The Road to Abu Dhabi: Who Will Claim F1 Glory?

Formula 1 is taking a long break before returning for an action packed end to the 2024 FIA F1 season.

Max Verstappen is leading the Drivers Championship, but is being chased down by Lando Norris with McLaren F1 Team recently having taken the lead from Oracle Red Bull Racing in the Constructors Championship.

In this piece, we’ll be taking a look at what’s to come in the next few rounds and the road to the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Austin

The Circuit of Americas is the next circuit that will be home to the F1 paddock, but it won’t be any time soon with a four week gap.

There’s been plenty of speculation in the paddock surrounding Daniel Ricciardo leaving the sport and we’ll certainly know the outcome of that by the time F1 arrives for the second USA race of the season, and based off reports it does look likely that Liam Lawson will be driving for Visa Cash App RB next time out, although we’ll only know when we get official confirmation.

Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

After the ordeal that Ricciardo went through at the Singapore Grand Prix that was extremely unfair and cleared affected the Australian throughout the weekend, hopefully we’ll arrive in Austin with a clear verdict on whether Ricciardo will be in the car.

Obviously the main story coming into this one is the brewing battle between McLaren and Red Bull. Dr Helmut Marko has said that Red Bull have a lot of work to do and he’s correct but whether they’ll be able to get on top of their car over this break and bring an upgrade that is significant enough to get anywhere near McLaren is unlikely. Red Bull may close the gap ever so slightly but catch back up to McLaren – that’ll be tough.

Mexico

The Mexico City Circuit could be a crucial date on the calendar – especially for Sergio Perez. The Mexican has not lived up to expectations since his new contract earlier in the year and he’s now eighth in the drivers standings behind all the top four drivers and most importantly eight places behind his teammate.

Pérez’s future is unknown, despite having a contract that sees him through to the end of the 2025 season. Red Bull have a history of shock departures but a good result at Mexico in his home race, especially a result that helps the team outscore McLaren could go down very well in the Red Bull camp.

Obviously as with every race, both championship battles are likely to continue with a close run race both in the Drivers and Constructors. The circuit itself always makes for an exciting weekend although unlike Austin, it’s not a Sprint weekend.

Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Brazil and Going Forward

There’s not really anyway of telling what may happen in the races after Mexico. We could have a real championship battle on our hands in the drivers standings if Norris wins in Austin and Mexico, especially if Verstappen misses out on a podium or finishes down the order.

Scuderia Ferrari may still have a say in the Constructors Championship but they would need to be perfect from now until the end of the season to be in with a chance of overtaking McLaren. There’s a battle between VCARB and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team for sixth, while Williams Racing will want to potentially join that battle if they can get a similar finish to the one they secured at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix a few weeks ago. Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber will also be desperate to get off the mark, although given their current pace it looks as if they’ll stay bottom of the championship with no points.

There’s still also an active driver market that involves the two Red Bull family teams, while Sauber are yet to confirm their second driver to race alongside Nico Húlkenberg.

All we know is that it’ll be a very interesting end to the 2024 season, and we may even have a 2021 style season finale in Abu Dhabi…