Damon Hill predicts F1 driver we’ve hardly ‘heard of’ could win a Grand Prix this year

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With 10 races remaining, Formula 1 has already seen seven different winners this season. Oscar Piastri was the most recent addition to that list, leading home Lando Norris for a controversial McLaren one-two in Hungary.

Somewhat remarkably, only two drivers have won multiple Grands Prix so far. Max Verstappen won four of the first five and has notched three more since to establish a commanding 78-point championship lead.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, ended a two-and-a-half-year drought at the British GP in July and then won again at Spa at the end of the month. That victory was slightly hollow, however, as it followed teammate George Russell’s disqualification.

Russell had already won the Austrian GP after Verstappen and Lando Norris collided in the closing stages. That goes down as one of many missed opportunities for Norris, who still hasn’t been able to add to his maiden triumph in Miami.

Elsewhere, both Ferrari drivers have got on the board, with Carlos Sainz winning in Australia – just two weeks after an appendectomy – and Charles Leclerc finally conquering the ‘Monaco curse’. The Scuderia have since lost their way in the development race, which makes their chances of adding to that tally look remote.

Damon Hill predicts an eighth different winner of 2024 F1 season

Speaking to the Dutch edition of RacingNews365, 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill predicted that there could be an eighth or even a ninth different winner by the end of the season. The field has converged in the penultimate year of the ruleset, particularly at the front.

F1 hasn’t seen eight separate winners since the classic 2012 season. And there haven’t been nine in a single campaign since 1975.

Sergio Perez is the standout candidate to join the club given that he’s driving the championship-leading Red Bull. However, Perez is in the midst of a spiral right now, having scored just 28 points in eight races.

The last driver from outside the current top four teams to win a race was Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who caused a stunning upset in Hungary in 2021. The previous year, Pierre Gasly won at Monza with AlphaTauri, while Perez took the chequered flag in Sakhir for Racing Point (now Aston Martin).

Sky Sports F1 pundit Hill said: “We’ve had seven different winners and there’s a good chance we’ll have more winners by the end of the year, maybe even some we’ve never heard of.”

Can drastic Red Bull changes help Sergio Perez win a race?

A race win between now and the end of the season could be enough to save Perez’s drive. That feel-good factor may ensure Red Bull honour their original commitment to the Mexican, through to the end of 2025.

After the Zandvoort/Monza back-to-back, F1 will visit Baku and Singapore. The 34-year-old has taken half of his six career victories at those two circuits.

But he’ll need plenty to go in his favour if he’s to compete. Red Bull could revert Perez to an earlier spec, a gamble that needs to pay off.

Realistically, he may also need Verstappen to drop out of contention for whatever reason – the Dutchman has beaten him in every meaningful session this year. Perez is facing the axe after Singapore if he doesn’t show signs of improvement.

His replacement would then have an outside chance of competing for victory. Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson are the two names in contention if Red Bull do opt to make a change.