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Top 10 Darkest moments to forget from the 2024 F1 season: Max vs George to sexual scandal

The 2024 season was full of drama and tussle between many drivers and team principals. One big issue was Christian Horner's scandal with a female employee.

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Venkatakrishnan
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Darkest Moments

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The 2024 season had many dark and cold moments that shouldn't have happened in a pinnacle sport like Formula 1. There were many harsh calls on some F1 drivers and team bosses. The New Year has arrived and we will start a fresh year forgetting all the hard feelings we had last year. We expect the same to be followed in F1 and let us forget some dark moments that happened in F1 2024 season.

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Darkest Moments to forget in F1 2024

10. Liam Lawson’s Altercations

Debutant driver Liam Lawson had some altercations with his fellow drivers Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez during the race and they even argued about that after the session. It all started with Fernando Alonso who had a battle with the New Zealander in the COTA circuit and he called him an 'Idiot'.

Alonso even threatened Lawson about screwing his race and the two drivers' first meet wasn't a pleasant one. Next, he battled out with his Red Bull compatriot Sergio Perez and even showed his middle finger while passing him. These moments should have been avoided and could have been handled differently.

9. Toto Wolff and Christian Horner 'Terrier’

The Red Bull boss Horner commented about George Russell’s altercations with Max verstappen. He called Russell of being 'Hysterical' and 'blowing things out of proportion'. For this Toto Wolff wasn't happy and grilled Horner by calling him a “Yapping little terrier (A Small dog breed)” and Horner responded by saying “I’d rather be a terrier than a wolf.” Horner and Wolff's direct involvement in the fight was unnecessary and was one of the darkest moments.

8. Sorry for Sargeant

The Williams driver, Logan Sargeant was sidelined during the 2024 Australian Grand prix. His teammate Alex Albon made a mistake and the American driver suffered humiliation. Alex Albon crashed his car heavily during the practice session.

With a lack of spare chassis, the team benched Logan Sargeant for the rest of the weekend and made Albon drive the logan's car the rest of the weekend. It was complete disrespect done to Logan and team principal James Vowels said it was the hardest decision he made in his life. But do you think it is fair?

7. Where is the Safety car?


The 2024 F1 season was the worst season in many years where drivers' lives were made to hang in the balance. During the Australian Grand prix, George Russell crashed heavily and was in the middle of the road crying in fear calling for the safety car. 

But it didnt arrive and Stroll could have crashed into the Mercedes if his race mechanics hadn't warned him about the crash that happened before him. That was not the first time last year as the FIA and Formula 1 made many bad decisions in calling safety cars.

6. Ben Sulayem vs Drivers

FIA President Ben Sulayem was often caught in conflict with the F1 drivers after he commented about drivers swearing over the radio. He felt it makes viewers very uncomfortable during races. He even called them 'Rappers' which was not taken lightly by the world champion Lewis Hamilton who called it racial.

F1 drivers even warned Sulayem to stay away from them and do his job. It was like the FIA President was too involved in Formula 1 leaving other FIA championships like Endurance championships and WRC out of his sight. We hope the beef between them is settled before the 2025 season starts.

5. Red Bull Treatment

F1 fans' biggest anger this year was the treatment of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda by the Red Bull Management. Sacking Sergio Perez is understandable as he underperformed this year compared with his teammate. 

But Daniel Ricciardo’s sacking was taken seriously by F1 fans and many slammed the Red Bull management for treating one of the best F1 drivers on the grid with disrespect. Many questioned Liam Lawson’s promotion over Yuki Tsunoda to the senior team and called the Red Bull team a Biased corporation.

4.Lando Norris vs Max verstappen

The two best friends on the grid became two big rivals this year. McLaren found a way to outpace Red Bull and they started dominating them after the Miami Grand prix. Lando Norris was McLaren’s lead driver and was often seen battling with Max verstappen and they both damaged their cars during the Austrian GP.

The battle continued till the Mexican Grand prix where Max Pushed Lando out of the track and was given a 10-second time penalty for it. It all started a new rivalry and the smoke is still on as we head to the 2025 season. This time we hope there will be a clean racing between the two drivers and within the spirit of the game.

Also Read: Throwback to the day of Michael Schumacher's skiing accident

3. Perez vs Ralf Schumacher

Ralf Schumacher a Sky sports journalist, a Former F1 driver and brother of 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher commented about Red Bull driver Sergio Perez's lack of form this season. The comment was not taken well by his father Sr Perez and he lashed out at the German by digging him with some personal comments. 

Ralf announced that he is gay this year and even introduced his partner to the outside world. Perez's father mocked him for being gay and many slammed the Mexican politician for going personal against the journalist. Even Sergio Perez condemned his father.

Also Read: It's Official! Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari: A New Era Begins with Big Challenges

2. Christian Horner’s Sexual Scandal

The British Team principal Christian Horner was involved in a sexual scandal with a female employee at Red Bull. The Brand investigated the scandal with some independent personnel and cleared the issue in Christian’s favour. The accuser was suspended from the company.

Max Verstappen’s father Jos Verstappen wasn’t happy about Horner leading the team and he openly criticised the team principal. Many Big names in Red Bull also resigned from the team and many blamed Horner.

Also Read: Two F1 drivers could get fired as Pressure mounts in the 2025 season

1. Max vs George 'The Ultimate fight'

The biggest fight that shouldn't have happened last year was the verbal battle between Max Verstappen and george Russell. It all started when Russell accused Verstappen for slowing him down during the Qatar GP qualifying session. 

He even took the matter to the stewards where Max was given a 1-place grid penalty. But Verstappen overtook the Mercedes driver in the first corner and won the race. During the press meeting, Max said he lost respect for George and called him two-faced.

George accused Max of bullying him and said he felt threatened when the Dutch driver talked about deliberately slamming his head to the walls. The boiling point was at the driver's dinner meet where Russell refused to sit beside Max and sat with his teammate Lewis Hamilton. We hope everything will be okay between the two before the start of the new season.

ALSO WATCH: Lando Norris Celebrates New Year 2025 in Style at Dubai's iconic Fireworks

Formula 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Christian Horner F1