How the 2024 Teams’ Championship compares to previous seasons

11 June 2024

It has been a wildly entertaining first five rounds of the season and as we prepare to head to Barcelona, the Teams’ Championship is beginning to take shape.

Currently, the top five teams are separated by just 20 points, as Campos Racing lead the way on 104, giving them a nine-point advantage over Hitech Pulse-Eight in second.

MP Motorsport are just a point back in third, while Rodin Motorsport are fourth with 85 points, one clear off Invicta Racing in fifth.

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But with only five rounds out of 14 completed, can we read anything into this? It is still early but history suggests that we might be able to.

In each of the previous seven seasons, the team that has won the title has been inside the top three after Round 5. Teams like Carlin in 2018, DAMS in 2019, PREMA Racing in 2021 and MP Motorsport in 2022 were already in the lead at this stage of the season before going on to win the Championship.

PREMA in 2020 as well as ART Grand Prix last year have also won from second proving that being in and around the top at this point in the season is quite important.

Campos are currently first in the Teams' Championship ahead of Hitech

This will be welcomed news for Campos, Hitech, and MP this year, but the caveat to all of this is that this season is proving to be unlike any other with the top of the Standings having never been this close.

For example, PREMA are currently sixth on 66 points, trailing Campos by 38 points. In five of the last seven years, that same margin would have put the Italian squad in the top three, yet they find themselves in the midfield this time around.

This has happened largely because the new Formula 2 car has shaken up the order. As Hitech Team Principal Oliver Oakes said recently, the new machinery made it “a level playing field” at the start of the season.

That is because all the teams started the year with the same amount of knowledge about the car, learning more about it, and how to improve their performance as the season has gone on.

“The new F2 car has the same rear geometry as the previous one, but the front has changed quite a lot,” explained F2 Technical Director Pierre-Alain Michot. “Also, the new aero requirement means the teams have a bit more to understand in terms of how the car behaves and linked to the new package with the F1 family look.

“That might be trickier for some drivers to acclimatise to and some teams to find a good setup to exploit the best of the car. That’s the main reason for some different performances this year.”

PREMA are currently the only team without a podium in 2024 but are still sixth in the Standings

He also said: “I don’t know how each team has gone about things, but some might have come into this year with a 2023 philosophy and trying to transfer that to ’24, but it hasn’t worked out perfectly. Others had a car that maybe wasn’t in the right place but have learned quickly.

“For some teams, what they had last year is working with this new car, others are not going in the direction they want. It has shuffled the order a bit.

“All of them are trying to understand how their new baby works.”

But what does this mean for the remaining six teams? History may suggest otherwise but they will be optimistic, considering that they have all shown great pace.

AIX Racing are currently last in the Standings but are coming off the back of two weekends in Imola and Monte Carlo where they achieved their first points, podium, and victory.

Trident in 10th were on pole in Monaco through Richard Verschoor, while Roman Stanek won the Melbourne Sprint. Additionally, ninth-placed Van Amersfoort Racing dominated to win the Jeddah Feature Race with Enzo Fittipaldi.

Zak O'Sullivan gave reigning Champions ART their first win of the year in Monte Carlo

Reigning Champions ART are also beginning to find form and got their first front row start with Victor Martins in Monte Carlo before Zak O’Sullivan won the Feature.

PREMA in fact is the only team not to have stood on the podium in 2024. But they have two front row starts – not including Jeddah where Oliver Bearman qualified fastest but withdrew from the weekend to deputise for Ferrari in Formula 1 – with only Invicta Racing (3) having more than them.

This sets us up for an exciting nine rounds as while history suggests that one of the top three teams will win the title, the 2024 season is proving to be different. Therefore, it is all to play for heading to Barcelona and beyond.