Why are there so many Grand Prix winners in F1 this season?

We have to go back to 2012 to find evidence of at least seven different winners in a season of F1. At the time, seven drivers had even won the first seven Grands Prix in a season which had included eight winners in total (Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Pastor Maldonado, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton then Kimi Räikkönen at 18^e race). Since then, on average, each year has provided between four and five victorious pilots. With its 7 different winners at the end of the first part of the season, 2024 takes on a bit of a UFO feel, especially when we think about the fact that there are still ten Grands Prix to compete. But in reality, this avalanche of success has several rational explanations.

Mastery of the 2022 regulations

The technical regulations governing the design and development of single-seaters (entry into force in 2022) are no longer new to anyone. After a year of discovery, then a 2023 season which saw Red Bull breaking all records or almost, here we are in a much more contested third season, that of the convergence of performances. The different options and effective philosophies have had time to be identified and mastered by the top teams. The teams have managed as best they can to more or less get rid of porpoising (the phenomenon of aerodynamic rebound linked to the generation of downforce from the ground) and to extract the maximum speed and reliability from their cars.

Errors or rather daring choices that did not pay off were abandoned, like the single-seaters without a pontoon that were offered to us Mercedes in 2022 and early 2023. The German team held on to it for a very long time before changing course and returning to a more classic philosophy for this year. A choice which seems to be bearing fruit since the W15 has won three of the last four Grands Prix to date, although it had only wona single race since the start of the 2022 regulations before that (George Russell at the 2022 São Paulo GP).

The Red Bull of Max Verstappen. © Joao Filipe / DPPI

The teams also understood the importance of the rear axle and in particular the control of air flows around the DRS. They also faced the complexity of implementing an effective aerodynamic system, as Adrian Newey was able to do, from whom the entire grid tries to draw inspiration, not to say copy... Ultimately, all the teams seem having found the right balance in all the proposals that had emerged at the dawn of the 2022 season. Moreover, this season, Red Bull, which seemed to have chosen a daring aerodynamic philosophy, changed its mind over the course of its improvements to return to aerodynamic appendages closer to what we saw last year on the RB19.

The world champion team had thumbed its nose at Mercedes by exploiting the ideas abandoned by the Germans at the end of the 2023 season. The bulls therefore started the season with a car with small sidepods, with two guns of each side of the engine chimney, behind the driver's head, similar to those that Mercedes sported in 2023. But at mid-season, the RB20 seems to calm down and return to a more controlled and less risky aerodynamic philosophy, especially seeing its competitors catch up with their development delay.

Pilots on point

Also, the seven Grand Prix winners this season have world champion pedigree. Two of them already are. For the majority, they have very similar profiles. With the exception of Lewis Hamilton, the six other Grand Prix winners this season are between 23 and 29 years old. The average age of the men who reached the top step of a podium this year, removing the seven-time world champion from the equation, is 25,7 years. Or in the prime of life.

We also observe similarities in their experiences and backgrounds. If Oscar piastri has only one season under his belt, the other drivers have between 5 to 9 seasons of experience in F1 (again without counting Hamilton). A lot have also gained enormously in promotional formulas. If we had to draw a portrait of the Grand Prix winner in 2024, he would be young, experienced and experienced in the games of F1. A bit like Lando Norris, finally, who opened his meter.

© DPPI

At home is better

Some winners this year benefited from another important factor: playing at home. If there was still any doubt about the fact that riding in front of your fans was a significant advantage, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton lifted it.

In the principality, Leclerc had never managed to win, despite two pole positions before that. This year, even if Ferrari did not seem to be the best car in the Principality (the addition of the best sectors in Q3 seemed to show that Piastri had what it took to get pole), he knew how to exploit it to the maximum and above all use his knowledge of the streets of Monaco and his ease in the city, both unrivaled in the paddock.

At Silverstone, it was the same story. Lewis Hamilton, deprived of victory since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, managed to return to success and this could only be at home, where he already held the success record (8, now 9). Supported by the entire British public, advantaged by his knowledge of the track, which only Fernando Alonso has covered more than him in F1 among current drivers, Lewis tasted champagne again.

A simple cross product could give us hope that in the ten remaining races, five new drivers would win a Grand Prix by the end of the financial year. A little logic (and realism!) would make us hope to reach the eight mark, as in 2012. Why not Sergio Perez, at Red Bull, on a good day, if he finds his form. Also watch out for Alonso, even if his car doesn't seem to allow him to drive regularly, but you never know. The old rogue is still waiting for his roaring 33rd. All of Spain too.

ALSO READ > What we didn't like in the first part of the season