On June 23, Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix, driving his Red Bull; his seventh success in ten races. At this moment, the three-time Dutch world champion has 219 points in the drivers’ standings, 69 more than his second placed driver, the British Lando Norris. It’s hard, then, to imagine anyone other than him winning at the end of the season.
With six races left in the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the difference has however been reduced to 52 units. One hundred and seventy-four points will still be distributed, including a share in the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, October 20. After two exercises scandalously dominated by Max Verstappen, the coronation will be played this time between four men.
Max Verstappen, a champion under pressure
Leader of the world championship, with 331 points, Max Verstappen is going through a delicate moment. The Batavian, who aspires to a fourth consecutive title – an achievement achieved, between 2017 and 2020, by the British Lewis Hamilton – has not won a single race for almost four months (the Spanish Grand Prix).
With little or no help from his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Pérez, eighth in the drivers’ standings, with 144 units, the Dutchman no longer has the best car on the grid. Red Bull has seen notable departures of key members in recent months – its star engineer, Adrian Newey, for example, signed with Aston Martin -, in the context of the affair Christian Horner, the team boss, acquitted of “an accusation of “inappropriate behavior” towards an employee. The Austrian structure has eight Grand Prix without winning. This has not happened since 2020.
“We went from a very dominant car to one that was undrivable in the space of six to eight months”explained Max Verstappen after the Italian Grand Prix, in Monza, on the 1stAhem September. Since then, McLaren has taken the lead in the constructors’ standings, and its driver Lando Norris, an easy winner in Singapore, achieved his third success this season. Under pressure heading into the final sprint, 27-year-old Max Verstappen said early retirement could not be ruled out.
Lando Norris, a friend who became his main rival
Off the track, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have never hidden their friendship. However, the two men are now rivals. A collision during the Austrian Grand Prix in June forced the Briton to retire, while the Red Bull driver finished fifth. Since then, the 24-year-old native of Bristol (England) has reversed the trend, driven by a McLaren that has become irresistible.
Author of his third success in his career and in the season in Singapore, with more than twenty seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, the young man, appreciated in the paddock for his talent and character, has been on the podium eleven times since the start of the season .
A member of the British manufacturer’s young driver program since 2017, he rose to the elite in 2019, alongside the Spanish Carlos Sainz. Usually on the front line at the end of last season (seven podiums), he finds himself in this position of title contender for the first time.
Charles Leclerc, a paradoxical season
The Monegasque Charles Leclerc, third in the drivers’ standings, with 245 points, is experiencing, like his Ferrari car, a season of ups and downs. Announced as Max Verstappen’s main rival at the beginning of the season, thanks to promising winter tests, Leclerc marked time at the beginning of the summer, between the Canadian Grand Prix, on June 9, and the British Grand Prix, on July 7 . In four races, he only scored 12 points, allowing the Dutchman to fly away and Lando Norris to pass him.
The truth is that its 2024 season is already a success. The 26-year-old took his first home win in Monaco in May. A success as resounding as the one he had achieved on the Scuderia’s land, in Monza (Italy), more than two months later. “These are the two careers that have made me dream since I was little.stated the 2022 world runner-up. But a season is more than two races. »
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The fifth place obtained in Singapore, more than sixty seconds behind the winner, Lando Norris, did not reassure Charles Leclerc. “We have always said that we have to be careful not to have false expectations, because McLaren always has a better car than us. There are circuits in which we will be very close, others in which we will be further away”the pilot explained. Ferrari, third in the constructors’ championship, 34 points behind Red Bull and 75 behind McLaren, hopes to be a spoilsport at the end of the championship.
Oscar Piastri, a rookie full of ambitions
In his second season in Formula 1, Oscar Piastri won two victories, in Hungary and Azerbaijan. The 23-year-old Australian, champion at the end of his first year in Formula 3 in 2020 before winning the Formula 2 title a year later, has progressed this season, repeatedly worrying McLaren teammate Lando Norris. . To the point that the English team announced, on the sidelines of the Baku Grand Prix, to favor the position of the Briton to the detriment of the Melbourne team to maximize his chances in the race for the title against Max Verstappen.
Fourth in the world championship, with 237 units, Oscar Piastri, finishing seven times in the top three this season, showed that he can compete with the best elements of the paddock if he has good equipment. Thanks to the results of its two drivers – Red Bull suffers from Sergio Pérez’s points deficit compared to its leader Max Verstappen – McLaren seems to be heading towards a ninth constructors’ title, the last of them in 1998. From here to the end At the end of season, Oscar Piastri will regularly be in the fight for a podium, or even a victory, in case of setbacks for his pit mate, Lando Norris.
