How each driver's F1 2024 race pace stacked up

Before we fully turn attention to the 2025 Formula 1 season, Motorsport.com has crunched the numbers to look at which drivers had the best race pace last year

‘The stopwatch never lies’ is a Formula 1 cliche for a reason. Every weekend, the emptied fuel tanks and top engine power modes engage in qualifying and, typically, the quickest car/driver combination will prevail. But the races in the modern age, with their fragile tyres and mandated fuel rules, are masked-up different contests altogether.

Possessing the quickest car remains the key advantage, and so often the drivers with this X factor are victorious. But the need to manage the tyres and fuel while doing real and tactical battle means a car lacking the purest performance in qualifying can be coaxed to victory. The 2024 season summed this up well. Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominated early on, before the rest caught up – led by McLaren – and suddenly wins and poles were being split aplenty.

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Alex Kalinauckas

Formula 1

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.