02 - 2024 Season Review
- guffaluff
- Feb 24, 2025
- 6 min read
Hello, and welcome to my saga of Atlantic Racing, a small fish in a big pond, trying to make an impact in Formula 1! If you're new to the series, I urge you to take a look at the previous posts to be up to date on our story! :)
In this entry we'll be doing a full season review for the 2024 season!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Season Performance
Driver Signings
Staff Signings
2024 Season Final Standings
2024 F2 Season Final Standings
2025 Driver Lineup
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I played through the 2024 and 2025 seasons fairly quickly, mostly managing off-track stuff and simulating many of the races. So I'm just going to make a "Season Review" chapter for the 2024 season. This way I'll also be quicker to catch up to the current point of my playthrough (currently early 2026 season). I'm holding off my playthrough now until the next patch will release with fixes to poaching/contracts issues, so writing these posts will keep me occupied in the meantime :)
This one is a bit long, but there is plenty of goodies to go through, so hope you stick around!
SEASON PERFORMANCE
Atlantic Racing's inaugural season didn't go well, but again, that was to be expected. The team went through the season finishing dead last in the constructors standings, without even coming close to scoring a single point. Best finish was P14, which Giovinazzi managed 4 times and Mick 2 times.
Giovinazzi confidently beat Mick in the head to head standings for the season, as is evident from the above image. They split the qualifying performance, 12-12, but Giovinazzi proved to be the better driver on raceday, outperforming Mick 17-7. Mick also suffered 3x DNF against only 1 DNF from Gio, all of which were self inflicted.
Internally, it was decided very early to not waste too much resources and funds on the 2024 car, and the team already stopped developing the 2024 car by China, focusing solely on R&D for the upcoming 2025 season. Finances were pretty tight throughout the season, but thanks to careful management the team stayed under the cost cap, despite starting the season with a significant chunk already allocated after getting the team ready for season start.
DRIVER SIGNINGS
The team's longer term driver plans were disrupted early in the season. Ti Seok, the team's star affiliate driver, was approached by none other than Ferrari. Despite Atlantic Racing's best efforts, Seok opted to sign for Ferrari. While gutted to lose him, the team understood the decision made by the young driver, and wishes him well in his future endeavors.
To fill his place, the youngster Arvid Lindblad was signed on the affiliate program with a contract through 2027.
Regarding the main drivers, the plan was to hold on to one of the two. But the team acted too late, and VCARB ended up signing Giovinazzi for the 2025 season! Reluctantly, Mick Schumacher was given another chance with the team and signed on a 1 year contract. As a safety net, there was no contract break-fee implemented in the contract, and Mick was made well aware that he was in no way shape or form guaranteed in his seat. He'd simply have to perform to stay on the team.
Scrambling for a second driver, and failed negotiations with Hulkenberg, Perez and Ricciardo, Ollie Bearman was approached. He was still without a contract for 2025 and is a promising driver. Following scouting reports, the team decided to invest in him and scooped him up on a contract through 2027. Solid pickup by the team, as Ollie is widely considered to be a exciting prospect for the future.
STAFF SIGNINGS FOR 2025
The team's sporting director was on a expiring contract and was not gelling well on with the rest of the team. It was decided to not renew his contract and a search for a viable replacement began. Eventually, it was Aurélien Pallier who was signed up from F2 on a long term contract through 2030.
Both race engineers were contracted only for the 2024 season, so action was needed there. Adrien Lefecre was re-signed on a contract through 2026, and then Atlantic Racing pulled a cheeky move by snatching William Joseph, Lando Norris's race engineer at McLaren! He was brought to Atlantic Racing on a long term contract through 2030.
2024 SEASON FINAL STANDINGS
As you can see on the pictures, it was a very close fight on both driver's and constructors standings. In the end, Ferrari edged out Red Bull to take both titles, with Leclerc bringing home his first driver championship, and a long awaited constructors title to Maranello! Ferrari has returned to the top! But can they stay there?
Below is a list of notable things I noticed during the 2024 season:
Mercedes had a torrid season, finishing behind Aston Martin in 5th place. The were plagued with DNF's and generally bad performance.
First time race winners in 2024: Lando Norris (3 wins) and Oscar Piastri (1 win)
In the first 10 races, George Russell only finished 4 races, with 6 DNF's! He finished the remaining 14 races.
The top 3 teams, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren, all finished the season without a single DNF.
2024 F2 SEASON FINAL STANDINGS (TOP 4)
My plan was to post the total F2 and F3 standings here, but as I'm doing this in the "future", I've just discovered a major flaw with the game. There is no way to see previous season results anywhere! I could use the Database Editor for the F1, but I don't see any way of looking at previous season standings for F2 and F3, within the game or in the editor. If anyone knows a way, please let me know.
I had to manage by manually going through the driver list and looking at their history. That way I managed to get the Top 4 in Formula 2 for the 2024 season:
Isack Hadjar
Oliver Bearman
Jak Crawford
Pepe Martí
I can't find out the F3 top drivers for 2024 :(
2025 DRIVER LINEUP
The grid is shaken up quite a bit for 2025! Here is the overview for each team.
RED BULL - M.Verstappen / C.Sainz
Perez is out! Red Bull make a major move and sign Carlos Sainz to drive alongside Max Verstappen. Perez did not manage to secure a seat and remains a free agent.
FERRARI - C.Leclerc / L.Hamilton
As was already known, Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari for 2025.
MCLAREN - L.Norris / O.Piastri
No changes for McLaren, already a very strong driver lineup.
MERCEDES - F.Alonso / V.Bottas
Major changes at Mercedes! George Russell is out! Mercedes bring the old fox Alonso over, and fan favorite Bottas returns to the team.
ASTON MARTIN - L.Stroll / P.Gasly
It doesn't come as much surprise to see Stroll retaining his seat. However, Gasly has been brought on board to fill in the void left by Alonso's departure to Mercedes.
ALPINE - G.Russell / G.Zhou
In a shock move, Russell signed with Alpine for 2025 and is joined by Zhou in a all new driver lineup for Alpine.
WILLIAMS - A.Albon / E.Ocon
After burning bridges over at Alpine, Ocon has signed with Williams for the season. He'll drive alongside Albon who remains a Williams driver.
VCARB - Y.Tsunoda / A.Giovinazzi
Tsunoda returns for another season, and with him is Giovinazzi, who's extending his return to F1 with VCARB, after having a decent season all things considered over at Atlantic Racing in 2024. Ricciardo did not manage to secure a seat and remains a free agent.
HAAS - L.Sargent / D.Beganovic
To everyone's surprise, Logan stays alive in F1, scoring a seat at Haas for 2025. He'll be joined by one of three rookies this season: Dino Beganovic. HAAS going with a all-new driver lineup. Hulkenberg remains a free agent as he failed to score a seat for 2025.
STAKE/KICK SAUBER - T.Pourchaire / K.Magnusen
Kevin Magnusen keeps his F1 career alive and will drive for Sauber in 2025. He's joined be F1 rookie Pourchaire, who'll be aiming to be a long term addition to the F1 grid.
ATLANTIC RACING - O.Bearman / M.Schumacher
The other rookie making his debut this season, Ollie Bearman starts his F1 career at Atlantic Racing, racing alongside Mick Schumacher.
This will be it for the 2024 season! I'll make this type of entry for the 2025 season as well, and then I'll go a bit more in depth for the 2026 season and will update that as I go along.
Hope you guys enjoy! If you have any questions or comments, by all means, leave them below! :)
Until next time!
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