Ever since the new Formula One technical regulations came into effect for the 2014 season, there have been few shocks coming about. Mercedes dominated for the first seven years, winning all fourteen drivers and constructors’ championships from 2014 to 2020. In 2021, there was a once-in-a-lifetime showdown between two drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, with the Dutchman coming out on top. Since then, he has been pushing to his max himself, winning 37 of the last 48 grand prixs.
But, while we might grow bored of the Hamilton-Verstappen dominance of the sport, it makes underdog stories even more joyfully celebrated than ever. Moments that we will be discussing in this article include magical drives all the way to the top-three spot from some of the most beloved drivers. Let’s see if your favorite driver makes an appearance!
2014-2016: The Hamilton-Rosberg Silver War
For the first three years of these new hybrid regulations, it was clearly Mercedes’ title to lose. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg formed a formidable duo and took Mercedes to their first constructors championship in 2014. However, this streak also saw the falling out between the pair. Rosberg’s championship triumph in 2016 led to his early retirement as he had put in so much effort to finall beat Hamilton. In these three years, Mercedes won 51 out of 58 races, so the competition was for P2 in the constructors championship.
However, some unexpected and shocking podiums were not completely out the window. Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo earned their first Formula One podium, with Ricciardo even taking three wins of his own and thus became the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race that year. Nonetheless, the most shocking podium for 2014 had to go to Kevin Magnussen, who made his Formula One debut with McLaren at the Australian Grand Prix. He initially finished P3, but later got promoted to P2 by Ricciardo’s disqualification in his home race. To this date, this remained the Dane’s only podium in his Formula One career, and would turn out to be McLaren’s last podium for the next 5 years.
Other honourable mentions
- Romain Grosjean made a surprise visit to the podium at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix in an underperforming Lotus-Renault car. The Frenchman started the race in P9 and made his way all the way up to P3 alongside the two Mercedes.
- Jenson Button shared the Australian podium with his teammate Magnussen. This would turn out to be the last podium of the 2009 World Champion’s career.
2017-2019: The Mercedes-Ferrari Battles
Podiums are even more exclusive to the top three teams during this second phase of the turbo-hybrid era. Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull shared all but five podiums from the 62 grand prixs throughout these three seasons. However, for the 2017 and 2018 seasons Sebastian Vettel and the Ferrari team proved to be worthy challengers to Hamilton and the Mercedes team. Early on in both seasons they took a lead in both championships, but mistakes in the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix and the 2018 German Grand Prix respectively ended their momentum. For 2019, Mercedes’s W10 was an outright championship-winning car on its own, and Hamilton marched on to take three championships in a row.
During this period also see shifts to the line-ups of all the big three teams. Valtteri Bottas joined Mercedes to replace the retired Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull for Renault and was replaced by Pierre Gasly (and later Alex Albon), while 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen was demoted for prodigy Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
For maiden podiums, we saw four drivers earned their first career podium in this period: Stroll, Leclerc, Sainz and Gasly. However, credit must be given to Danil Kvyat. His P3 at the 2019 German Grand Prix was not his first, but definitely his most impressive. The Russian started the race in P14, but managed to survive the wet period with little issues. Toro Rosso’s impressive strategy call allowed him to finish only behind race winner Max Verstappen and hometown hero Sebastian Vettel.
Fun fact
At the 2019 Brazillian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly scored their first podium. This was the first time since the 1994 German Grand Prix that two drivers scored their maiden podium at the same race. Will this feat be repeated once more during the 2024 season? Place your bets now and win big on We88!
2020-2021: The Hamilton-Verstappen Years
The final two years of this regulation proved to be stark in entertainment. 2020 was one of the most dominant Formula One seasons in recorded history, where Lewis Hamilton won 11 out of 16 race to claim his record-equalling seventh world title. 2021 was one of the most closely-fought title race in recorded history, with Hamilton and youngblood Max Verstappen going into the final race equal on points.
Verstappen seemed to be the only driver who could constantly bring the fight to Hamilton ever since his debut at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, and once given a proper race-winning car, he managed to go toe-to-toe with the seven-time champion. The 2021 season proved to be a changing of the guards, as Verstappen has gone on an unprecedented streak of dominance of his own, while Hamilton is struggling to fight for podiums.
In terms of a surprise podium, there are quite a few decent candidates to choose from. Pierre Gasly’s victory at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix or his P3 at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix are equally impressive. Sebastian Vettel’s P2 at the same Azerbaijan race also marked Aston Martin’s return to Formula One in style. But, of course, it has to be Sergio Perez’ victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. Spun around and dead last at the end of the first lap, he patiently cut through the field and took control of his destiny. Yes, Mercedes messed up their tyres and Verstappen crashed out at the start, but the credits have to be given to Perez who drove all the way to earn his first victory after 190 race starts.
Fun fact
Apart from the famous HAM-VER-BOT trio, no one scored more than eight podiums in these two seasons. This did not only showed how far ahead these three drivers were, but also how amazing Verstappen did to come out on top of a Mercedes driver.
