With all ten teams having confirmed their line-ups for the 2024 FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship, let’s take a closer look at these line-ups and learn a little bit more about the drivers.
Now a three-time World Champion, Max Verstappen has been with Red Bull since 2016. In March 2022, he signed a new contract extension that would see him continue on with the Austrian team till the end of the 2028 F1 season.
Ever since joining Red Bull in 2016, Verstappen has been a trailblazer. He won on his Red Bull debut in Spain, becoming the youngest F1 winner.
The Dutchman took home his first World Title in 2021 after being involved in an epic title fight with Lewis Hamilton. His second title win came the following season as he cleaned up the entire grid and won comfortably with four races to go. If that wasn’t dominating enough, both he and Red Bull reached unprecedented heights in 2023 as they wiped the entire grid with the RB19, breaking numerous records in the process. Verstappen secured his third Drivers’ title by winning an incredible 19 races out of 22.
The 2024 F1 season will be Verstappen’s ninth season with the team.
Pérez joined Red Bull in 2021, replacing Alex Albon, and has a multi-year contract in place with Red Bull, having signed an extension in June 2022.
Pérez has been instrumental in Red Bull returning to the front of the grid, playing the perfect second-fiddle to Verstappen’s dominance. While the Mexican has been nowhere near the levels of his teammate, his performances helped Red Bull secure their first ever 1-2 in the Drivers’ Standings in 2023.
Charles Leclerc is widely regarded as the future of Formula One’s most iconic team. Leclerc, who joined the team in 2019, replacing Kimi Räikkönen, signed a new contract in 2020 which shall keep him with the Scuderia till the end of the 2024 season.
Ferrari are known for their reluctance in handing out long contracts, but the fact that they have put that much faith in him shows his calibre. The five-time Grand Prix winner certainly has all the qualities of being a future World Champion, which was certain when he beat his veteran teammate and four-time World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, in his first season with the team.
After starting the 2022 season strongly, where he looked like a serious title contender for a while, Leclerc suffered a disappointing and winless 2023. The Monégasque will be hoping to be back on the top step of the podium in 2024.
Leclerc signed a multi-year contract extension with Ferrari in January 2024.
Spanish driver Carlos Sainz is set to enter his fourth season with Ferrari in 2024 after joining them in 2021, replacing Vettel.
A Red Bull academy driver, Sainz made his debut with Toro Rosso in 2015 alongside Max Verstappen. He moved to Renault in 2017 and then to McLaren in 2019. After two impressive seasons with McLaren, Sainz was roped in by Ferrari in 2021.
Sainz took his first pole with Ferrari in 2022 at the British Grand Prix. He won Ferrari’s only race in 2023 in Singapore, which also denied Red Bull a clean sweep.
Ever since he made his debut with Williams in 2019, George Russell has been one of the most promising drivers on the grid. After three seasons with Williams, who were right at the back of the field, with him continuously outperforming the car, Russell finally moved to Mercedes in 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas.
Russell immediately showed the world his potential as he got the better of his veteran teammate and seven-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, in his very first season with the Silver Arrows.
As the Brackley-based team’s future No. 1, Russell will be hoping to take Mercedes back to the top of the field in the coming season. Along with Hamilton, he is set to be at Mercedes until the end of the 2025 season, having signed a contract extension earlier this year.
Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 after a six-year stint with McLaren from 2007 to 2012.
Ever since joining Mercedes, both Hamilton and the team have seen a spectacular upward rise in their respective careers, with Hamilton winning an incredible six Drivers’ titles with the team in 11 years.
The 2022 and 2023 seasons saw Hamilton go winless for the first time in his career. Now, as he nears the end of his F1 chapter, the 38-year-old will be hoping to go out on a high. He extended his contract for a further two years earlier this year and will be in Mercedes colours till the end of the 2025 season.
Tsunoda, who joined the then-called AlphaTauri side in 2021, replacing Daniil Kyvat, signed a contract extension with the Faenza-based team in September 2022.
