Ranked: The current F1 pecking order from slowest F1 2024 race car to fastest

After returning to a traditional circuit at the Spanish GP, the Barcelona track has given us a more general overview of the current order of the teams on the grid.

Does McLaren have the best race car now? Are Mercedes already back ahead of Ferrari?

F1 2024 pecking order revealed

In order to make the rankings, we have our findings based on the data collected over the last few races and the evolution of the cars in qualifying from 2023 until now.

Therefore, we have not been able to take into account for comparison the data from the Canadian GP due to the rain conditions, the Emilia Romagna GP which did not take place last year, as well as the Chinese GP which is only back on the calendar this year.

Important disclaimer: in a season as evenly matched as this year’s, we believe that the order of the teams, especially in the midfield, may vary from race to race depending on the characteristics of the circuit, a common trend. But this is what we believe is the actual current pecking order of the grid.

10. Williams

They have taken a step forward from 2023 and at some circuits the car seems to be halfway decent, but they are still the backmarkers on the grid.

Alexander Albon’s two points at Monaco must be very much appreciated by the team because they are not expected to be in the points fight any time soon unless there are some crazy racing circumstances.

It’s a pity because James Vowles’ work has been really positive, but they need a performance improvement to be fighting in the mid-range.

9. Kick Sauber

Disappointing season for Kick Sauber so far. It is true that in Spain they seem to have found something more, but they are still far from being in the fight for the points.

The future Audi team has a lot to improve in order to have a solid base from which to start an ambitious project from 2026 onwards.

8. Haas F1 Team

Despite a great performance by Nico Hülkenberg in Barcelona and a surprising performance in Canada for a few laps, the reality is that the Haas is not a very competitive car. But, the team can be happy that they are no longer the last force on the grid as they were in 2023.

There has been a slight improvement, although Alpine has already overtaken them in the ‘development race’ with some ease.

7. Team RB

After a very difficult 2023, only finding points-scoring consistency late in the season, RB has already scored more points in 10 races in 2024 than in the whole of 2023.

The team has still had an erratic start to 2024 with Yuki Tsunoda in great form, but Daniel Ricciardo is showing signs of going from strength to strength as the races have gone by.

In Barcelona, they arrived with big updates that should have made them take an important step forward and stand out ahead of Aston Martin and Alpine. But the opposite has happened.

They have gone backwards on the grid and that is a serious problem when it looked like they could consolidate themselves as the most solid team in the midfield after scoring points in four races in a row.

Maybe they need to go back to the old spec to get back to where they were or understand why the car has been so bad this past weekend.

6. Aston Martin

The Silverstone-based team is on a worrying trend. While the others are going forwards, Aston Martin is going backwards.

The upgrades they are bringing are not working and although the car is obviously an improvement on the 2023 car, their rivals have also improved behind and more than them.

Fernando Alonso has already acknowledged that the team knows where the flaws are and how to correct them.

However, he also calls on Aston Martin’s bosses and staff to work quietly without selling expectations, as they did at Imola with a disastrous weekend despite bringing updates that didn’t work at all.

Aston Martin has a tough few races ahead until they bring in new upgrades that they hope can really fix the AMR24’s performance issues.

5. Alpine

They are the team with the least average improvement in lap times compared to last season.

The leap backwards until a few races ago has been somewhat evident. At this stage of the championship in 2023 they had 40 points; this year only eight, of which seven were scored in the last three races.

Still, after a tremendously positive weekend in Spain and with the recently announced return of Flavio Briatore, the Enstone team seems to be back on the right track.

They have so far outperformed Aston Martin and RB in both qualifying and the race in Spain, but less favourable circuits may lie ahead. Especially those where engine power is more demanding.

We think they are very slightly ahead of Aston Martin and RB right now and the order of these three teams may vary from race to race.

4. Mercedes

No, we cannot yet confirm that Mercedes is already the third quickest team again. It is true that this was the case both in Canada and Spain, and the latter is very representative, but the Silver Arrows needs at least one or two more races to confirm this status after a disappointing start to the season.

The new front wing they fitted at Imola is already paying off. Not only is the performance improvement clear, but the team has – it seems – finally managed to understand the erratic behaviour of the W15 after many ups and downs with a car that changed from session to session.

Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Toto Wolff are already much more optimistic and those are very good signs for further progression.

3. Ferrari

Ferrari is hanging on by a thread in third place at the moment. Mercedes are coming on strong and the latest updates the Scuderia brought to Barcelona don’t seem to have delivered the desired result.

The Silver Arrows beat them both in qualifying and in the race on a circuit that shows the true potential of each car.

Despite this, the differences in qualifying and race pace were not tremendously worrying. The W15 outperformed the SF24 in almost every aspect, but by a very slight margin. It’s still too early to put Mercedes ahead of Ferrari… but it may only be a matter of time.

2. Red Bull

Red Bull’s dominance has disappeared. At least in terms of car performance.

Since then, poles that were easily predictable and even easier victories are no longer the norm for the the Milton Keynes unit.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t a driver behind the wheel working magic. Max Verstappen is saving Red Bull from a clear drop to lower positions.

And surely, without the Dutchman behind the wheel, there would be no current debate about which is the best car on the grid. You only have to look at how Sergio Perez struggles even to fight for the top seven to understand that the car is not easy, especially on bumpy tracks and big kerbs, but Max is there.

It is possible that with an upgrade package Red Bull will be back on top. But until it comes, they will have to suffer.

And looking at the data and the numbers, it is possible that the RB20 will be a difficult car to evolve and that those improvements will not be as significant as those already implemented by McLaren and Ferrari. Their rivals have improved much more than them on average since 2023 as Red Bull enter the law of diminishing returns.

1. McLaren

Who would tell McLaren that after the start they had in 2023, they would be the most powerful car on the grid by mid-season 2024! But that is the reality today. There is no longer any debate.

The MCL38 is the most complete car at the moment and the numbers speak for themselves. The Papaya team has improved its times the most compared to 2023 at this stage and by far…. almost 1.5 seconds on average on each circuit!

In both qualifying and race pace they have had the upper hand since the Miami GP, when they introduced their big upgrades package. And it has worked tremendously well.

Since then, only in Monaco were they not the fastest car, although the ideal qualifying laps also put them higher up the grid. In Canada they also narrowly missed out on pole and victory, and in Barcelona…. Norris missed a great opportunity and had everything in his hands to win.

In a season as evenly matched as this one has been so far, mistakes are costly. And in this case, Max hasn’t made any major ones yet.

McLaren, though, has made more than one and that has penalised them in terms of results in the last races where they always aspired to more.

The moment Red Bull introduces some new upgrades… maybe they are no longer the rival to beat.

They actually need to take more advantage of their status as favourites at this stage of the season.

Read next: Uncovered: How Mercedes beat Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix with upgraded W15