The Formula 1 season is a third down, after completing the latest race weekend in Monaco. It’s been an exciting start to the year, with Oracle Red Bull Racing not as dominant as everyone imagined.
In the first part, we took a look at the top five teams in the championship and how they’ve done so far in 2024, but now it’s time to take a look at the bottom half of the constructors.
Visa Cash App RB
Constructors Championship: 6th (24 points)
Drivers Championship: Yuki Tsunoda 10th (19 points), Daniel Ricciardo 14th (5 points)
Formerly Scuderia AlphaTauri, Visa Cash App RB went into the season with a lineup of the vastly experienced race winner Daniel Ricciardo alongside the fast and young Yuki Tsunoda. They were the worst team on the grid, in terms of car performance for much of last season but the experience of Ricciardo aided them with car development going into the end of 2023 and into 2024.
At Bahrain, it wasn’t too obvious how quick RB were as they failed to maximise their package on the first race weekend of the year. Ricciardo finished thirteenth ahead of Tsunoda in fourteenth, but it came with controversy. Ricciardo was given team orders to pass his teammate so they could attack Kevin Magnussen in the Haas. They failed to overtake Magnussen, but the team didn’t switch the drivers around at the end either, leaving Tsunoda angry and at the end of the race he made it clear to his teammate what he thought.
Saudi Arabia was difficult for the team too, especially Ricciardo, who had his worst race of the season. Tsunoda finished fourteenth ahead of his teammate in fifteenth. Australia was the start of a theme for RB as Tsunoda had a great weekend, with Ricciardo struggling for pace. The Japanese driver finished in seventh, securing the first points of the season while Ricciardo could only muster up twelfth at his home Grand Prix.
At the Japanese Grand Prix, their pace improved massively. Tsunoda made Q3, while Ricciardo qualified eleventh, missing out by less than a tenth. During the race, Tsunoda secured a point but Ricciardo crashed out on Lap One with Alex Albon. The Chinese Grand Prix was a disappointing one for RB, Tsunoda qualified way down the order and was forced to retire from the race, while Ricciardo was enjoying his best performance of 2024, until Lance Stroll hit him during a safety car, ending his chance of scoring points, which was looking likely up until that point.
The Miami Grand Prix was probably RB’s best weekend in 2024 so far. Ricciardo qualified and finished fourth in the Sprint, his best result in a race format since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, but the race itself wasn’t as impressive, finishing a lowly fifteenth. Tsunoda has a good weekend too, finishing eighth in the Sprint and then securing more points in the race with a seventh place finish.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a weekend of what could’ve been for RB. Both drivers qualified inside the top ten, Tsunoda seventh and Ricciardo ninth. Both drivers had poor getaways from the line and questionable strategy calls from RB to pit their drivers early left them wide open for attack in the final part of the race. Despite the impressive grid positions, Tsunoda only managed tenth, while Ricciardo fell down the order to thirteenth.
Tsunoda continued his impressive run of point scoring performances in Monaco, finishing in the same position he qualified, eighth. It was a difficult weekend for Ricciardo, once again, as he finished twelfth after being held up by Fernando Alonso for much of the race.
They find themselves sixth in the Championship, and if they keep scoring points then they’ll have a good chance to catch Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team in fifth. Tsunoda has been in great form so far this season, scoring the majority of the team’s points and consistently beating his more experience teammate. On Ricciardo’s side of the garage, there isn’t as much going wrong as people think. His one lap pace is catching him out on weekends when his race pace is close to matching Tsunoda. RB’s issues with race starts and driving in dirty air, probably cost him points at Imola but he certainly does need a strong few weekends to show that he is still capable of reaching the levels he’s shown in the past.
RB are currently just one point off their total from last season, which is also a positive as we approach Round 9 for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Team Rating: 8
Yuki Tsunoda: 8.5, Daniel Ricciardo: 6
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Constructors Championship: 7th (7 points)
Drivers Championship: Nico Hülkenberg 13th (6 points), Kevin Magnussen 17th (1 point)
Like everyone else on the grid, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team went into the 2024 with an unnamed driver pairing of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg, but there was a change of team principal. Guenther Steiner left the team at the end of 2023, after seven years with the American team. Gene Haas decided to go a different direction with the team, promoting Ayao Komatsu to the lead position.
