The 2024 season brought many surprises, especially at the top, with McLaren taking the Constructors’ Championship away from Red Bull after a dominant 2023. However, the battle in the midfield was particularly intense, with several teams shifting as points of reference.
After a good start, Aston Martin could not progress as hoped, paying the price for a development that did not work, making the AMR24 an “extreme” car, although not as expected. Alpine started the year at the back and only towards the end of the season, with a solid upgrade package and a bit of luck, managed to turn around a ranking that, until a few races before the end, saw it in eighth place, behind Haas and Racing Bulls.
Haas, in fact, was the team that stayed in sixth place the longest, behind Aston Martin, which made the most of the points earned in the high points, especially in the first part of the season. However, this does not mean that the AMR24 was always the reference car or the most versatile in the midfield.
Setting aside Alpine’s exploit with the double podium in Brazil, the midfield team that earned the most points in the second half of the season was Haas, collecting a greater haul than Aston Martin itself. Behind this growth are several elements, both related to the track and external situations, but a central aspect was versatility.
Looking at the championship progress, it can be seen that the VF-24 scored points in 14 out of 24 races, with seven eleventh places, just outside the top 10. This means that the American car, which in reality has a British and partly Italian heart, made versatility and the ability to grow with updates its two main pillars.
The VF-24 proved solid and kind to the tires
The VF-24 quickly showed itself competitive in the midfield, earning points in the second race in Saudi Arabia with Nico Hulkenberg, followed by a double top 10 in Australia. In the first events, with Aston Martin at least the fifth force in terms of potential, getting into the points zone was a more complex challenge, so it was crucial to take advantage of every opportunity. Only the progressive decline of Aston Martin and the growth of other teams allowed the situation to mix again, opening up new opportunities.
Although the VF-24 showed several positive aspects, such as its tire management, a clear improvement over its predecessor, this did not mean there were areas where progress could not be made. At the start of the season, the most notable limitation was its performance in high-speed corners, where there was a lack of downforce, while the car shone in slower corners.
With the package that debuted between China and the United States, the engineers were able to make a significant leap forward in that area, even though it remained hidden, both because the new parts did not fully match the numbers seen in the wind tunnel, and because immediately after, F1 moved to a series of tracks with more slow corners.
The interesting and almost paradoxical aspect is that at Monaco, a track with many slow corners, the VF-24 did not excel, despite the introduction of a new high-downforce rear wing, which had never been brought in 2023. Although there was indeed an improvement compared to the previous year, on such a peculiar track, the car was unable to be competitive: this was one of the four occasions when the VF-24 was not fighting for points, along with Hungary, Belgium, and Brazil.
A two-faced mid-season
If at the beginning of the season the car showed weaknesses in high-speed zones, thanks to various updates brought during the year, the VF-24 managed to make progress in that area as well: in Spain, it came close to the points zone, preceded only by a recovered Alpine, while in Austria and Britain, it achieved important results for the standings.
At the Red Bull Ring, both cars reached the points zone, and Nico Hulkenberg even managed to keep Sergio Perez behind with the Red Bull, in a weekend where his teammate’s RB20 was in contention for victory before the incident with Lando Norris. Equally convincing was the following race, which saw the debut of the new update package that had required about three months of development.
The main objective of the package that debuted in Britain was to improve performance in faster sections. However, it was not the only goal, as another target was to improve rear downforce consistency while cornering, making the car easier to drive and reducing rear tire wear, thus improving degradation. The more stable the downforce generated, the easier it became for the drivers and engineers to exploit it.
The drivers themselves immediately felt the difference, but one of the key elements was that, in a context where many teams faced unwanted effects with new packages, Haas had none. The engineers managed to increase the downforce on the VF-24 without, for example, falling into the bouncing trap that caused problems for other teams: this was also due to the fact that the technicians avoided “overloading” a section of the floor.
Two of the four GPs where Haas did not fight for points came in the middle of the season, in Hungary and Belgium. What was particularly surprising was the Spa round, as the team believed the track would suit the characteristics of their car, as later seen at Monza, another low-downforce track, where it performed well.
In reality, the VF-24 did not shine in Belgium, and the rain on Saturday further complicated the situation: even in Brazil, another wet race, the American car struggled to extract its potential, with Sao Paulo being the only post-Monza GP where Haas did not finish in the points.
Sixth place slipped away in the end, but it’s a positive disappointment
One clear aspect of the last part of the American team’s season was its versatility on very different tracks. Except for Brazil, the VF-24 managed to score points in eight of the last nine GPs, which were held on circuits with deeply different characteristics. From the high-speed corners of Monza and Qatar, to the long straights of Las Vegas and Baku, and passing through tracks rich in medium-low speed corners like Singapore and Mexico.
Looking at the results, it can be seen that the VF-24 also finished in the top 10 at Austin and Abu Dhabi, two versatile tracks where finding a good overall balance is key. In both home races in the United States, as well as in Mexico, Haas became the reference team in the midfield, partly thanks to a recovered Magnussen, due to changes in the braking system and car behavior, bringing it closer to his preferences.
In a season where many teams faced difficulties in development, what really made the difference for the American team was its ability to continue growing without failing with updates. There is undoubtedly still room for improvement, but every time Haas brought new parts, a step forward could be seen.
This is the result not only of a reorganization that yielded the desired results but also of excellent work in understanding the car and identifying areas for improvement. If we look at the last part of the season, where Racing Bulls tried to find themselves after mid-season problems, we notice that what was missing was precisely the consistency and versatility that the VF-24 showed. Likewise, while Aston Martin saw significant peaks, these were counterbalanced by lows due to the inherent limits of the “extreme” AMR24.
Only Alpine in the end displaced Haas from sixth place, but it is also true that the French team brought a very substantial package towards the end of the year, while the American team spread out its updates throughout the season. However, not securing sixth place represents both a warning for further improvement and a positive disappointment.
“I think it’s very positive that we are disappointed not to have achieved sixth place. Our goal for this year was eighth place. We came from last year’s disaster. I believe we have shown that, even though we are the smallest team, if we work together, we can make it, and that is a source of pride,” explained Team Principal Ayao Komatsu.
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