Papaya revolution
What have we learned from the first four races of the season? That the signs of change that were first spotted in the second half of last year have now become a full-blown revolution and its flag features just one colour, papaya.
Comparing the standings after the first four races of this season with the same period last year, it couldn't be clearer: McLaren has stepped up a gear. The team run by Zak Brown and Andrea Stella has more than doubled its points tally from 69 to 151 points, an increase of 82. Three wins from four races signals that the dominant Norris-Piastri pairing have carried over the momentum that took them to the Constructors' title last year. The Englishman and the Australian are at the top of the Driver rankings, whereas at this time last year they were fifth and sixth.
The other team making great strides is Mercedes, up 59 points from 34 to 93 and they've done so despite losing the services of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, replacing him with the young rookie, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. By contrast, Red Bull and Ferrari have taken a dive. Red Bull has almost half as many points, down 70 from 141 to 71 and Ferrari has fared even worse, going from 120 to 57.
It's worth noting that this year, all the teams have scored at least one point at this stage, whereas in 2024, Alpine, Williams and Sauber had yet to score after four races. It's harder to make a similar comparison when it comes to the drivers, because many of them have changed teams and there's an influx of fresh talent that's moved up from Formula 2. There are actually six rookies this year: the aforementioned Antonelli, plus Bearman, Hadjar, Bortoleto, Lawson and Doohan. Obviously, the papaya pair lead the way, with Piastri up by 42 points and Norris by 40, while over at Mercedes, Russell has also improved with a big 39 point leap. Despite a slight dip of eight points, perhaps the most outstanding performance has come from Max Verstappen who appears to be carrying the Red Bull Racing team singlehanded. The two team-mates he has had this year, first Lawson and now Tsunoda, have scored but two points, whereas at this stage last season, in stark contrast, Checo Perez had picked up 64 points from the first four Grands Prix.
The driver who has dropped like a stone is Carlos Sainz. Last year, he only took part in three of the first four races as he had to sit out round 2 in Jeddah with appendicitis, but he still picked up 55 points, to match his race number. This year he has just a single point from a tenth place in Shanghai. The Spaniard has clearly paid the price for his switch from Ferrari to Williams, although given how Ferrari has started this season, it's unlikely he would have done that much better if he had stayed.
An interesting coincidence, comparing the two years after four rounds, is that the same number of drivers, 14, has scored points. Missing from today's standings a big name like Fernando Alonso, while when it comes to the rookies, Antonelli has been outstanding with 30 points.
One final statistical note: the two seasons cannot produce a perfect comparison, because while the 2024 calendar began with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Japan, this year's opening quartet was Australia, China, Japan and Bahrain. Other differences are that this year's Shanghai weekend featured a Sprint Race, while the point for setting the fastest race lap has been abandoned as from this season. However, these are just details that don't affect the bigger picture, because the one constant is that the track never lies. What did the first four races of the season tell us? That the phase of change that began in the second half of 2024 has now become a real revolution, marked by a single colour, papaya.
