The 2024 Formulation 1 marketing campaign noticed each new skills rise to prominence and others wrestle as established figures confronted challenges. Max Verstappen secured the championship, whereas Tom Coronel noticed a shift within the confidence of one of many sport’s greatest stars.
Many think about 2024 to be among the finest seasons in latest reminiscence, rivaling even the extreme battles for the title between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in 2021. Throughout the 24-race season, seven totally different drivers from 4 groups claimed victories, with every of them securing a number of wins. Max Verstappen was the dominant pressure, taking 9 Grand Prix wins. Lando Norris, who claimed his first victory in Miami, earned 4 wins, whereas Charles Leclerc, with three wins, was additionally a powerful contender. In the meantime, 4 different drivers managed to clinch two victories.
Among the many notable drivers was Lewis Hamilton, who, regardless of being within the midst of a turbulent 12 months with Mercedes, nonetheless received two races. This season additionally marked the top of his lengthy tenure with Mercedes, because the British driver prepares to hitch Ferrari in 2025 to group up with Charles Leclerc. His farewell 12 months, nonetheless, didn’t go as he had hoped. At 39, together with his fortieth birthday approaching in January, Lewis Hamilton’s 2024 marketing campaign was removed from the triumph he envisioned.
For the primary time in his illustrious profession, Lewis Hamilton completed as little as seventh within the drivers’ standings, regardless of securing two wins and 5 podium finishes. His efficiency in 2024 was extensively thought to be his worst but. The way in which Lewis Hamilton handled this underwhelming season raised issues for Tom Coronel, who believes the British driver’s confidence might have been shaken.
The Dutch skilled racing driver expressed his confusion about Lewis Hamilton’s state of affairs, admitting that he had been very excited in regards to the driver’s transfer to Ferrari earlier than the season began. Nevertheless, because the season progressed, Tom Coronel’s enthusiasm for Lewis Hamilton’s future diminished. He noticed a noticeable change in Lewis Hamilton, feeling that the British driver not appeared to imagine in himself.
When listening to the British driver communicate, Tom Coronel was left questioning the place the fireplace and fervour had gone, questioning the place the dedication that when outlined him was now. He even expressed a need for Hamilton to embrace the Ferrari problem and return to his former brilliance, urging him to don the crimson go well with and shine as soon as once more.
The seven-time Formulation 1 world champion is predicted to be extremely motivated to show issues round as soon as he joins Ferrari. Even Purple Bull group boss Christian Horner has seen that Lewis Hamilton has appeared “very flat” over the previous few years. Horner went as far as to recommend that the British driver’s reference to Mercedes had grown considerably “stale” and that Hamilton had appeared deflated. Now, together with his transfer to Ferrari, Hamilton has an opportunity to rewrite his narrative.
Hamilton will quickly get his first style of life as a Ferrari driver. In January, he’s scheduled to check an older Ferrari automotive at Fiorano, marking his first time behind the wheel of a non-Mercedes-powered Formulation 1 automotive. It will enable him to familiarize himself with the group and its gear earlier than making the change.
The 39-year-old will probably be eager to make a direct affect with Ferrari, particularly after the group’s sturdy 2024 marketing campaign, which noticed them narrowly miss out on the Constructors’ Championship. Ferrari fought McLaren for the title all the way in which to the ultimate race in Abu Dhabi on the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, finally falling quick by simply 14 factors, whereas Mercedes completed a distant fourth, 198 factors behind.