F1 2024 In Review
In which I look back at a year of cars racing around the world, talk about storytelling, and sling some words.
Last weekend saw the completion of the longest season in Formula One history, with 24 races held at various circuits around the globe. And what a season it was, with plenty of drama and storylines to follow on and off the track.
But it didn’t look like that at the start of the year. For the first time, there were no changes on the grid from the previous season, with no drivers leaving or changing teams. Add to that a run of victories for reigning world champion Dutch driver Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team, and it looked like we were in for another year of domination, as we had seen in 2023.
Boy were we wrong as 2024 gave us one of the best and most competitive seasons in a long time.
For the first time in F1 history, we had seven different drivers with multiple wins in a single season.
The constructors championship went down to the last race between McLaren and Ferrari with McLaren winning their first championship in twenty-six years.
Three drivers lost their rides at different points during the season while four made their debuts.
The field was so close that sometimes during qualifying there was less than a second from the front to the back of the grid.
The battle for placings all through the grid was so close that one good (or bad) result could have massive consequences.
An agreement was reached to add an 11th team for 2026 onwards.
… and many races saw a full Hollywood production team on-site filming Brad Pitt’s upcoming F1 movie.
As well as getting to see how that movie turned out, in 2025 we have the promise of another year of close competition between the teams along with many drivers changing teams (most noticeably 7-time world Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari after 12 years at Mercedes), and the arrival of 5 new young drivers as the sport goes through a generational shift.
Counting down the days till the grid forms again in Australia on March 16th.
Alan
Other Stuff
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Brabazon Bits
No real updates on the Brabazon book this week as it continues to go through the production process at the publisher.
If everything goes to schedule “Bristol Brabazon: The Ocean Liner of the Skies and its Ongoing Legacy” will be published on 30 MAY, 2025 in the UK and 30 JULY, 2025 in the US.
It’s also available for pre-order on both Amazon UK and Amazon US sites.
Word Slinging
While on the road last week I managed to write another good chunk of the Musketeers short story, plus found some good research sources for an as-yet unannounced project.
One thing that left an impression during our time in Indianapolis was witnessing our first in-person Hollywood-style car chase while driving through the Indianapolis suburbs.
White SUV with tires blown out racing along on the rims with sparks flying at about 60mph with a train of 5 police SUVs in hot pursuit with lights flashing and sirens blaring. - As one friend noted, that experience will be filed away and I’m sure will end up in a story at some point.
Podcast Procrastinations
I had a great time chatting with Larry Swanson on the Content Strategy Insights podcast about the power of storytelling and how it can be leveraged for enterprise communications
You can check it out at https://ellessmedia.com/csi/alan-porter/ or via the YouTube video version.
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2024 - “Green Phoenix” by Thomas Burnett Swann
After 15 years of wandering following the Trojan wars the warrior Aeneas, his son, and their followers land on the shores of what will one day be Italy.
Here they encounter a variety of different mythological species fighting for survival. When Aeneas falls for the Drayd sent to kill him, secrets are revealed and new alliances forged.
This short novel tends to focus more on the romance than action, while its lyrical style gives it an almost poetic feel. It’s a quick light read that feels like it would slot right into the mythology it’s clearly inspired by.
Our online bookstore at Bookshop.org is fully up to date with the books read so far in 2024, so you can pick up copies of any that interest you, while also helping out local independent bookstores.
You can check it out HERE .
Weekly Web Round-Up
Forest Comics & Books - The Batmobiles continued to roar out from our online store over the last week. But we’ve added a whole new batch of items, Bat-related and otherwise for you to choose from.
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues as we move into October 1969 with new issues of Detective Comics, Brave & The Bold, and World’s Finest from DC Comics.
My pick from them this week is another great story told in three panels by Neal Adams on the cover of Detective Comics #392
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter
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