2024 Formula 1 Season’s Best Team Boss: Red Bull’s Christian Horner loses the pole position

This year has been outstanding for many teams despite Max Verstappen winning the world championship for the fourth time. Many teams have shown great progress on many levels including the team’s overall performances. But in Formula 1 the toughest job is to lead a team to victory and it is taken care of by the Team principal or bosses. Let us see which Team boss guided their team at a top level and extracted the best out of them.

Top 10 Team bosses of 2024 F1 season

10. Alessandro Alunni Bravo (Stake F1 Kick Sauber)

One of the worst years of the Sauber team was the 2024 F1 season. They finished last in both the drivers and constructors points table. Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas were blamed for not scoring points this season and they have been sacked but the real problem lies within the team. After Audi bought the team many expected the team to progress a little. But the team crumbled under pressure and only Zhou scored four points by the end of the season in Qatar GP. With new drivers coming for the 2025 season, Sauber has a lot of work to do especially in the team structure.

9. Peter Bayer (Visa Cash App Red Bull F1)

Being a sister team of Red Bull Visa Cash App Red Bull's (VCARB) expectations are much higher. But considering their team's 2024 performance it is just about average. Yuki Tsunoda is the top performer scoring the maximum points and the best driver in the team. Daniel Ricciardo was replaced by Liam Lawson mid of the season in Singapore which many feel has broken the team's rhythm. But now they have Isack Hadjar as the new driver and with Yuki in the team, they look promising for the 2025 season.

8. James Vowels (Williams Racing)

One of the oldest teams on the grid Williams F1 failed to take off after an initial surge in the midfield. The main thing to blame is the added weight of the car which made it undrivable. Their drivers Alex Albon, Franco Colapinto, and Logan Sargeant often crashed in the race costing them around 13.8 Million Euros as repair costs.

James Vowels the team boss failed to lift the team back on its feet after several crashes. The team lost confidence and finished 9th in the championship standings. But all his experience during his Mercedes tenure will help him overcome the struggles he faced this year and with Sainz as their new driver, we expect them to top the midfield next year.

7. Oliver Oakes (Alpine F1 team)

Formula 1’s most unreliable team is Alpine as they are known for making changes in their leadership group very often. Oliver Oakes took over the team as principal following the exit of Bruno Famin in August 2024. But compared with other team bosses Olli did a great job by bringing the team together and they even scored a double podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly is the best-performing driver scoring many points and was also the cleanest F1 driver this season costing zero Dollars for the team in terms of repair costs. 

6. Mike Krack (Aston Martin)

The team did a great job by finishing as the best Mid-field team. But for how many years do we have to see Aston Martin in the middle? They haven't progressed inside the top 4 and Mike Krack is leading the team from the 2021 season. They got the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso who is still performing well for the team and a major contributor by bringing consistent points. But the consistency is lacking inside the team which is pulling down their progress. 

5.Toto Wolff (Mercedes)

One of the most successful leaders who proved himself to be the best in the business has been struggling in the last few years. He still hasn't recovered from the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix loss as the team wasn't performing at the highest level in 3 years.

Only in 2024, they tasted victory at Silverstone after 2 long years. As a big brand, Mercedes should be in the top two but is still in fourth place which is disappointing. Toto is a proven leader and we saw some glimpses of the Mercedes team bouncing back to their best form in the Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi GP. We hope they will bounce back to the top once again.

4. Christian Horner (Red Bull)

Over the last two years he has been on the top but now lost his position due to their loss to McLaren and Ferrari. Red Bull has retained their driver's championship only because Max Verstappen is their driver. After the Spanish Grand Prix, they lost their plot and were winless for ten consecutive races. They couldn't give their drivers the best car and Sergio Perez struggled all year having issues in his car.

They couldn't find out the issue causing a reduction in their car's performance and they blamed it on the wind tunnel. Horner was also critical of other teams and didn't concentrate on his own. Next year it will be very tough for him as many expect a 4-way battle for the championship.

3. Fred Vasseur (Ferrari)

After being sacked by the Sauber F1 team, the Frenchman joined the iconic Ferrari team as their new boss replacing Mattia Binotto. But compared with the Italian, he did an amazing job by bringing calmness and peace to the team. Ferrari lost many races because of the team's lack of decision-making under pressure. But, Fred Vasseur known for his sense of humour even in difficult times improved his team's decision-making and strategy during races.

He also signed Lewis Hamilton for the 2025 season, which was a big boost for the team in terms of confidence and money. Ferrari looks like a championship-winning team now with Charles and Lewis and if all goes well, the French man gets all the credit.

2. Ayao Komatsu (Haas F1)

The Haas F1 team replaced energetic Guenther Steiner with Komatsu who is very cool and calm. The Japanese race engineer after taking over as the team boss brought some great winning culture inside the team and that showed in their results. 

Ayao Komatsu did his job very well by leading a team with limited resources and a shortage of human force. He brought confidence to the team members and is the biggest reason for the Toyota group to partner with Haas. They can use all the Toyota facilities for their research. Their drivers also performed consistently, lifting their team from the bottom to seventh this year. Haas F1 is definitely a sleeping giant in F1.

1. Andrea Stella/ Zak Brown (McLaren)

McLaren had the best season this year as they finished on top of the constructors table. Lando Norris missed his first driver's title to Verstappen by a small margin. All credits should go to McLaren's Team boss Zak Brown and Team principal Andrea Stella. Brown did everything for the team from bringing resources to sponsors and helping them progress throughout the season.

Andrea Stella leading the team with his aerodynamic designs and new upgrades helped them become the fastest team on the grid beating Red Bull and Ferrari. Their drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri brought consistent points, leading them to glory after 26 years.

Also Check: Top 10 Nerve-wracking crashes of the 2024 F1 season: Absolute carnage on the track