F1 Late Season Predictions Recap

The 2024 F1 season has officially ended! It was a great year and certainly had a lot of twists and turns. From Red Bull looking dominant to start the year to McLaren pushing for drivers title contention and securing the constructors title to Sauber scoring a point! Let's take a look back at where my head was at as we entered the final six races of the season: COTA, Mexico, Brazil, Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

Colapinto outscores Albon in fantasy (note: in the final six races)

In his first three races of the season, Colapinto was on a heater. The Argentine driver was at an insane pace and drew interest from Red Bull as a potential Racing Bulls driver. Even at COTA, he performed well. But then the crashes hit. And it wasn’t just affecting Colapinto, Albon suffered DNF after DNF. It was a horrible run of luck for both of them. People who just look at results might ask “How do they still have a seat” or “Why did we think they were so good anyway?” But it’s not all on them for sure. Still, in the final six races, Colapinto ended up scoring 583 points to Albon’s 526, securing this prediction thanks to a couple of nice performances in COTA and Mexico.

Sauber scores a point

Hey! It only took till the penultimate race of the season, but Zhou Guanyu came through with a great P8 in Qatar! Sauber turned a corner in the final several races and looked competitive, with Valtteri Bottas finding his way into Q3 in Abu Dhabi. Maybe Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto have a better year in 2025 thanks to the team finally finding some pace. Time will tell. 

‍Red Bull finishes third in constructor's title

Looking back, I thought this prediction was not quite bold but it still meant Ferrari would have to overtake Red Bull and there’s no way Perez will score only nine points in the final eight races. Right? Well, sure enough, that’s what happened, and it led to Perez being sacked at Red Bull to be replaced by Liam Lawson. The team will look to get back onto the top step of the podium next year, but with essentially a rookie in the second seat, that could prove tough.

Esteban Ocon finishes in the points twice

Alright, give me a break here. No, he did not have two-point finishes in the final six races. But, he did have a nice P2 in Brazil, so that counts for something right? If I had predicted a podium finish, you probably would have laughed and I would have wondered what the heck I was on when I predicted it. But no, I decided to play it safe with two points finishes and we almost had it.

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