Farewell to Formula One’s Longest Season

Photo by Henrikoh333

This weekend marks the end to the longest season in Formula One’s history. This season’s 24 races beats out the previous record of 22 races from 2021 to 2023. At this point it is starting to get a little noticeable that everyone, including the drivers is ready for the season to end. Last week in Qatar has led to some levels of anger in drivers that I don’t think we would have seen if we were back in Bahrain. Nonetheless, we still have a lot to look forward to this weekend, especially in the constructors championship.

With only 21 points separating McLaren and Ferrari at the top of the table this will likely be the biggest battle in Abu Dhabi. 24 points is all McLaren need to seal the deal, so a race win would make it easy, but combinations of 2nd and 7th, or 3rd and 5th would also be enough to put it out of reach for Ferrari. For Ferrari, it will be a little more work requiring at least 22 points to make up the deficit but likely quite a bit more unless both McLaren’s finish outside the points. With both teams consistently at the top of the standings it will be an exciting battle for sure.

Slightly further down the table we have the battle for 6th place we have Alpine and Haas. While a little less glamorous, this is a fight worth millions of dollars. In 2023, the prize money for 6th is estimated to be $95 million which is $8 million more than 7th place. The points differential here is only 5 so there is plenty of room for movement. In recent weeks Alpine have shown to be the better team, sneaking in a double podium in Brazil as well as a respectable 5th place for Pierre Gasly in Qatar. Haas have also shown their speed as well. If they can replicate their finish from Mexico it could be enough to overtake Alpine if they have a bad weekend. It’s worth remembering too that Jack Doohan will be taking Esteban Ocon’s seat this weekend to make his debut race so there is a little bit of a wildcard factor there. As an Australian I hope Doohan has a great first race despite being thrown into the deep end with the final race battle for $8 million.

With the driver’s championship already wrapped up in Vegas there is not too much to be interested about in the driver’s standings but Charles Leclerc does have a chance to move up to second if he can make up 9 points on Lando Norris. That type of point movement would also go a long way in getting Ferrari up in the constructor’s championship.

This season has certainly been one for the books. Even though the driver’s championship battle didn’t go as down to the line as most would have liked, each race week has been a genuine delight. It’s been great going into a weekend truly believing that any one of the top 7 drivers (sorry Checo) genuinely had a chance at a win. After what happened in 2023, that was a massive relief.

After the race finishes this Sunday and the final results shake out, the off-season begins and so starts the 104 day countdown to free practice 1 in Melbourne and for that I cannot wait.