With Pierre Gasly leaving the team in 2023, Tsunoda was the senior driver with Nyck de Vries, but once the latter was kicked out of the side in the middle of the season, the young Japanese found a new senior teammate in Daniel Ricciardo.
Tsunoda’s potential has seen Red Bull keep him on with the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team for the 2024 season as well.
One of the most well-known names in Formula One, Daniel Ricciardo made his name as one of the best on the grid during his time with Red Bull between 2014 and 2018. After leaving Red Bull, Ricciardo had stints with Renault and McLaren, even giving McLaren their only win to date since 2012. After being let go by McLaren at the end of the 2022 season, Ricciardo was left without a seat for the 2023 season.
Nyck de Vries’ poor showing with AlphaTauri saw the Red Bull bosses bring back Ricciardo for the rest of the season. The Australian has since been retained for the 2024 season as well.
Two-time World champion Fernando Alonso joined Aston Martin in 2023 on a multi-year contract, replacing Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of the 2022 season.
Alonso, who started his career with Minardi in 2001, moved to Renault in 2003, winning back-to-back championships in 2005 and 2006 and taking down Michael Schumacher in the process. He moved to McLaren for one eventful season in 2007 and returned to Renault for another two seasons before moving to Ferrari in search of a third title, though both Alonso and Ferrari proved unsuccessful in their marriage. The Spaniard then moved to McLaren for three forgettable seasons before leaving the sport altogether in 2018.
Alonso returned to F1 in 2021 with Renault—now in their Alpine guise. After two seasons with Alpine, he moved to Aston Martin for the 2023 season, during which he found himself on the podium seven times. He currently has a contract with the British team until the end of the 2024 season.
Lance Stroll, who is the son of Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll, will be spending his fourth season with Aston Martin in 2024, though he has actually been with the outfit since their Racing Point days, making this his sixth season with them.
Even since making his debut with Williams in 2017, Stroll has shown promise but failed to deliver. He currently has a multi-year contract in place with Aston Martin, and although the Canadian’s performances have been on a downward slope, he has retained his seat with his dad owning the team.
Mercedes academy driver Esteban Ocon started his Formula One career with the now-defunct Manor team in 2016. After failing to score any points with Manor, the Frenchman was signed by Force India in 2017. After two years with them, Ocon sat out 2019 altogether and returned to the grid in 2020 with French team Renault.
Since then, Ocon has been Renault’s poster boy. He took his first career victory in 2021 at the Hungarian Grand Prix with the same team, albeit under a new name — Alpine.
Ocon currently has a multi-year deal in place with Alpine, which will see him stay with the French team until the end of the 2024 season.
Pierre Gasly was announced as Fernando Alonso’s replacement and Esteban Ocon’s teammate for the 2023 season and beyond during the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
Gasly was initially contracted with AlphaTauri for the 2023 season, but following Sebastian Vettel’s decision to retire, Alonso’s move to Aston Martin, and the Oscar Piastri drama, the entire grid was shaken up. With no driver confirmed to partner Ocon, Alpine decided to bring in Gasly. With a move back to Red Bull sealed off, Gasly was looking for a move to a team higher up the grid; given Alpine’s upward trajectory over the last few seasons, the move was inevitable.
The Gasly-Ocon French pairing for the French team makes for Formula One’s first ever all-French driver line-up since 1994, and both the drivers are locked in until the end of the 2024 season.
Norris joined McLaren in 2019, replacing Fernando Alonso. He has quickly gone on to become the team’s main driver in a short span of time. One of the younger drivers on the grid, Norris is also one of the most talented drivers, touted by many as a future World Champion.
Given McLaren’s rise from right at the bottom of the grid in 2017/18 to becoming the “best of the rest” in 2020/21, Norris has enjoyed a relatively successful stint with the Woking-based team. The young Brit has taken multiple podiums for his team and will want to begin fighting for wins as McLaren hope to keep moving further up the grid.
