There’s no changes in the F1 driver line-up for 2024

Sergio Perez had a terrible 2023, but given the strength of his performances in previous years, I don’t think his time has come yet. He needs a much better season next year, however, and among the other front-running teams the drivers have been so consistently strong there’s no reasonable case to be made for dropping any of them.

Another driver in the latter stages of his career, Valtteri Bottas, has found it hard to distinguish himself as Alfa Romeo’s form slipped this year. However I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt given the team’s lack of competitiveness, and the same goes for his team mate Zhou Guanyu, who showed signs of progress this year.

I had doubts over Nico Hulkenberg returning to Haas this year, but I’ve been completely won over by his performance. He made Kevin Magnussen look quite indifferent – a change he needs to reverse.

Another driver who has made much of his return to F1 is Alexander Albon at Williams. His team mate, however, had a woeful first season.

Logan Sargeant only took a single point, and he got the rub of the green on that occasion, as two drivers ahead of him were disqualified while he and others potentially got away with track limits infringements. If Williams had dropped him, I would have found it hard to argue against it.

Along with Perez and Sargeant, another driver who got trounced by his team mate this year was Lance Stroll. This has been fairly typical for him since he entered F1, and after seven years I suspect we’ve seen the best from him.