After missing out on points at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Haas secured their first points in Jeddah, Nico Hülkenberg finishing tenth. They continued to impress in Australia, securing double points for the first time under the leadership of Komatsu, Hulkenberg secured ninth, while Magnussen was tenth. Hülkenberg missed out on points in Japan, finish eleventh once again ahead of his teammate in thirteenth.
Ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, news broke that Hülkenberg would move to Sauber in 2025, leaving his Haas seat vacant and he went on to secure points in Shanghai finishing tenth. Despite Hülkenberg scoring points during the Miami Grand Prix Sprint, he wasn’t the Haas driver that was in the headlines. Magnussen’s driving against Lewis Hamilton to protect his teammate’s position in the points was questioned and when he received more penalty points for it, taking his total up to 10, just two away from a race ban, the Dane was the centre of attention.
They’ve failed to score points at the last race weekends in Imola and Monaco, but the most recent race around the streets of Monte Carlo saw both cars disqualified in qualifying and then both crash out during Lap One after Magnussen went up the inside of Oracle Red Bull Racing driver, Sergio Pérez.
Magnussen’s driving has sparked rumours that he could leave Haas at the end of 2024, alongside Hülkenberg, which leaves the team in a difficult position for the rest of 2024 with drivers that won’t be in the team beyond this season. It is important for Haas to get their driver lineup right in 2025, to ensure they have the best team in place for the new regulations in 2026. Magnussen could still turn it around at Haas, and a driver with his experience and pace will still be considered for their lineup next season alongside the heavily rumoured Ollie Bearman. The loss of Hülkenberg is a big one, he’s been immense for Haas this year, especially in qualifying, which has
Haas sit seventh in the Constructors, which is much better than any pre-season expectations. They don’t have enough to catch RB ahead of them, but staying ahead of Williams and the others below them will be their aim for the rest of the year.
Team Rating: 7
Nico Hulkenberg: 7.5, Kevin Magnussen: 5
Williams Racing
Constructors Championship: 8th (2 points)
Drivers Championship: Alex Albon 15th (2 points), Logan Sargeant 21st (0 points)
The start Williams Racing have had to 2024 is an interesting thing to evaluate. The progress they made in 2023 was really positive and James Vowles made strides in getting them up the grid. Being only their third team principal in history, the pressure was on for him to deliver and he did, lifting Williams to seventh.
Vowles has always described the project at Williams as a long term project and that’s why it’s no surprise we haven’t seen loads of progress made this season. The top ten has been harder to break into, with five teams at the top in the points most weeks along with the RB’s. Williams are fighting with Haas, Sauber and Alpine this season and at the moment they are eighth behind only Haas.
The Australian Grand Prix brought lots of controversy as Alex Albon crashed out in Free Practice One, completing destroying his chassis. The team later announced that Logan Sargeant would miss the rest of the weekend, with Albon taking his car for the rest of the weekend. Although Albon had the much better chance of scoring points, it was seen as a controversial announcement with Sargeant missing out through no fault of his own.
They’ve had issues with weight and that’s been evident this season in most of the races. Albon did finish eleventh in Saudi Arabia, which, despite no points, was considered a good result. Their next best result came at the most recent Grand Prix at Monaco. His first appearance in Q3 led to his first points finish of the season, finishing ninth, not far behind Tsunoda in eighth.
The last few weeks have seen questions raised over the future of Sargeant as the team’s second driver. Since joining the team as a rookie at the start of 2023 he’s consistently underperformed his teammate and with the driver market looking likely to make some big names available including the likes of Carlos Sainz Jr, it looks like Williams will assess their options.