Norris re-signed with McLaren towards the end of January 2024, committing to McLaren on a multi-year extension beyond 2025.
Involved in one of the messiest contract agreements in recent F1 history, Australian Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri joined McLaren from the 2023 season onwards to partner Lando Norris on a multi-year deal.
Piastri, a Renault academy driver, was expected to drive for the French team in the near future, but during the summer break of 2022, when Fernando Alonso left Alpine for Aston Martin, Alpine announced Piastri as his replacement. Hours later, Piastri denied the claims, stating he had not signed any deal, and so began the messy contract discussions. Finally, after the intervention of the Contract Recognition Board, Piastri was cleared from the Alpine drama, and McLaren announced that the young Australian would replace his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo on a multi-year contract.
After a stunning debut season in Formula One, where he became a Sprint winner, Piastri was given a contract extension by McLaren. He has his seat confirmed at McLaren until the end of the 2026 season.
Magnussen, who made his debut in Formula One with McLaren in 2014, has had a roller-coaster of a career. After taking a podium in his debut race, he went on to have a rough few years with Renault and Haas before leaving the sport altogether at the end of the 2020 season.
The Dane was roped back in by Haas for the 2022 season after the American team removed Nikita Mazepin from the team. Magnussen re-joined the team on a multi-year contract in 2022. While the 2023 season was a disappointing one for Haas as they finished last, they did retain Magnussen for the 2024 season.
Former Williams, Renault and Force India driver Nico Hülkenberg replaced Mick Schumacher for the final seat in the Haas team in 2023. Hülkenberg was announced as Schumacher’s replacement ahead of the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on a one-year deal.
Hülkenberg, a former GP2 champion, made his Formula One debut with Williams in 2010. He moved to Force India in 2011, which is when the world took notice of him. Hülkenberg since then has driven for a host of midfield teams, proving himself to be a dependable midfield driver.
A veteran of 181 races, Hülkenberg also holds the dubious record of having the most starts in Formula One without a podium. He hadn’t been a full-time driver since 2019, when he partnered Daniel Ricciardo at Renault, and made just four appearances across the 2020 and 2022 seasons for Racing Point and Aston Martin, respectively, (Racing Point were rebranded as Aston Martin) as a substitute.
Hülkenberg outscored Magnussen in his comeback season with Haas, and although the team finished last in the Constructors’ Standings, both the drivers are locked in for 2024.
After an extremely successful five-year stint with Mercedes from 2017 to 2021, where he helped the team win five Constructors’ titles, Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas joined the then-Alfa Romeo outfit in 2022 on a three-year deal.
Bottas is on board at Stake till the end of the 2024 season. Although after a promising 2022 season the team had a season to forget in 2023, Stake have a proven race-winner in Bottas to take them to the top of the midfield.
China’s first-ever full-time Formula One driver Zhou Guanyu joined Stake in 2022, replacing Antonio Giovinazzi. Zhou’s impressive debut season and a solid 2023 season saw him hold his own against Bottas and get his contract extended till the end of the 2024 season.
With the Chinese Grand Prix back on the calendar in 2024, Zhou is set to race in front of his home crowd.
Former Red Bull academy driver Alex Albon made his Formula One debut in 2018 with Toro Rosso. His impressive performance for the sister Red Bull team saw him get promoted to the senior team mid-2019 to replace Pierre Gasly.
Albon spent one-and-a-half seasons with Red Bull before the team released him. After spending the 2021 season away from the grid, Albon joined Williams in 2022.
In August 2022, Williams announced that Albon would stay with them for 2023 and beyond after signing a multi-year deal.
Logan Sargeant replaced Nicholas Latifi at Williams for the 2023 season. The American racer, who finished third in the Formula 3 championship with Prema in 2019 and third in the Formula 2 championship as well with Carlin in 2022, partnered Alex Albon for the 2023 season.
