Max Verstappen and Red Bull obliterated the field in 2023. The Dutchman won a record 19 of the 22 races en route to his third world title. On the other hand, Red Bull won a record 21 races, with Sergio Perez winning the other two. While the battles behind Red Bull were quite tight between multiple teams, McLaren was the side that stood out. Since the Woking-based outfit had a stunning recovery throughout the 2023 campaign, Verstappen believes that they will be the side to watch out for in 2024.
When asked about the same on the latest episode of the Talking Bull podcast, Max Verstappen replied, “Which one I think was the most impressive behind us from where they started to where they ended was definitely McLaren. So, looks like they might be very strong next year“.
McLaren indeed did have a disastrous start to the 2023 season. The team just scored 17 points after the first eight races. It was only after the Austrian GP in July that the team had a stunning turnaround. From that point on, they scored 285 points more in the remaining 14 races to finish an outstanding fourth in the championship.
Their performance from the Austrian GP onwards was only bettered by Red Bull. The team from Milton Keynes scored a whopping 539 points in the last 14 races of the campaign. Hence, while Red Bull were undoubtedly a class apart, McLaren were the best among the rest of the pack.
Another impressive aspect of McLaren’s performances were the number of podiums they registered. Lando Norris had seven podium finishes, while Oscar Piastri had two. McLaren will now hope to carry forward this momentum into 2024 and close the gap to Red Bull, who seem unbeatable at the moment.
Can any team challenge Red Bull in 2024?
Since the regulations are relatively stable going into the 2024 campaign, Red Bull will undoubtedly once again be the favorite. Moreover, since they have such an advantage in terms of development over their rivals, it will be a tall order for any other team to close down the gap.
While McLaren will be one of the teams that will hope to challenge Red Bull in 2024, so will the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes. Alongside McLaren, Ferrari also had a fantastic finish to the 2023 season despite losing P2 to Mercedes.
Furthermore, since Ferrari finished behind Mercedes in the championship, they will have the advantage of additional wind tunnel time. This could prove crucial for the team from Maranello to close the gap to Red Bull next season.
As for Mercedes, team principal Toto Wolff has promised that his side will make significant changes to the car. Wolff has revealed that while he is confident that the Silver Arrows will be the favorites come 2026, he hopes that his side does not need to wait that long to achieve success.
