Verstappen emerged as title winner for a fourth consecutive year in 2024, but the Dutch driver’s season was of a very different complexion to his previous championship victories.
Verstappen’s 2024 season started in dominant fashion as the Dutchman’s championship defence saw him pick up where he left off in 2023. Winning four of the first six races, this was a similar strike rate to 2023 as he won 19 of the 23 races en route to his third title.
But Red Bull‘s dominance came to a sudden end after the first quarter of the season as McLaren’s MCL38 emerged as a strong contender.
By mid-season, the McLaren appeared to have the edge and, indeed, Red Bull’s RB20 even fell behind Ferrari’s F1-75 and Mercedes’ W15 as the development race unfolded.
Red Bull’s development path for the RB20 had gone awry, with the team open about its issues getting real-life performance to match up with its simulated data from the wind tunnel, before a considered step back on parts steadied the ship in the final quarter of the season.
With Verstappen’s magic in Brazil all but ending Lando Norris’ championship challenge, the title victory was perhaps Verstappen’s most challenging since 2021 as he pushed to topple Lewis Hamilton’s supremacy.
But the events of the season were combined with Red Bull’s personnel landscape changing as chief technical officer Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley handed in their notices – Newey to take up a new role as Aston Martin’s managing technical partner, and Wheatley to become team principal at Sauber ahead of its takeover by Audi.
Other changes saw Rob Marshall, former chief engineering officer complete his move to McLaren, chief mechanic Lee Stevenson move to become chief mechanic at Sauber, and Will Courtenay, head of strategy, hand in his notice ahead of a move to McLaren to become sporting director next season.
It’s a period of transformation for Red Bull, although key technical names like Paul Monaghan, chief engineer, Pierre Wache, technical director, and Enrico Balbo, head of aerodynamics, all put pen to paper on contract extensions to ensure continuity alongside internal promotions.
All of these changes, combined with the struggles for performance, left Verstappen without the same calmness, believes Mario Andretti, who pointed to how the Dutch driver found himself at the mercy of the stewards on occasion as his defence against Norris turned increasingly desperate in the final races of the season.
“I see a Verstappen who is a bit ‘disorientated’ by the dynamics of the season and the situation at Red Bull,” Andretti told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“He’s in a very different position than he was last year and also at the beginning of 2024, so he’s suddenly found himself having to pull performance out of the car that’s not there.
“When you no longer have a dominant car and you have to fight with an effort beyond what you have at your disposal, then mistakes happen.”
With Verstappen also drawing the ire of, and occasionally questioning the decisions made by the stewards, Andretti said it is key that uniformity and transparency in the stewarding calls are in place.
“Sometimes it’s right to penalise and sometimes it’s not, but you have to give clear rules so that you don’t change the yardstick every time.”
With F1 2025 a continuation of 2024 in terms of technical regulations, it promises a year of close battling between as many as four teams – perhaps more if any of the midfield can find more performance over the winter.
Andretti said that, while the odds remain in Verstappen’s favour as the regulations remain stable, 2024 proved external factors can play their part.
“[It was] a very interesting season, one of the most beautiful and unpredictable in recent years,” he said.
“Max Verstappen proved once again he has an uncommon driving talent, but there are so many dynamics that make the whole championship open-ended and bode well for the coming years.
“There has been a lot of talk about Verstappen’s aggressive driving in recent months.