Sargeant joined the Williams Driver Academy in October 2021 and made his FP debut in 2022 at the US Grand Prix. In his maiden season in Formula One, he scored a point at his home race and became the first American driver to score a point in 30 years.
Sargeant has been kept on by Williams alongside Albon for the 2024 season.
With all the ten teams in Formula One having confirmed their lineups, let’s take a closer look at all of them.
Also Read – Formula One 2023 : Team Principals
Two-time and reigning World Champion Max Verstappen has been with Red Bull since 2016. In March 2022, he signed a new contract extension which would see him continue on with the Austrian Formula One team till the end of the 2028 season.
Ever since joining Red Bull in 2016, Verstappen has been a trailblazer. He won on his Red Bull debut in Spain, becoming Formula One’s youngest winner, and took home his first World Title in 2021 after being involved in an epic title fight with Lewis Hamilton. His second title win came the following season in 2022, when the Dutchman cleaned up the entire grid and won comfortably with four races to go.
As Red Bull’s undisputed numero uno, Verstappen’s legacy has already been written.
Pérez, who joined Red Bull in 2021, replacing Alex Albon, currently has a contract with Red Bull until the end of the 2024 season. The Mexican had initially come to Red Bull on a multi-year deal and signed an extension in June 2022.
Pérez has been instrumental in Red Bull returning to the front of the grid, playing the perfect second fiddle to Max Verstappen. He has been the perfect teammate to Verstappen and has helped the team win their first Constructors’ Championship title since 2013.
Charles Leclerc is the undisputed number one at Formula One’s most iconic team. Leclerc, who joined the Scuderia in 2019, replacing Kimi Räikkönen, signed a new contract in 2020 which would keep him with the team till the end of the 2024 season.
Ferrari are known for their hesitance to hand out long contracts, but the fact that they have put that much faith in him shows Leclerc’s calibre. Winner of five Grands Prix, Leclerc certainly has all the qualities of being a future World Champion, which was certain when he beat his veteran teammate and four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel in his first season with the team. After starting the 2022 season strongly, where he looked like a serious title contender, Leclerc was let down by his team and will hope to be back in the title fight in 2023.
Spanish driver Carlos Sainz will be spending his third season with Ferrari in 2023, having joined the Italian team in 2021, replacing four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel. A Red Bull academy driver, Sainz made his debut with Toro Rosso in 2015 alongside Max Verstappen. He then moved to Renault in 2017 and then to McLaren in 2019. After two impressive seasons with McLaren, Sainz was roped in by Ferrari in 2021, and, after a tough first season with the Scuderia, he took his first pole position and victory in 2022 at the British Grand Prix.
Sainz is currently signed with the team until the end of the 2024 season and will be partnering Charles Leclerc as the Maranello team hope to take home their first Constructors’ Championship since 2008.
Ever since he made his debut with Williams in 2019, George Russell has been one of the most promising drivers on the grid. After three seasons with Williams, who were right at the back of the field, where Russell continuously outperformed their car, the young Brit finally moved to Mercedes in 2022, replacing Valtteri Bottas.
Russell immediately showed the world why he was rated so highly as he got the better of his veteran teammate and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton in his very first season with the Silver Arrows. As the Brackley-based team’s future number one, Russell will be hoping to take Mercedes back to the top of the field. He currently has a long-term contract with Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 after a six-year stint with McLaren from 2007 to 2012. Ever since joining Mercedes, both the team and Hamilton have seen a spectacular upward rise, with Hamilton winning an incredible six Drivers’ titles with the team in ten years.
After a tough season in 2022 with the new regulations, Hamilton will be looking to return to be fighting for wins and championships in 2023. His current contract with Mercedes lasts till the end of the 2023 season, and both the Brit and his team have expressed that they would like to extend their association.
Tsunoda, who joined AlphaTauri in 2021, replacing Daniil Kyvat, signed a contract extension with the Faenza-based team in September 2022.
