At the start of the 2024 season, Karun Chandhok predicted neither of the two McLaren drivers to finish in the top four. However, given the meteoric rise of the Woking team, which is now challenging for both championships, the F1 pundit has had to make alterations to his predictions.
Earlier this year on the Fast and the Curious podcast, Chandhok predicted that Verstappen will win the championship followed by Hamilton and Leclerc as the runners-up. However, in a recent episode of the podcast, the F1 presenter revised his prediction as he said, “I’m going to go bold and say Oscar second and Lando third.“
“Funny how things change so quickly”
In our summer break catch-up with @karunchandhok we gave him the chance to update his predictions from the start of the season.
Think he’s made the right calls? #F1 pic.twitter.com/KwPsPDWcKW
— The Fast And The Curious (@fastcuriouspod) August 7, 2024
The former F1 driver’s first prediction was horribly off the charts. Except for the championship winner, which Verstappen was the favorite for, his predictions are turning out to be wrong so far. Leclerc was second in the standings for some races, but since Ferrari’s drop in form, he has fallen to third and is not scoring consistent podiums.
Meanwhile, Hamilton has suffered from a wretched start to Mercedes’ season and is climbing back from the lower half of the top 10 in the standings. Lando Norris has come up as the most likely challenger to Verstappen for the championship. Regardless, Chandhok backed up his choice to put Oscar Piastri ahead of Norris.
Chandhok stated that Piastri is now an equal to Norris. He pointed out how the Aussie has outscored Norris by 10 points in the last eight rounds. The Sky Sports pundit explained that Norris will still have the edge at some tracks in qualifying.
Regardless, Chandhok believed that Piastri would outscore Norris in the second half of the season. He made the bold prediction despite the risk of being bashed by the Norris fans. Nonetheless, the F1 pundit might actually be onto something.
Piastri’s chances of catching up to Norris after the summer break
With 10 races to go, Piastri is only 32 points behind his teammate and currently in P4. The Aussie has a calm demeanor which was evident during his maiden win at the 2024 Hungarian GP. Had it not been for McLaren’s strategic mishap, Piastri would have won the race without team orders.
Piastri seemed to struggle with tire wear in the first half of the season but has improved and has much better control over it. However, the McLaren duo’s relationship was reportedly cracked after the Hungarian GP team orders mess.
Two young drivers gunning for the championship, after the Hungarian GP incident means both of them will try to outperform the other. While it may be a positive as the duo will push each other to the limit, it might also adversely affect the team if the two collide on track.
