Introduction
The 2024 F1 season is over after 24 races around the world. I wanted to make a post that analyzed race pace throughout a season, so here we are. Who was the fastest by the end of the year? Let’s take a look at the data.
Methodology
One of the main challenges when comparing multiple races is that lap times can vary a lot between tracks. To make things more consistent, we can standardize the data by comparing each lap to a specific reference point—like the average lap time of a race.
For example, if a lap takes 1:30.000 and the average lap time for the race is also 1:30.000, the result is 0% (it’s right on the average). If a lap is 1:31.000, we divide 1:31.000 by 1:30.000, subtract 1, and multiply by 100. That gives us a result of 1.11%, meaning the lap was 1.11% slower than the average lap time. We can do this for every lap from every driver in each race, which will show us laps that are faster than average (negative numbers), equal to the average (0), or slower (positive numbers). This metric is called relative lap time, and we can calculate it for the entire season (overall/average relative lap time) or for each individual lap (relative lap time). By doing this for every race, we can compare performances across different tracks since each race has its own average lap time.
For the main analysis (season-long relative race pace), I used all laps from the whole season. For the secondary analysis (rolling relative race pace), I analyzed the data in a rolling manner. This means that for the first round, I only used data from race 1. For the second round, I used data from the first two races, and so on, all the way until race 24, which was the final race of the season. This approach helped me track how drivers’ race pace evolved throughout the season.
For both analyses, I only included laps I considered valid—so things like the first lap, pit stop laps, or laps under a safety car or VSC were excluded.
It’s important to note that I excluded Oliver Bearman and Jack Doohan from this analysis since they only raced sparingly during the season so their data wouldn’t really be comparable with that from the rest of the drivers.
Season-long relative race pace
After analyzing over 20,000 laps, the fastest driver was Max Verstappen, who narrowly beat Lando Norris by just 0.02%. Max and Lando were the only drivers with an overall relative lap time that was more than 1% faster than the average lap time. The next closest drivers with negative relative lap times were Oscar Piastri at -0.84%, George Russell at -0.75%, Charles Leclerc at -0.7%, Lewis Hamilton at -0.66%, Carlos Sainz at -0.64%, and Sergio Perez at -0.24%.
The midfield battle was pretty tight, but Fernando Alonso came out on top with an overall relative lap time of 0.12%. Nico Hulkenberg also deserves a shout-out, finishing with an average relative lap time of 0.23%. On the flip side, Zhou Guanyu and Logan Sargeant were the only drivers to end the season with an average relative lap time slower than 1% of the overall average.
Rolling relative race pace
Looking at how drivers performed throughout the season brings out some pretty interesting insights. One of the most notable ones is the development at McLaren. Both Norris and Piastri started the season well behind the Red Bull drivers but managed to improve their race pace as the year went on. Lando Norris kept getting faster, while Max Verstappen’s pace dipped. If the season had a couple more races, it’s likely that Lando would’ve ended up as the fastest driver of the year.
Mercedes had a slow start, gained some momentum in the middle of the season, but couldn’t keep that positive trend going and ended up a bit slower in the final races. On the other hand, Ferrari had a season full of ups and downs. Both Carlos and Charles started strong, slowed down mid-season, and then found some stability in the later races.
The y-axis scale for the top 4 and bottom 6 teams is different because the drivers from the top 4 teams were significantly faster than those from the midfield and bottom teams. The purpose of these two charts is to show trends, not to directly compare all drivers to one another.
Looking at the rolling relative race pace for the bottom 6 teams, we can see some interesting trends. Fernando Alonso started off strong for the first 5 races, but then slowed down and stabilized his performances. Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll both had relatively stable performances, which is also true for Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda.
Franco Colapinto had a solid start to his career in Italy, but struggled in the later races of the season. A similar story played out for Liam Lawson at Red Bull—he had a strong race at the Circuit of the Americas but finished the season off the pace.
Unfortunately for Sauber, neither Valtteri Bottas nor Zhou Guanyu were able to find the performance they needed. Zhou actually started the season with better pace than Bottas but ended up as the second slowest driver on the grid. Valtteri had a more consistent season but just couldn’t match the pace needed.
Final remarks
There you have it—the fastest driver was Max Verstappen. Personally, I think McLaren had the strongest package, but Max was the difference maker. He’s the best driver in the world, and it’s his talent and dedication that allowed him to still clinch the World Drivers’ Championship.
I hope you enjoyed this article! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.
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