By Harry Freemantle

Max Verstappen was crowned a four-time World Champion under the lights at the Las Vegas Grand Prix following a fifth place finish down the strip.

The 27-year old Dutchman has now joined greats such as Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel with four drivers titles.

Whereas last season was sunshine and rainbows for Red Bull and Verstappen, this season has been far from it with Red Bull being either the 2nd or 3rd car throughout the year.

Australia up in smoke

At the beginning of the 2024 season, Max Verstappen and Red Bull looked untouchable. Verstappen won the opening two races of the season with team-mate Sergio Perez finishing behind in second.

However, things changed when arrive at Round 3 for the Australian Grand Prix were Ferrari looked to have the edge on Red Bull.

The slow speed and long corners at Albert Park appeared to put Ferrari in it’s sweet spot.

Despite that, Verstappen narrowly took pole from Carlos Sainz with Charles Leclerc just behind in fourth. At the start of the race Verstappen was overtaken by Sainz and on Lap 3, Verstappen had to pull into the pits to retire the car as a result of a rear brake duct catching fire.

At the time, most people did not expect this to be crucial within the championship given Red Bull’s advantage at the start of the season. However, as their downfall began a few rounds later, that possible 25 points could’ve been handy for the Dutchman as well as for Red Bull in their attempt to reclaim the Constructors Championship.

Grid shuffles at the Sunshine State

Coming into the Miami Grand Prix, not much was anticipated. A track that Red Bull have won both times at after Verstappen stomped on the competition in Shanghai the previous race, a Max Verstappen win was what everybody expected.

McLaren who have been podium contenders at the start of the 2024 season brought their first major package. A lot of eyes on McLaren this weekend as in 2023, McLaren went from struggling to score points to scoring regular podiums.

Despite Norris showing great pace in sprint qualifying, Verstappen took pole and won the sprint after Norris qualified down in ninth after not being able to maximise the car performance and retired from the race following a four-way collison with Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen then qualified on pole and Norris down in fifth, Lando Norris won the Miami Grand Prix taking his maiden Grand Prix Victory.

It must be noted Norris was extremely lucky as he stayed out longer than the rest and took advantage of a safety car following Kevin Magnussen’s and Logan Sargeant’s crash, Norris pulled away from Verstappen at the safety car restart and built up a seven second gap.

Their was a clear sign the the tides were shifting.

Red Bull’s supposed upgrades

With McLaren overtaking Red Bull as the fastest car, a lot of eyes were on the Milton-Keynes based team. At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Red Bull brought their first major upgrades of the season.

The weekend did not start strong following a shaky set of practice sessions, Red Bull looked to be behind both McLaren and Ferrari.

Verstappen was able to drag the car into pole position and then convert to victory however, McLaren showed to have the upper hand in terms of pace throughout that weekend. This continued in Monaco as Verstappen slumped to a season worse sixth place, whereas homeboy hero Charles Leclerc took the victory in Monte Carlo.

Verstappen was able to take victory in both Montreal and Barcelona however, Red Bull were only the third fastest car in Canada behind McLaren and a resurgent Mercedes, and behind McLaren again in Spain. At that moment in time Red Bull could win should everything go right for them.

At the British Grand Prix onwards Red Bull did not have the pace to fight for wins at all. Despite a P2 finish at Silverstone, it came about through McLaren strategy blunders. They would go on a run of 10 races without a win leaving the door wide open for rivals.

Ferrari mid-season slump

Following Charles Leclerc’s fantastic home race win in Monaco he was just 31 points behind Max Verstappen. With Ferrari possibly having the edge over Red Bull over the past couple rounds, many believed that Leclerc could find himself in the fight.

After a strong start to the season, Leclerc and Ferrari would find themselves through a terrible run of form. Canada a Q2 exit in qualifying and retirement from the race as a result of an engine issue, a fifth place finish in Spain, and two finishes outside of the points in Austria following a lap 1 incident with Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez and an incorrect tire call in the wet in Britain that dropped him outside of the points.

This found Leclerc 105 points behind Verstappen firmly putting any possibility of a title fight out the window.

Looking back now and given Ferrari’s and Leclerc’s form from the Dutch Grand Prix onwards were Ferrari took wins at Monza, Austin and Mexico City and had race winning pace at Baku and Singapore, you have to feel what could’ve been for Ferrari and Leclerc had they’ve had that four race drought.

McLaren’s bottle-jobs

McLaren without a shadow of a doubt have had the fastest car this season. At weekends such as Budapest, Zandvoort and Singapore they have blitz the competition. However, when they don’t have such a clear advantage McLaren find a way to blow it.

Lando Norris found himself to have an addiction of qualifying on pole and losing positions at the start. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Norris found himself behind Russell and Verstappen at the race start which lost him enough time to cost him the win. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris lost out to team-mate Piastri and Verstappen at the start costing him the win. Norris also found himself losing the lead at the start in the Netherlands, Italy, United States and Brazil.

McLaren also had an addiction of screwing up the strategy costing Norris wins too. At the British Grand Prix, McLaren elected to put Norris on the soft tire for his final stint despite the medium compound being the superior tire. At the Italian Grand Prix McLaren put Norris on a two-stop slower strategy that lost him the win against Leclerc.

When the pressure was on Norris was nowhere to be seen. In Imola, Norris failed to qualify on pole and win despite the clear best car. Threw a win away at Spain as a result of his race start, poor pace in Belgium, outclassed by Verstappen in Austin and poor performance in Brazil threw points away for Norris at critical moments.

Verstappen crushes it in the Americas

With Norris crushing the competition at the Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen looked to be under immense pressure going into the final six races.

The United States Grand Prix, Verstappen and Norris duelled out for the final place on the podium. With clever race craft and understanding of the rules Verstappen was able to finish ahead of Norris after Norris overtook him off track and received a five second time penalty.

Then when Formula One arrived in Brazil, the heavens opened up as rain poured heavily down on the track. Verstappen had a five place penalty for taking a new engine component outside of his available pool. With being caught out by a red flag caused by Lance Stroll at the end of Q2, Verstappen qualified 12th and with that penalty he started from 17th place.

Using his skills in the wet and immense race craft, Verstappen stormed through the field and made overtake after overtake. After electing to stay out Verstappen benefitted from a red flag caused following Franco Colapinto’s crash. Verstappen then overtook Esteban Ocon to take victory in a masterclass of performance. Verstappen set seventeen fastest laps in his final stint as he put 20 seconds on the field.

This ended all doubt in the championship battle and put Verstappen on the verge of a fourth consecutive world title.