While the 2024 Formula 1 season began with the near certainty that Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team would win the championship—the driver did, the team didn’t—the only certitude this year is that it will be one of the most humanly interesting seasons in a long while. Last year, for the first time since the series started in 1950, there were no changes of drivers at any of the teams from the end of the previous season to the beginning of the next. Now, in an about face, when the first grand prix is held later today in Australia, only Aston Martin and McLaren will race with the same two teammates. And with six new drivers between the ages of 18 and 23 joining the series, along with four others jumping teams, half the grid is facing a beginner’s pressure to perform. That can only mean action and upsets at the expense of the participants,..
