Preseason testing? It’s over. The all-too-brief offseason? A distant memory. The 2023 season? Ancient history.
The 2024 Formula One campaign is upon us, with the opening round of the season beginning with Practice 1 on Thursday (6:30 a.m. ET, watch live on ESPNU). Before the cars roll out of pit lane, though, why not familiarise yourself with the field?
While three-time defending champion Max Verstappen may look like an overwhelming favourite, there is plenty of intrigue up and down the paddock. Nate Saunders goes from garage to garage, giving you one reason to root for every driver on the grid this season.
Age: 26
Nationality: Netherlands
Grand prix starts: 185
Grand prix wins: 54
2023 championship position: 1st
Best championship position: 1st (2021, 2022, 2023)
Reason to root for them: Verstappen is redefining F1 greatness every time he steps into a race car. The Dutchman comes into 2024 on the back of a threepeat — along with the most dominant individual season in F1 history, to boot — and there’s no reason to think he’s going to stop winning any time soon.
His relentless pace and his aggressive style on track have won him a legion of fans worldwide, and he makes no excuses — to anyone — for how he races. All the more remarkable is how unfazed he seems by his achievements and the adulation that comes with them.
Age: 23
Nationality: United States
Grand prix starts: 22
Grand prix wins: 0
2023 championship position: 21st
Best championship position: 21st (2023)
Reason to root for them: Maybe we are biased, but we want Sargeant’s career to be a success. Before him, there had not been an American on the grid since Alexander Rossi in 2015.
The jury might still be out on the Floridian, but he has been given a second chance to prove he truly belongs. Americans have had limited success in F1 since Mario Andretti won the 1978 world championship; if Sargeant can establish himself this year, it might help break some lingering preconceptions within the F1 paddock that racing drivers from the U.S. are better off staying in series like IndyCar.
Age: 34
Nationality: Australia
Grand prix starts: 239
Grand prix wins: 8
2023 championship position: 17th
Best championship position: 3rd (2014, 2016)
Reason to root for them: With a boisterous laugh and beaming smile as big as his personality, Ricciardo has ridden the “Drive to Survive” boom to global fame. A legion of new F1 fans will have never seen his best days at Red Bull…
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