Everything to watch out for the rest of the 2024 F1 season

After three long weeks of sitting at home, doing nothing but watch football or attending Taylor Swift's concerts if your name is George Russell, it is time for 20 of the world's premier drivers to get back into the groove of taming the wild, 300kph raucous beasts while travelling around the world once more.

With that, it marks the dawn of a new chapter in the Formula 1 book which means many storylines are set to be written, but some are still incomplete.

Here are a few stories to look out for in the second half of the Formula 1 season:

Can Norris mount a title challenge?

Lando Norris has been on the rise in recent years, with many touting him to be a future world champion. This season saw Lando Norris finally being given the competitive machinery that he so dearly desired all this time.

Consistently challenging Max Verstappen for pole position or victories, many think that there may be a battle between the two brewing for the World Drivers' Championship trophy, which Verstappen is now defending.

However, heading into the second part of the season, Norris is a staggering 78 points off the running Dutchman, which is not a good look when considering that he has had the quicker car for a good amount of races in spite of Max's commanding first five races.

Norris has often come short of the Dutchman, being able to best him in Qualifying to attain pole position, he suffers from making unforced errors during critical moments and does not get off his grid box very well.

Moreover, his decision-making and racecraft is also costing him valuable points as seen in the Red Bull Ring, where desperate divebombs on the Red Bull of Verstappen ultimately resulted in an unneeded collision that saw him out of the race and ironically, benefitting Verstappen by giving him more points in the championship standings as Lando would have only lost seven points in second place rather than ten when Verstappen crossed the line in 5th.

All of these have been costly to Norris, resulting in him losing unnecessary positions and having to fight an uphill battle which he should not have been at the bottom of.

McLaren also have a part to play in Norris' huge deficit, making strategical errors such as in Silverstone, where they opted to fit Norris onto softs in the closing stages of the race despite knowing that the Mediums were quicker and in Hungary, where they pleaded to Norris to give him a guaranteed race victory to let team-mate Oscar Piastri snag a maiden win.

There is lots for McLaren and Norris to work on, with the critical one being to iron out costly mistakes, if they want to close up the points gap and get them a first world championship since the cloudy day in Brazil back in 2008.

Verstappen under threat

Max Verstappen had a familiar start to the season, winning four of the first five races, many thought that this was going to be another season where Verstappen would merrily stroll to a fourth world championship.

However, the Red Bull car has been on a performance decline and with his team-mate seeming to struggle badly, Verstappen has been left isolated to shield off the incoming threat from the McLarens and Mercedes.

He has coped brilliantly with the challenging pack, managing to garner the most points in the last eight races ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri, but just narrowly. 

Verstappen is heading into the second half of the season with a loss of momentum with underwhelming races in Belgium and Hungary, with the latter seeing him lose his cool over the team radio to his team and the hotheadedness inevitably led to a collision with his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton into turn 1, costing him a podium and valuable points along the way.

As the Red Bull looks to be second or even third best heading into Verstappen's home race at Zandvoort, they will want to quickly develop their car to the heights that saw them dominate the sport last year and block out any possible danger from the rest of the pack for one of motorsports' most prized trophies.

Hamilton's final push

Sir Lewis Hamilton will end one of motorsport's most iconic collaborations at the end of this year to finally be a part of the one and only team in red.

In his final year with Mercedes, it didn't start off easy. The 7-time champion endured a period of misery where the Mercedes car was nowhere near it's closest competitors.

However, that looked to have turned a leaf as in the past three races, Hamilton has won two of them, an emotional victory in home turf and a well-controlled Belgian Grand Prix which was harder than it looked when George Russell opted to stay out on hard tyres. 

Mercedes' overall performance are at a sharp increase and they look to be back at where they have made themselves home in during the 2010s, at the very top.

Hamilton will wish to say goodbye to the team that has given him six world championships and countless victories and pole positions in the same way he spent his ten years, in winning fashion.

Russell's step forward

George Russell started off 2024 by demolishing veteran team-mate Sir Lewis Hamilton in the head-to-head battle.

The young Brit has more than persuaded the Mercedes team that he is the right man to lead the Silver Arrows forward after Hamilton's scheduled departure from the team.

As the Brackley-based outfit seem to have picked up their performance, Russell did too.

A win in Austria followed by pole position at home soil in Silverstone, with the latter being cut short during the main race due to an engine failure, as well as an impressive drive at Belgium where he crossed the line first but was later disqualified due to breaching the minimum weight limit set by the FIA.

