Max Verstappen won. Again. Honestly, if you’ve been watching Formula 1 lately, that sentence feels like a status update for the entire sport. Specifically, looking back at the 2024 season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it was the Dutchman who stood on the top step, marking a period of dominance that has left fans and analysts basically scrambling to find new adjectives for "unstoppable." But asking about the Grand Prix who won isn't just about the name on the trophy. It’s about how they got there, who they jumped in the pits, and why the guy in P4 is actually the one everyone is talking about the next morning.
The reality of modern racing is that the winner is often decided on a Friday afternoon during a simulation run, or by a strategic pivot on lap 22 that nobody noticed because the TV cameras were focused on a midfield scrap.
The Most Recent Winners: A Quick Reality Check
When people ask about the Grand Prix who won, they are usually looking for the most recent data point. For the 2024 season—the most recent full slate of racing—the narrative was split into two distinct halves. The first half felt like a foregone conclusion. Verstappen and Red Bull were flying. Then, things got weird. McLaren found a magic button, Lando Norris started winning, and Oscar Piastri proved he’s probably a future world champion.
- Abu Dhabi (2024 Season Finale): Max Verstappen.
- Las Vegas: George Russell took a surprising and calculated victory for Mercedes.
- Brazil (São Paulo): Max Verstappen, in what many call his best drive ever, coming from 17th on the grid in torrential rain.
- Mexico City: Carlos Sainz, proving to Ferrari they might have made a mistake letting him go for Lewis Hamilton.
It's wild to think that halfway through the year, we actually had a championship fight. For a minute there, McLaren’s MCL38 was the fastest car on the planet. Lando Norris took wins in Miami, Zandvoort, and Singapore. Seeing a papaya-colored car pull a 20-second gap on a Red Bull was something nobody predicted in February.
Why the Winner Isn't Always the Fastest Driver
You’ve probably seen it happen. The fastest guy in qualifying ends up finishing third. Strategy is the invisible hand of F1. Take the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. George Russell actually crossed the line first after a ballsy one-stop strategy. He drove the wheels off that Mercedes. He won. Then, he was disqualified because his car was 1.5kg underweight. Lewis Hamilton, his teammate, inherited the win.
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That’s racing.
Technically, the Grand Prix who won that day shifted three hours after the podium ceremony. It’s these nuances—fuel loads, tire degradation, and "dirty air"—that dictate the winner. Most fans don't realize that a driver like Charles Leclerc can be the "king of Saturday" with a blistering pole position, but if the Ferrari eats its rear tires by lap 10, he’s a sitting duck.
The Verstappen Factor
We have to talk about Max. Whether you love the "Campioni" playing every Sunday or you're bored to tears by it, the guy is a machine. His win in Brazil 2024 changed the conversation. In a race where everyone was spinning off, he looked like he was driving on dry asphalt while everyone else was on ice. When we look at the statistics of the Grand Prix who won throughout the 2020s, his name appears with a frequency that rivals Michael Schumacher’s peak or Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes era.
But it’s not just the car. Adrian Newey, the legendary designer, built a masterpiece in the RB19 and RB20, but Verstappen’s ability to manage "brake migration" and "rotation" mid-corner is what actually secures the trophy.
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The Underdogs and One-Off Wonders
Every once in a while, the universe breaks. Think about Pierre Gasly winning at Monza in 2020 or Esteban Ocon in Hungary in 2021. Those are the races fans live for. In the 2024 season, the "surprise" factor came from the sheer variety of winners in the middle of the year. We had seven different winners in the first 14 races.
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
This kind of parity is rare. Usually, one team nails the regulations and everyone else is just playing catch-up for three years. The "ground effect" era of cars was supposed to make racing closer, and by mid-2024, it actually worked. The gaps in qualifying were sometimes less than a tenth of a second between the top four teams. That's the blink of an eye. Literally.
How to Track Who Won (And Why It Matters for 2025 and 2026)
If you're trying to keep up with the Grand Prix who won, you need to look at the FIA official classifications. Sometimes, penalties applied after the race—like "track limits" violations in Austria—can shuffle the entire top ten.
Looking ahead to the 2025 season, the stakes for who wins are even higher. This is Lewis Hamilton’s first year at Ferrari. Imagine the scenes if he wins the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in a red car. The sports world would probably melt. Then we have the 2026 regulation change. New engines, new chassis, and a complete reset of the pecking order. The person who wins the first race in 2026 might be someone in a car that is currently finishing 15th.
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The Technical Edge: What Most People Get Wrong
People think the driver just steers. Kinda true, but mostly false. The person who won the Grand Prix spent the last two hours toggling switches on a steering wheel that looks like a spaceship’s cockpit. They are adjusting the differential (how the wheels turn at different speeds), the engine braking, and the energy recovery system (ERS).
If a driver misses one harvest click on their ERS, they lose 160hp on the straight. They get overtaken. They don't win. It’s a game of high-speed accounting.
Breaking Down the "Winner" Myth
Is the winner always the best driver? Ask Fernando Alonso. He’s widely considered one of the greatest to ever touch a steering wheel, yet he hasn't won a race in over a decade. He’s been in the wrong car at the wrong time. In F1, the "winner" is a combination of:
- The Power Unit: Is the Mercedes engine better than the Honda (Red Bull) or the Ferrari?
- Aerodynamics: Does the car "wash out" when it gets close to another car?
- The Pit Crew: A 1.9-second stop vs. a 3.4-second stop is the difference between coming out in clean air or getting stuck behind a slower car.
What to Do With This Information
If you’re following the Grand Prix circuit, don't just look at the final standings. To truly understand who is "winning" the development race, look at the gap between the winner and P2. If the gap is shrinking over three races, a change in the guard is coming.
Actionable Steps for Fans and Analysts
- Monitor the "In-Season Development": Follow tech experts like Craig Scarborough or Albert Fabrega on social media. They post photos of new front wings and floor edges. These "tiny" changes are why McLaren started winning in May 2024.
- Watch the Tire Strategy: Use an app that shows live "stints." If the winner is on 20-lap-old Hard tires and P2 is on fresh Softs, the last five laps will be chaos.
- Check Post-Race Scrutineering: Don't turn off the TV the second the champagne is sprayed. Plank wear or fuel sample issues can strip a win away in the hours following the race.
- Focus on the 2026 Shift: Start paying attention to which teams are partnering with which engine manufacturers (like Audi joining the grid). This will determine who wins the next era of Grand Prix racing.
The story of the Grand Prix who won is never just a name. It’s a 300-kilometer chess match played at 200 miles per hour. While Max Verstappen has been the king of the castle lately, the walls are closing in, and that’s exactly why we keep watching every Sunday.