The summer break in F1 arrived at a time which showed that Red Bull Racing does not have the dominant car of the past two seasons. Verstappen admitted in his post-race remarks at Spa that he is aware as to how close the field of cars has become and the work that is ahead of the team if they wish to claim both F1 titles in 2024.
Max Verstappen dominated the opening race of the 2024 F1 season and went on to be victorious at 4 of the first 5 races of the season. Unsurprisingly, this prompted many to predict that another Red Bull Racing dominant season was on the way. Fast forward to July and as the summer break arrived the 2024 season had in fact seen seven different winners across the first 14 races.
Having finished the Belgian Grand Prix in front of his closest rival Lando Norris, the Dutchman did see his Championship lead extended to 78 points. Verstappen was asked post-race in Spa as to whether he feels comfortable with the lead he has or is it still too much to play for?
“It’s never comfortable.” stated the 3-time F1 Drivers’ Champion. “There’s always things that can go wrong or can happen to you. So, every weekend you need to be in top form.”
To be on top form, one must extract the car to its fullest and on this point, Verstappen was asked if there is much left for the team to explore from the RB20.
“I think there’s things that maybe we can do different.” claimed Verstappen. “Or analyse the things that we’ve brought to the car. And yeah, we’ll analyse all of that now over the break.
When pressed on what particular things the team would be looking at, the 26-year-old said it would be “things that we have brought to the car and stuff”.
Obviously, had Norris had a better race in Spa – after starting P4 compared to Verstappen’s P11 – the situation could have been very different for the reigning F1 Drivers’ Champion. The man at the top of the standings admitted that he is keeping track on what his closest rival is producing at present.
“I think he [Norris] didn’t have the best first lap, I don’t know what happened there. But yeah, for me that is of course what I look at, actually. Of course, a lot of the other guys, they’ve done great races, but they’re quite far behind in the championship. And yeah, for me, it’s of course with the car that at the moment probably is not the quickest in the race.
“It’s about just limiting the damage and try to be as close as I can be every single time. And that’s what we have been doing lately. And of course, naturally, I would just hope that we can find a little bit more performance, because it will make our lives a bit easier in the race.”
What is making things easier for Red Bull Racing in some ways is the fact that their rivals are performing differently week in week out which as yet is not presenting Red Bull Racing with one dominant competitor after their crown.
Verstappen was asked how does it feel for the other teams to drive around while taking points off one another?
“It’s fantastic.” said Red Bull Racing’s talismanic driver with a smile, “Yeah. I mean, I prefer to have it like that than one team, of course, suddenly dominating every single race.”
When racing resumes it does so in Zandvoort. The Dutchman will be hoping to have no penalties to endure at his home race and is very hopeful for a normal race weekend telling media: “If you start in the top five, your race normally looks a bit different.”
One can imagine that should Verstappen start in the top 5 on home soil, he will more than likely step on to the top step of the podium by the close of the weekend. Even so, he is not blind to the challenge ahead as he told reporters. “I also know that looking at our pure race performance, I think we have to do a little bit better.”
The 2024 F1 season is proving to be very different to what many expected.
Even if the outcome may still be as predicted – a double Red Bull Racing F1 title season – the journey to get there seems far more exciting than many anticipated. This can only be good for the sport and the closeness of the field can in fact only be a good thing for Max Verstappen as he looks to secure his 4th F1 Drivers’ Championship.
