For a change, Max Verstappen had a championship rival in 2024 in the form of Lando Norris. The McLaren driver ran him as close as anyone had since Red Bull started its dominance in the ground-effect era in 2022.
While Verstappen still won the Drivers’ Championship rather comfortably, he and Norris were the standout drivers of the season, consistently being at the sharp end of the grid.
They had the most number of 1-2 finishes, per F1 statistics spotter Daniel Valente’s data on the F1 subreddit. There were seven different instances of the duo occupying the top two spots on the podium in either order: China, Miami, Imola, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, and Singapore.
No other driver duo could get close to this tally with the next best being three 1-2 podiums by Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri. Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez also had three 1-2 finishes in the opening rounds of the season. Meanwhile, the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished 1-2 twice, in Australia and Austin.
Except for Perez, all these drivers won races in 2024, given the competitiveness of the pecking order, which increased exponentially when the European leg kicked off in May. But Ferrari had a slump during the same period while Piastri blew hot and cold from race to race while picking off his two victories in Hungary and Azerbaijan.
Norris and Verstappen were the two constants, performing well almost wherever they went. However, even the McLaren star fumbled a lot compared to Verstappen, who even with an under-par and troubled car, retained his title.
How Verstappen was superior to Norris in 2024
Despite the poor handling of the Red Bull RB20, which struggled to turn properly and behaved like a shopping trolley, Verstappen managed to maximize his results. Even on his worst days — such as in Hungary and Austria — the Dutchman secured top-five finishes despite collisions and frustration with the car’s balance.
As Red Bull improved on its performance to some extent heading into the American triple header in October, Verstappen pulled out his aces to start tightening the screw on Norris, who wasn’t making much progress on his title challenge. Defending from the Briton in Austin and Mexico City, the 27-year-old tried to limit damage to his points lead.
And then came the turning point of the championship battle in Brazil, where Verstappen pulled off a wet weather masterclass. He started the Sao Paulo GP from P17 while Norris was on pole, but carved his way through the field to take the lead and cruise to victory.
On the other hand, Norris messed up once again by going off track in the treacherous rainy conditions at Interlagos, falling down the order to seventh and could only recover to finish P6. This swung the pendulum in Verstappen’s favor, as he put one hand on his fourth championship trophy.
