“It’s Max Who Deserves the Title”: Esteban Ocon Lauds Verstappen for Winning Races Without ‘The Fastest Car’

The 2024 season produced multiple race winners, in what was a surprising twist after Max Verstappen started on a dominant note. With Red Bull’s performance gradually declining, Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes improved their pace to contend for victories, challenging the Dutchman’s supremacy. Yet, Verstappen held on to his lead in the Drivers’ Championship, and with three weekends to go, Esteban Ocon feels no one deserves the title more.

“I clearly think it’s Max who deserves the title this year, he has a car that has not been the fastest for a lot of races now, but still manages to have amazing races, to be consistent,” said Ocon to Canal Plus.

At the start of the season, the paddock felt Verstappen would dominate F1 once again after finishing P1 19 out of 22 times last year. But then, Red Bull entered a slump around the month of May, and the RB20 developed issues with handling.

Still, Verstappen managed to compete at the front, even scraping in wins in Canada and Spain with a sub-par car.

He stayed close to the front of the grid, overperforming, which allowed him to maintain his lead despite McLaren’s Lando Norris getting close.

A resilient Verstappen all but sealed his fourth Championship win last weekend when he broke his 10-race winless streak by finishing first in Sao Paulo. In what was one of the best drives in F1 history, the Dutchman went from P17 to P1 in extremely wet conditions, breezing past the field while others struggled for grip.

It is moments like this that make Verstappen a worthy winner, something Alpine’s Ocon likely thought about while choosing his pick.

Verstappen is currently 62 points ahead of Norris in the Championship standings, and all he needs is a decent result in Las Vegas to seal his crown.

Championship crowning in Vegas or Qatar

Verstappen will win the 2024 Drivers’ Championship if he leaves Las Vegas with a 60+ point lead over Norris. Considering where he is now, that shouldn’t be difficult at all, and a win would throw all doubts out of the window.

Norris is helpless. The only thing he can look to do is delay Verstappen’s crowning moment to the following race in Qatar. With the Briton needing to outscore his rival by 21 points per weekend (there are three remaining), Verstappen could only help the McLaren driver’s cause by crashing out in both races.

All said and done, it seems inevitable that Verstappen will be a four-time champ by the time F1 heads to the Middle East.

Verstappen did a brilliant job in defending the top spot with a considerably weaker car, and never let the gap between him and Norris get down below 40 points.

Interestingly, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella insisted that the Drivers’ Championship was never their priority, although they did issue team orders to help Norris on multiple occasions.