Pre-Miami
When the traveling circus that is F1 rolled up to the Bahrain International Circuit for pre-season testing, most F1 fans had a pretty good idea of how the season was going to go. Despite being clouded by an off-track scandal involving team principal Christian Horner, Red Bull picked up where they left off at the end of a profoundly dominant 2023 season.
Max Verstappen took the checkered flag with a 22 second lead over teammate Sergio Perez, who finished in second. A week later in Saudi Arabia, Max and Checo again secured the 1-2 finish. Carlos Sainz did pick up a surprise win in Australia with Max suffering a brake failure, but Max and Checo retook the top two spots on the podium again in Japan. Max went on to win his fourth race of the season in Shanghai with a nearly 15 second lead, and teammate Perez finished third.
After the Chinese Grand Prix I, like many other F1 fans, was feeling dejected. The season was shaping up to be yet another season where Max would almost all the races with 10-20 second leads. We may have the occasional Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, or Charles Leclerc sneak a P2 ahead of Checo but in the end it was Red Bull’s season, and we were just living in it. Until the tides changed in Miami.
Miami and Beyond
Miami was shaping up to be another standard race weekend, with Max taking the top step and Checo joining him on the podium. Max did win the sprint race, but his lead over Charles was only about 3 seconds. And then the unthinkable happened in the feature race…Max lost a race. Okay, he didn’t lose, he came in second, but in this era of Max Verstappen dominance a second place is a loss. Amid celebrating Lando’s maiden win of his career, we all started to wonder whether this was just a fluke, or if Max and Red Bull weren’t invincible after all.
Fast forward to Imola. Yes, Max took home the win, but he was fighting with Lando down the stretch to secure the victory and crossed the finish line with less than a second margin. In Monaco the following weekend, Red Bull was nowhere. We got to see Charles take home his first home race win (an event that is still living rent free in my head), followed by Oscar Piastri in second, and Carlos Sainz in third. Max finished sixth, and Checo was out of the race after a first lap incident with Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.
Max did bounce back slightly in Canada and Barcelona, taking home the victory in both races. But again, Lando was in the fight so even though we once again were hearing the Dutch national anthem, there were still a glimmer of hope that this would not be the only anthem we’d be hearing for the rest of the season.
And Austria is really where we started to see the cracks. In a close battle with Lando for the lead, it was clear that Max no longer was feeling in control of his own fate. The Red Bull was clearly on the edge, and with Max uncomfortable behind the wheel that opened up the opportunity for disaster. After some reckless wheel to wheel racing, Max and Lando crashed out of the Austrian Grand Prix, leaving the door open for George Russel to take the victory. This race made it clear that, maybe Lando would not be the only one Max was going to have to worry about—Mercedes was back on the up and up.
Max had another tough weekend the following week in Silverstone. The entire weekend he appeared on the back foot, much to the delight of the home fans. With the Red Bull out of form, this left open the opportunity for a home driver win. George, Lewis, and Lando qualified in the top three, and with Max qualifying in fifth it really was anyone but Max’s race to win on Sunday. It was clear from the start that Max did not have the pace in that race, but after some good strategic calls (and bad calls on the part of his competitors) he was still able to bring home P2 behind Lewis.
Lewis taking his first win in over 2 years brought us to our sixth different winner of the season…and if someone would have told me during the Bahrain race weekend that six different drivers would claim race wins, I would have laughed in their face. And if someone told me there would be seven different race winners, I would have though that would be even more ridiculous. But tensions really came to a peak in Hungary, where Oscar Piastri brought home his maiden grand prix victory in dramatic fashion). And after a crash with Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps of the race, Max found himself off the podium.
The following race at Spa, Max was off the podium again. The field was tight between the Mercedes and McLaren drivers, and Red Bull ultimately had a disappointing showing. Max started the weekend in P11 after taking a grid penalty for taking a new power unit but having qualified first with Checo in third (starting in P2 with Max’s penalty) I definitely thought Red Bull might be bouncing back. While Max was able to make it through the field, to an extent, Spa yet again showed that the Red Bull no longer has the dominating pace that it started out the season with. Being on par with the Mercedes and McLaren cars, Max was only able to fight his way to P4 and Checo dropped down to P7.
Entering the summer break, Max finished on only one out of four podiums and went four races without a win.
What’s Next?
It is safe to say that as we head to the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break, Max may not be the favorite after all. There is a three-way fight between Max, Mercedes, and McLaren, and in that fight, Max may be the one at a disadvantage. Since the departure of Adrian Newey was announced, Red Bull’s car development has seemingly been regressing, and the bombshell announcement that sporting director Jonathan Wheatley only signals more instability within the Red Bull team.
Unless Red Bull has made significant progress over the summer break, which is unlikely due to the mandated shut down, we likely are going to see many more Mercedes and McLaren wins in the coming weeks. Max may be able to pull out a stunner at his home race in Zandvoort, which would not surprise anyone, but Max and Red Bull’s era of complete dominance seems to be completely over.
Race fans are in for a treat as we move into the second half of 2024 and 2025. Having started watching F1 in 2022, this is the first time I am witnessing a true competitive season, and it is so thrilling! I cannot wait to turn my TV on every Sunday now knowing that Max is not just going to run away with the victory, and I think many new F1 fans also share that same excitement.
Now the big questions are, will Max be able to hold onto the Driver’s Championship, and will McLaren be able to bring home the Constructor’s Championship for the first time in 25 years?
Comments