As the 2024 Formula One season races past the Italian Grand Prix, the championship battle is intensifying, with Max Verstappen sitting at the top of the standings. With the Flying Dutchman over 60 points clear of his nearest rival with just eight races remaining, one would be forgiven for thinking that a fourth straight title is already wrapped up and in the bag.
However, it does not seem so with Super Max and F1 as a whole. The question on everyone’s mind is whether anyone can catch Verstappen before the season wraps up.
Verstappen’s Commanding Lead
Max Verstappen began this season dominantly, as he had ended the previous two. He helped himself to victory in seven of the first nine races and built a huge lead at the top of the standings, and it seemed as though a third straight season of Dutchman’sDutchman dominance was on the cards. Last season, he won all but three races en route to the title, and a similarly dominant campaign has prompted Formula 1 betting providers to make him a huge favorite for the title.
However, his odds of claiming the title have tumbled in recent weeks, and the fact that he is only a 2.00 fourth favorite to win the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix speaks volumes. Since Verstappen’s most recent victory in Spain back in June, things have changed.
His Red Bull was the fastest car on the grid at the start of the season, and by some distance; however, now, his car would be lucky to be considered the fourth fastest. McLaren has built an absolute rocket ship and is comfortably the fastest, with Mercedes arguably behind them in second. Then comes both Ferrari and Red Bull, who are at a similar level to the Silver Arrows. So, with that being said, claiming a fourth straight world title is hardly a formality.
I’ll remember this forever. Thank you everyone ❤️ pic.twitter.com/aN8BWiGoMX
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris)
May 8, 2024
Lando Norris: The Challenger
In recent years, Lando Norris has emerged as a superstar, albeit in a somewhat slower car than that of Verstappen.
However, in recent weeks that has all changed and he finds himself in the fastest car on the grid and as the Dutchman’s closest rival. He claimed his maiden race victory earlier in the campaign in Miami, temporarily ending Verstappen’s dominant streak. And since then, he has gone from strength to strength.
Norris has claimed pole position in three of the previous four races, but he has only been able to convert one of them into victory. That came on Verstappen’s home turf at the Dutch Grand Prix back on August 25th, but things haven’t been working out for the talented young Brit either.
As of yet, his McLaren team hasn’t yet backed him and made him their number-one driver. Instead, they opted to let both Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri battle it out for race victories, even making the former pull over for the latter to hand his Australian teammate victory in Hungary. The two clashed once again at the recent Italian Grand Prix, with Piastri overtaking Norris on the first lap, costing both McLarens the victory.
If Norris is to challenge Verstappen over the next three months and close the 62-point gap to Verstappen, he needs his team to back him immediately. Failing that, his championship hopes may well go down the drain.
