2023 was Max Verstappen’s year, as the Dutchman won 19 out of 22 races on his way to securing a third World Championship. This season, it doesn’t look like Verstappen will run away with the Title with McLaren and Ferrari making ground. Yet, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso believes that the Dutchman will win his fourth crown come the end of the campaign.
Alonso feels that both Ferrari and McLaren have strong cars. But what matters is that they are more error-prone. This is an area Verstappen’s team Red Bull, excels in. “There is no World Championship, this will be Max Verstappen’s fourth title,” said Alonso to EFE News Agency (as per Soy Motor). “The ones who are going to make the least mistakes are Verstappen and Red Bull.”
According to SoyMotor, Fernando Alonso told the EFE news agency: “There is no World Championship, this will be Max Verstappen’s fourth title.” https://t.co/FfO8ixXSDt
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) June 18, 2024
The 2024 season started with Verstappen winning two races before suffering an engine failure in Melbourne. He came back with two successive wins in Japan and China, after which Red Bull was struck with the realization that McLaren was catching up since Lando Norris won the Miami GP.
Ferrari too, with upgrades to its cars, has won two races this season and is just 24 points behind the Milton-Keynes-based outfit. And in Canada, Mercedes joined in on the fun, with George Russell finishing P3.
If Mercedes becomes stronger, the 2024 season could see a four-horse race for the Constructors’ Championship. But still, Red Bull has an edge over its rivals, and the aforementioned results were mainly due to the team’s weaknesses in certain tracks.
Red Bull’s advantage over the likes of McLaren and Ferrari
Out of the last four races, three of them took place on street circuits. And this exposed the RB2o’s weakness on a silver platter. The car struggles to ride to kerbs and maintain balance on bumpy tracks. Verstappen constantly complained about the suspension being too harsh, and there was no remedy in sight.
However, as F1 heads to more traditional circuits (starting with Barcelona this weekend), it is advantage Red Bull once again. Although Ferrari and McLaren have caught Red Bull in multiple aspects, the RB20 is still the best overall package with great straight-line speed and high-medium downforce performance.
Ferrari and McLaren need to be on their toes to take advantage of any slip-ups. Even if they’re not able to take the wins off Red Bull and Verstappen, they need to aim for the top three to keep the Title race alive.