Tsunoda will drive for the team in 2023 and will be the team’s senior driver, with Pierre Gasly having left the team at the end of the 2022 season.
Formula 2’s 2020 champion and the Formula E 2021 champion Nyck de Vries signed for AlphaTauri during the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix weekend, after Alpine had announced that Pierre Gasly would join the French team.
Replacing Gasly at AlphaTauri, what made the Italian team sign De Vries was his stellar Formula One debut at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, where he scored points for the not-so-strong Williams team.
Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso will be joining Aston Martin in 2023 to replace Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of the 2022 season, on a multi-year contract.
Alonso, who started his career with Minardi in 2001, moved to Renault in 2003 and won back-to-back Championships in 2005 and 2006, taking down Michael Schumacher. He moved to McLaren for one eventful season in 2007 and returned to Renault for another two seasons. The Spaniard then moved to Ferrari in search of a third title with the Scuderia, but between 2010 and 2014 he and Ferrari were unsuccessful. Alonso then moved to McLaren for three rather forgettable seasons before leaving the sport in 2018.
Alonso returned to the sport in 2021 with Renault again, now in their Alpine guise, and after two seasons with them, he will be plying his trade for Aston Martin in his 20th season in the sport.
Lance Stroll, who is the son of Aston Martin’s owner Lawrence Stroll, will be spending his third season with Aston Martin in 2023. He though has been with the outfit since their Racing Point days, and this will be his fifth season with them.
After making his debut with Williams in 2017, Stroll has been a consistent midfield driver. With Aston Martin looking to move up the field, the Canadian will be one of the interesting ones to watch out for next season.
Mercedes academy driver Esteban Ocon started his Formula One career with the now-defunct team Manor in 2016. While the Frenchman did not score any points with them, he was signed by Force India in 2017. After two years with the team, where he helped them become a solid midfield force, Ocon sat out 2019 and returned to the grid in 2020 with French team Renault.
Since then, Ocon has been Renault’s poster-boy, having taken his first career victory in 2021 at the Hungarian Grand Prix with the same team albeit under a new name, Alpine.
Ocon currently has a long-time deal in place with Alpine, which will see him stay with the French team until the end of the 2024 season.
Gasly was announced as Fernando Alonso’s replacement and Esteban Ocon’s teammate for the 2023 season and beyond during the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
Gasly initially was already contracted with AlphaTauri for the 2023 season, but following Sebastian Vettel’s decision to retire, Alonso’s move to Aston Martin and the whole Oscar Piastri drama, the entire grid was shaken up. With no driver confirmed to partner Ocon, Alpine decided to bring in Gasly. With a move back to Red Bull sealed off, the Frenchman was looking for a move to a team higher up the grid, and given Alpine’s upward trajectory over the last few seasons, the move was inevitable.
The Gasly and Ocon all-French pairing for the French team is also Formula One’s first-ever all-French lineup since 1994.
Norris, who joined McLaren in 2019 after replacing Fernando Alonso, has quickly become the team’s main driver in a short span of time. One of the younger drivers on the grid, Norris is also one of the most talented drivers, touted by many as a future World Champion.
With McLaren’s rise from right at the bottom of the grid in 2017/18 to becoming the best of the rest in 2020/21, Norris has enjoyed a relatively successful stint with the Woking-based team. The young Brit has taken multiple podiums for his team and will look to fight for wins as McLaren hope to keep moving further up the grid. Norris is currently contracted with McLaren till the end of the 2025 season.
Involved in one of the most messiest contract agreements in recent history, Australian Formula 2 Champion Oscar Piastri will be joining McLaren from the 2023 season onwards to partner Lando Norris on a multi-year deal.
Piastri, a Renault academy driver, was expected to drive for the French team in the near future, but during the summer break of 2022, when Fernando Alonso left Alpine for Aston Martin, Alpine announced Piastri as his replacement. Few hours later, however, Piastri denied the claims, stating he had agreed to no such deal, and thus began one of the most messiest contract discussions. Finally, after the intervention of the Contract Recognition Board, Piastri was cleared from the Alpine drama, with McLaren announcing that the young Australian would be replacing his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo on a multi-year contract.