What this shows however, is that George has the quality to be at the top when needed and can change a race by a decision of his own as seen in Spa when he made the individual decision to stay out on the used tyres which paid off superbly.

What that also showed was taking charge of his own race and fantastic leadership qualities and there is no doubt that he will go far in the future but for now, in the second half of the season he will want to regain the points he lost from the two unfortunate races at Britain and Belgium.

Perez's struggles

Sergio Perez is a name that the F1 community love to hate. 

Though the experienced Mexican started the season strongly, finishing on the podium regularly behind Verstappen, it has gone downhill ever since.

Many turbulent weekends followed the Mexican, failing to make it out of Q2 in Imola and two consecutive retirements in Monaco and Canada only added to the pain.

Making careless mistakes such as spinning out of Q1 in Silverstone and sliding into the barriers at Hungary, it looked like the pressure was mounting to Perez or he simply could not adapt to the car that is given to him.

While team-mate Verstappen scored 141 points in the last eight races, Perez amassed a grand total of 28.

Many unacceptable performances followed and it led to speculation that Perez would be dropped to Red Bull's sister team, RB, for the second half of 2024 and that Ricciardo was actually told that he would be replacing Perez.

However, for various uncomfirmed reasons, it did not come to fruition and Perez will remain a Red Bull Racing driver until at least 2025.

With the colloquy over his seat becoming louder and louder each race, Checo Perez is now on a mission to improve his performances and silence the critics ideally by challenging for podiums and getting into Q3.

Piastri's rise

In his sophomore season in Formula 1,  Oscar Piastri looks to just be getting better.

A mixed start to the season which saw him absent on the podium until the Monaco Grand Prix, where he finished runner-up spot to home hero Leclerc.

Since then, he has been on the up. With his tyre management seemingly getting better and his form is surprisingly better than Norris as well as an infamous maiden victory at the Hungaroring, as well as displaying race-winning pace at the tail end of the British Grand Prix.

A strong race in Belgium where he just fell short of a win, he finished third and has momentum heading towards the end of the summer break.

His impressive form is also amplified in that during the last eight races, Piastri has the second most points earned with 126 behind Max Verstappen's 141 while Norris is ten points behind with 116.

The hot streak has caused Piastri to make ground in the championship, where he sits in 4th, 10 points behind Leclerc and may even challenge team-mate Norris for that sub-champion status.

Ferrari's fight back

Ferrari had started 2024 strongly, being second-best to the Red Bull and finishing on the podium on a regular basis, if not the top five.

Triumphs in Australia and Monaco would follow suit for each of their drivers with both of them having a good story behind it; Sainz coming back from appendicitis and taking victory instantly while Leclerc overcame years of sorrow in his hometown to finally take a hard earned victory, becoming the first of his nation to do so in F1's most grand and history-rich race.

However, the prancing horses have been sat on a downwards slide ever since. With Leclerc enduring a nightmare run of races that saw him lose second in the championship to the McLaren of Norris while Sainz would be nowhere near the pack by himself.

Upgrades have been promised for the next race in the Netherlands as Ferrari engage in a game of catch-up to the Red Bulls, Mercedes and McLarens in order to recover their purple form and bid for the constructors' title and let Carlos Sainz end his time in red on a high.

VCARB's intra-team rivalry

Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo have done a decent job for VCARB, amassing about 34 points for the Red Bull sister team.

The season was off to a hostile start between the two team-mates as a conflict with the team orders saw Tsunoda give up the place to Daniel Ricciardo. 

The boiling point was heated up not because of the team orders, but because the outcome had costed Tsunoda a place ahead of his team-mate on paper, which is crucial as Tsunoda is desperate to prove a point to the Red Bull hierarchy that he deserves promotion to the senior team after four years.

As for Ricciardo, he wants a last dance with Red Bull after leaving the team in 2018 on his own accord. A decision that was opposed by team boss Christian Horner but his resistance was futile and the Aussie jumped ship to Renault and then McLaren, with the latter proving to be a career killer as Ricciardo had been consistently battered by McLaren's golden boy Lando Norris.

The two of them have since put on good performances to earn themselves points,

Tsunoda having a strong start to the season and notable seventh-place finishes in Australia and Miami, while Ricciardo had a stronger latter end of the first half with an eighth place finish at Canada and other performances that saw VCARB's strategies cost him a shot at points such as Hungary.

Both drivers will constantly be wanting to one-up each other for the second half of the season as it looks like whoever outperforms the other may be put into consideration for the second Red Bull seat should Sergio Perez continue performing the way he is.

Consistent midfield performances from both of their drivers have given them sixth in the Constructors' standings, below the fast five, but they have steep competition from another strong midfield driver..

