight rounds after taking gradual floor upgrades and fitting the RB19’s rear suspension.

The team has carried that form into 2024, as RB has 34 points after 14 grands prix and is four places higher in the championship than it was at this stage last season. RB is currently on a magnificent run of 10 point scores in the last 12 grands prix, which includes a fourth-placed finish for Daniel Ricciardo in the Miami sprint race.

Haas

Haas is another team to have made a better start, as the American outfit is one place higher in the championship having scored 16 more points than it did at this stage last season.

That included double points scores in Australia and Austria, with the Red Bull Ring featuring its joint-best result of sixth for Nico Hulkenberg which was also his finishing position at Silverstone. Hulkenberg is scoring most of Haas’ points though as the 36-year-old, who is due to depart for Sauber at the end of 2024, and has 22 points compared to Kevin Magnussen’s five, with the Dane also set to leave.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-24, Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

The team’s improved form comes after it changed its boss over the off-season, with Ayao Komatsu replacing Guenther Steiner while Haas has also taken the correct development paths throughout this campaign.

Alpine has significantly declined compared to last season, as 11 points for the French squad means it is 62 points worse off and two positions lower in the championship. The team made a solid start to 2023, which included shock podiums in Monaco and the Netherlands, but it could not keep up that form as Alpine finished the year in sixth, 160 points behind Aston Martin yet 92 ahead of Williams, having changed its management structure midway through.

The team then undertook a complete redesign of its car for 2024, but that largely backfired as Alpine started the year with various problems like traction and too much understeer. This resulted in Alpine scoring zero points across the opening five rounds, but upgrades have since helped the team improve and it even claimed back-to-back double scores in Canada and Spain.

But, Alpine is still one of the worst teams on the grid with its drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon respectively sitting 15th and 17th in the standings.

Williams

Williams has also had a more difficult start to 2024, as just four points for the team means it has 17 fewer than at this stage last season. The British squad is also two championship positions lower in ninth, as Alex Albon said “we’ve got a better car than last year, but so does everyone else”.

There is still a positive atmosphere at Williams though, as the team has signed three-time grand prix winner Sainz for 2025 who will replace the struggling Logan Sargeant. Williams is building for the regulation change in 2026, so is focused on developing the team and its infrastructure over the coming months for a successful transition into the new rules.

Sauber

Sauber has been the most disappointing team of 2024, as it is bottom of the championship and the only constructor to not yet score a point. The Swiss squad is simply struggling for all-round pace having failed to improve over the off-season as much as its rivals.

Valtteri Bottas, Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber C44

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

This has caused concern at Audi, who is set for a full takeover of the squad in 2026. Right now, much of the chatter at Sauber is about Audi’s impending arrival who have hired ex-Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto to lead the team.

That’s still a long way away though, and both Sauber drivers are currently fighting for their F1 futures, as the contracts of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu expire at the end of this season with neither yet to sign an extension.