Magnussen, who made his debut in Formula One with McLaren in 2014, has had a roller-coaster of a career. After taking a podium in his debut race, he spent a rough few years with Renault and Haas before leaving the sport at the end of the 2020 season.
The Dane was roped back in by Haas for the 2022 season after the removal of Nikita Mazepin. Magnussen rejoined the team on a multi-year contract in 2022 and is currently their number one driver. Haas will be banking on the Dane to take them back into the midfield fight next season.
Former Williams, Renault and Force India driver Nico Hülkenberg will be replacing Mick Schumacher for the final seat in the Haas team in 2023. He was announced as Schumacher’s replacement ahead of the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on a one-year deal.
Hülkenberg, a former GP2 champion, made his Formula One debut with Williams in 2010. He moved to Force India in 2011, and that is when the world took notice of him. Hülkenberg since then has driven for a host of midfield teams, proving himself to be a dependable midfield driver.
A veteran of 181 races, Hülkenberg also holds the dubious record of having the most starts in Formula One without a podium. While he hasn’t been a full-time driver since 2019, when he partnered Daniel Ricciardo at Renault, the German has made four appearances across the 2020 and 2022 seasons for Racing Point and Aston Martin team (Racing Point were rebranded as Aston Martin) as a substitute. He served as a Reserve driver to Aston Martin in 2022 apart from his two appearances. Now back on the grid, Hülkenberg will be looking to make his second stint in Formula One a more successful one.
After an extremely successful five-year stint with Mercedes from 2017 to 2021, where he helped the team win five Constructors’ titles, Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas joined the then-Alfa Romeo in 2022 on a three-year deal.
A proven race-winner and one of the more experienced drivers on the grid, Bottas is Stake’s team leader as the Swiss team look to head up the grid to fight against the likes of McLaren and Alpine.
China’s first-ever full-time Formula One driver Zhou Guanyu joined Stake in 2022, replacing Antonio Giovinazzi.
After an impressive debut season, where he scored in his debut race, Guanyu was handed a contract extension in September 2022 for the 2023 season.
Former Red Bull academy driver Alex Albon made his Formula One debut in 2018 with Toro Rosso. His impressive performances for the sister Red Bull team earned him a promotion to the senior team in 2019 to replace Pierre Gasly.
Albon spent one-and-a-half seasons with Red Bull before the team released him from his role. After spending the 2021 season away from the grid, Albon joined Williams in 2022. In August 2022, Williams announced that Albon would stay with the team in 2023 and beyond after signing a multi-year deal.
American driver Logan Sargeant will be replacing Nicholas Latifi at Williams in 2023. Sargeant, who finished third in the Formula 3 Championship with Prema in 2019 and third in the Formula 2 Championship with Carlin in 2022, will be partnering Alex Albon.
Sargeant joined the Williams Driver Academy in October 2021 and made his FP debut in 2022 at the United States Grand Prix.
| F1 Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Reserve Driver |
| Mercedes | Lewis Hamilton | George Russell | Mick Schumacher |
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen | Sergio Perez | Daniel Ricciardo |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc | Carlos Sainz | Antonio Giovinazzi, Robert Shwartzman |
| McLaren | Lando Norris | Oscar Piastri | Alex Palou |
| Alpine | Esteban Ocon | Pierre Gasly | Jack Doohan |
| Visa Cash App RB | Yuki Tsunoda | Nyck de Vries | Liam Lawson |
| Aston Martin | Fernando Alonso | Lance Stroll | Felipe Drugovich |
| Stake | Valtteri Bottas | Zhou Guanyu | Théo Pourchaire |
| Williams | Alex Albon | Logan Sargeant | Not announced |
| Haas | Kevin Magnussen | Nico Hulkenberg | Pietro Fittipaldi |
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