Even through 14 rounds of the 2024 season, there is no question as to who the most outstanding, fastest and most consistent driver in the field is so far this year.
To the surprise of no one, it is the same driver who has been clearly the best on the grid over the last few seasons. And the driver who will very likely claim this year’s world championship title.
Max Verstappen enjoyed a dominant two-year stretch over the first two seasons of F1’s ground effect regulations that even Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton could not match. And in the early phase of the 2024 season, it looked like it was going to be business as usual for the reigning three-times world champion.
Despite some dramatic stories coming out about the team over the opening months of the year, Verstappen ensured that his team were a picture of professional perfectionism out on track. Two rounds, two poles, two victories to start the season in Bahrain and Jeddah. Although he secured a third-straight pole in Australia, Verstappen would suffer only his first failure to finish for two years when his right-rear brake jammed on at the start, forcing him to pull into retirement as his brake temperatures skyrocketed.
If Red Bull’s rivals were under the illusion that they were now vulnerable after that setback, Verstappen soon gave them a hefty dose of reality with a crushing performance in Suzuka that gave him another dominant victory. China was more of the same. Despite missing out on pole for the sprint race in a wet qualifying session, he rose up from fourth methodically to win before securing pole for the grand prix and never looking under threat of being beaten in the race.
But after the first five rounds of the season were completed, it was as if Verstappen was hit by an adaptive difficulty spike. From this point on, he would never have things quite so straightforward at the front over the rest of the season. Although he took another sprint pole and win Miami, he lost his lead in the grand prix after a Safety Car came at the perfect time for Norris. At the restart, Verstappen could not match the McLaren’s pace after suffering minor damage from hitting a bollard at the chicane and was forced to settle for second place for the first time in what felt like forever.
McLaren’s pace was far from a one-off, however, as Red Bull soon discovered. It took a slipstream from Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas at the end of Q3 for Verstappen to just beat Norris and Oscar Piastri…
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