Formula One races are being decided by increasingly small margins this season. The performance between the top few cars has been so close that single factors — such as race starts, safety cars and tiny mistakes in qualifying — are enough to decide races.
In contrast to the past two seasons of F1, Max Verstappen can no longer rely on the performance of his Red Bull to cruise to victory by more than 10 seconds. Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren have all closed the gap in performance, and at the past three races in Monaco, Canada and Spain have each had the fastest car, respectively.
That makes it all the more impressive that Verstappen has still won three of the past four grands prix this season, including another hard-earned victory at Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
When Lando Norris was asked if he could have won in Spain, he answered: “Not could, should have done. I got a bad start, simple as that. The car was incredible today. I think we were, for sure, the quickest. I just lost it in the beginning.”
Verstappen’s consistency over the past four races has seen him extend his championship lead to 69 points over Norris, but If you add up all of the McLaren driver’s could have moments from those same events, the gap in the championship could be as small as 21.
Given how competitive McLaren has been at recent races, a 21-point gap would seem entirely assailable for Norris with 14 rounds remaining. By contrast, however, a 69-point deficit, with Verstappen driving on his current form, seems like a number too large to overhaul.
Details of Norris’ missed opportunities will follow below, but it is important at this stage to state that this is not a dig at the McLaren driver. Yes, he could have scored more points, but the very fact that he is regularly challenging for victories shows just how far he and McLaren have come since this point last year.
Viewed more fairly, the past four races have been a tale of just how good Verstappen has been. Picking fault in the reigning champion’s performances this year is nearly impossible; the reason his championship lead looks so strong is because there are no signs of weakness.
So rather than reading this as a series of errors or what-might-have-beens on Norris’ behalf, it should act as a reminder of why Verstappen deserves every last bit of praise he receives.
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