Max Verstappen came into 2024 on the back of the most dominant campaign in Formula 1 history. The Red Bull driver remarkably won 19 out of 22 races en route to a third straight title.
When Verstappen began the year with a 22-second triumph in Bahrain, he looked set to sustain that level of superiority. He would score comfortable victories in Saudi Arabia, Japan and China too, either side of a mechanical retirement at the Australian GP.
But the competitive picture at the front of the grid is now changing, much to the relief of neutrals. Lando Norris was among those to call Verstappen’s individual dominance ‘boring’.
Norris was able to beat the Dutchman in Miami to score his first-ever F1 win. While he needed a bit of luck in the form of a perfectly-timed safety car, he also streaked clear after the race restart.
At Imola, Verstappen looked set to strike back with a controlled victory until Norris began to rapidly close in the final laps. The reigning champion held on, but finished less than a second ahead.
The development race is truly in full swing. McLaren introduced some ‘astonishing’ upgrades in Miami, while Ferrari will hope to see the full benefit of their own updates within the next few races.
Martin Brundle notices lengthy Max Verstappen debrief at Monaco Grand Prix
Verstappen hasn’t appeared as happy with his RB20 of late, calling it a ‘catastrophe’ after first practice at Imola. And he experienced further difficulties as the Monaco Grand Prix weekend got underway.
He ended up down in 11th place, although it’s difficult to read too much into that given that he didn’t run the soft compound tyres. More importantly, he was complaining over the team radio about the car being on a ‘knife-edge’.
After the session, Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle noticed a lengthy debrief in the Red Bull garage involving Verstappen and the team’s bosses. Rivals are now seeing him vent his frustration for the first time in a ‘while’.
In Miami, he caused damage to the underbody of his car with an uncharacteristic error at the chicane before the back straight. And Brundle says that illustrates the pressure he’s now under.
“You see him – he hasn’t complained about a car for a while,” he said. “He’s still debriefing in there. We saw him make a mistake in Miami. Max is having to pull out all the stops now to stay ahead of the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and possibly Mercedes.”
Andrea Stella says Max Verstappen has been doing something ‘amazing’ this season
When McLaren and Ferrari have shown flashes of Red Bull-beating pace in the last two races, Verstappen has been able to pull the laps out of the bag in qualifying. In fact, he’s now matched Ayrton Senna’s record of eight consecutive pole positions.
Given that they have closed up in race pace, and managed to out-qualify Sergio Perez, rivals might have sensed a key opportunity at the start. But Verstappen hasn’t lost the lead into the first corner since last year’s British Grand Prix.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says it’s ‘amazing’ that he’s able to get away well so consistently. He admires the way in which Red Bull are able to avoid banana skins over the course of a race weekend.
Heading into Monaco, Verstappen leads the championship by 48 points. Charles Leclerc has now leapfrogged teammate Perez, and if the Mexican can’t close the ‘ridiculous’ gap, the team’s number-one driver could find himself at a strategic disadvantage to his competitors.
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