Hulkenberg's hot form

Nico Hulkenberg made a surprise return to Formula 1 in 2023 with the Haas team and has looked like he never left the sport.

A troubled 2023 that saw Haas boss Guenther Steiner step down from his role as team principal, the American outfit look to be on an upward trajectory under new team boss Ayao Komatsu.

The team have brought in effective upgrades which now sees Hulkenberg compete for Q3 slots and points on a more regular basis than in 2023, where he only managed one points finish in a main race.

Two sixth-place finishes in a row in Austria, where he held off the Red Bull of Perez, and in Great Britain where he overcame the mixed conditions put him above the two VCARB drivers in the standings and now sits in 11th place and even looks to challenge Lance Stroll for a spot at the upper half of the championship table.

Drivers who are vying for a seat

The merry-go-round of the silly season in Formula 1 have seen movements up and down the grid.

Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman complete an all-new fresh pairing at Haas while Carlos Sainz signs for Williams. Nico Hulkenberg announced earlier that he would take a surprise move and join Sauber, who will become Audi from 2026 and beyond.

This leaves multiple drivers with points to prove in the second half of the 2024 season, such as

Valtteri Bottas sits last in the standings but is looking to fight for a future with Sauber, bringing his valuable experience to the table to hopefully drive the team forward again.

Kevin Magnussen has been underwhelming when compared to his team-mate Hulkenberg this year, which resulted in the Dane being dropped by Haas for a second time in his 10-year long career. He is looking towards snagging the second seat at Sauber in hopes to continue working with Nico Hulkenberg.

Zhou Guanyu is in his third year of F1, but has not shown anything special. He has the second half of 2024 to prove to Sauber that he is worth investing for the future.

Logan Sargeant has been left without a drive after Carlos Sainz was confirmed to drive for the historic Williams team. Running out of options of F1, many have touted him for a drive with Prema in IndyCar next season. If he were to stay in F1, he would look to Alpine or Sauber. But if he really does put on a showstopper of a second half, maybe Mercedes would consider him, but that's practically impossible.

F1 drivers are not the only ones who are looking to put the pen to paper and sign contracts with F1 teams next year, as there are many in the feeder series and more looking to smuggle their way onto the grid.

Victor Martins won rookie of the year in Formula 2 last season ahead of F1-bound Oliver Bearman. The Alpine junior driver is enduring a similar fate to Bearman this year in Formula 2, with his car not delivering the results he needs to merit himself a drive with Alpine for next year. The Frenchman would want to put on an outstanding second half to prove that he is F1 worthy or risk losing out to..

Jack Doohan, the Australian Alpine junior looks to be the frontrunner for a seat alongside Pierre Gasly, he is currently taking up reserve duties and FP1 sessions with the team. The son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan finished third in the Formula 2 standings last season behind runner-up Frederik Vesti and..

Theo Pourchaire won the Formula 2 championship in 2023, with his consistent form giving him the edge over Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti. The Sauber junior driver looked to be the obvious choice for Kick Sauber to draft in for 2025, but with too many options on the table and no FP1 runnings so far, he might not be too sure about his chances of a promotion to F1 for now.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is all but confirmed to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season. The 17 year-old Italian is highly valued by the Mercedes bosses and his season in an underperforming Prema has been solid, consistently besting F1-bound team-mate Oliver Bearman and a mouthwatering drive at Silverstone has earned him a following before he even enters Formula 1.

Mick Schumacher who drove for the Haas F1 Team in 2021 and 2022 is now part of the Mercedes and Alpine programmes. With the departure of Esteban Ocon, it looks like him and Jack Doohan will be trying to give Alpine persuasive data over testing days to earn themselves a drive for the French outfit next season. Mick is also a proven winner, winning the 2020 Formula 2 championship while paired with Prema team-mate..

Robert Shwartzman is the latest player of the deck of cards that F1 has as an option to opt into the grid next year. Sauber recently announced that the Russian-Israeli driver would part-take in Free Practice 1 at the Dutch Grand Prix. A surprise announcement to many as they had expected them to place their faith in Theo Pourchaire, but it seems that the long-time Ferrari junior and WEC driver is seen as a better candidate to potentially take up the second seat at Sauber. Shwartzman was a Formula 2 driver in 2020 and 2021, finishing 4th and 2nd respectively with the Prema squad.

With that, the second half of the 2024 season is going to be a spicy one. Many exciting tracks await us and with the puzzle pieces of the driver line-up still yet to be filled, the rest of the year will have many things for fans of the sport to keep an eye out for!