Voting has closed for SJA members to decide the winners of three major categories at the British Sports Awards 2024; winners will be announced live on Sky Sports News on Wednesday 20 November; Stuart Broad, Mary Earps and Manchester City’s men’s team claimed the 2023 honours; who will take the top prizes this year?
By Hannah Newman
After the 2023 Formula 1 season, it seemed as though 2024 was going to be yet another slam dunk Red Bull and Max Verstappen double championship.
And at Bahrain in March, it looked like that’s what we would get when Max Verstappen won the first race of the season, 22 seconds ahead of his teammate, Sergio Pérez.
However, at the Miami Grand Prix, following four Verstappen wins in the first five races of the season, McLaren delivered a series of upgrades to their car.
The result was Lando Norris claiming his maiden race win and from there, it’s been an upwards trajectory for the Woking-based team.
Since the Chinese Grand Prix, the McLaren team have finished on the podium at every single race, giving them a 14-race podium streak.
Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri claimed his first victory at Hungary, and the team have since comfortably claimed three more in The Netherlands, Azerbaijan, and Singapore.
McLaren overtook Red Bull for the Constructors’ Championship lead at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, making this the first time Red Bull haven’t led the championship since 2022.
This marks the first time that McLaren have led the Constructors’ Championship since 2014, and it is very likely that this year will bring their first Constructors’ win since 1998.
The tracks at Miami, Hungary, The Netherlands, Azerbaijan, and Singapore provide a range of racing conditions: rain, extreme heat, high and low speed corners – winning at these tracks proves McLaren are real all-rounders.
Looking back to only the start of the 2023 season, it’s incredible to see how much progress the papaya team have made.
In the first nine races of last year, McLaren had only claimed a total of 17 points.
But a series of mid-season upgrades skyrocketed their performance, Norris claiming his first 2023 podium with a second-place finish at the British Grand Prix.
The difference was like night and day – the team identified and rectified their issues, and they’ve only continued to improve.
After 18 races in 2023, McLaren had 242 points, sitting fourth overall in the championship.
Jump ahead a year and they are currently on 544 points, 40 points ahead of closest rivals Red Bull.
The performances of McLaren’s drivers must be applauded – in the four races leading up to the US Grand Prix, Norris and Piastri were the top-two points scorers, Norris with 80, and Piastri 70.
Norris is also a contender for the 2024 Drivers’ Championship – Red Bull’s Verstappen currently leads on 354 points, but Norris is in second spot on 297.
Whether Norris can fully close down the gap to Verstappen before the end of the season is yet an unknown, but hopes are high with how dominant McLaren appear.
The 2024 Constructors’ Championship is McLaren’s to lose – they are truly a force to be reckoned with.
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