Team Rating: 6
Alex Albon: 7, Logan Sargeant: 4
BWT Alpine F1 Team
Constructors Championship: 9th (2 points)
Drivers Championship: Esteban Ocon 16th (1 point), Pierre Gasly 18th (1 point)
2024 has been a season full of disappointment so far for BWT Alpine F1 Team with just two points scored and struggling down towards the lower end of the grid. They discovered several key weaknesses during pre-season testing at Bahrain, but the main one was the weight of the car. The 2024 Alpine challenger was too heavy, and that made it impossible for either Esteban Ocon or Pierre Gasly to get out of Q1 in the first two races at Bahrain and Jeddah. Their finishes in the races weren’t much better either, with their best coming from Ocon in Saudi Arabia, finishing thirteenth.
The team made a vast amount of changes to their technical team after the issues they found in Bahrain, and their performance since has improved but reached the levels they would’ve wanted. Their finishes gradually got better and both drivers started getting into Q2 more regularly. Ocon nearly got points at the Chinese Grand Prix, finishing eleventh. The Frenchman went one better at the Miami Grand Prix and scored a singular point, getting Alpine off the mark for 2024.
A tough weekend at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix followed, but the most recent race weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix secured another point for the team, this time through Gasly. Ocon qualified eleventh, while Gasly managed to qualify inside the top ten for the race, his first Q3 appearance of the season.
However there was lots of controversy at the start of the race on lap one, before the red flag came out for a crash between Pérez and Magnussen. Ocon went up the inside of his teammate looking to get up into the points. Ocon’s move was ambitious and he couldn’t get the car turned in quick enough, nearly hitting Gasly. Gasly couldn’t avoid hitting Ocon, sending him on three wheels and up in the air, ending his race. All the blame was on Ocon for the move, leaving Gasly annoyed in the cockpit.
It wasn’t just Gasly that was left angered by the move, Alpine team principal, Bruno Famin also criticised his driver live on French TV and it has been suggested over the past week that Ocon may be dropped for the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix, and potentially not have his contract extended past 2024.
Alpine are also in the centre of the 2025 driver market, with both of their drivers out of contract at the end of the season. Gasly and Ocon will think they deserve a team that is capable of challenging towards the top end of the grid, and Famin’s has openly praised the likes of Jack Doohan and Mick Schumacher in recent weeks so a new lineup may not be out of the question for Alpine.
Team Rating: 5
Esteban Ocon: 5, Pierre Gasly: 4.5
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
Constructors Championship: 10th (0 points)
Drivers Championship: Valtteri Bottas 20th (0 points), Zhou Guanyu 19th (0 point)
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber have consistently been the worst team on the F1 grid throughout 2024, failing to score a single point in the first eight rounds of the championship.
There was some hope at the Bahrain Grand Prix, as Zhou Guanyu managed to climb from seventeenth on the grid to eleventh in the race, just outside the points, but they haven’t made any progress since then at all. In fact, that has been Zhou’s best finish of the season and the one of only two times he’s beaten his teammate on track in a Grand Prix or in qualifying.
In a season that hasn’t had many positives at all, Valtteri Bottas did manage to secure a Q3 at the Chinese Grand Prix, but he retired during the race ending any chance of Sauber’s first points of 2024. Zhou finished fourteenth in his home race, but there was an emotional end to the race, where he got to show his appreciation to the fans on the grid. The most recent race in Monaco saw Bottas finish thirteenth, and Zhou finish sixteenth meaning their wait for points continues, and they look unlikely to come anytime soon if they don’t produce any upgrades.
There are some positives for Sauber though, especially for the future. The first being the introduction of Audi and their influence increasing ahead of their full takeover in 2026. The second of those positives is securing the signature of Hülkenberg for the 2025 season and potentialy Sainz too, if he chooses to sign for the soon to be Audi works team at the end of his Scuderia Ferrari contract. It’s not been the season Sauber would’ve wanted, but with the Audi takeover coming soon, they’ll be looking to the future with lots of optimism.
Team Rating: 4
Valtteri Bottas: 5, Zhou Guanyu: 4
