Since winning his maiden championship in 2021, Max Verstappen has been at the summit of F1, and despite McLaren’s Lando Norris throwing everything in his capacity at him this year, he couldn’t dethrone the dominant Red Bull driver. However, recent stats point to the fact that the championship battle between the two was not as close as previously perceived.
After the Miami GP in May, which Norris won, McLaren seemed to have the faster car, and the Briton looked to have a solid pace advantage. Verstappen on the other hand — in an RB20 with poor balance — looked to struggle much more.
Still, had the championship points been calculated from Miami onwards, Verstappen would have emerged the victor — with one race to spare.
Since the Grand Prix in Florida, Verstappen has amassed 319 points compared to Norris’ 291. With one race remaining, even if Norris were to win with the fastest lap bonus point and Verstappen scored none, the Red Bull driver would still prevail — such has been his dominance.
However, things were not quite easy for Verstappen, and McLaren’s misfortunes played a huge role. Norris, despite having a race-winning car underneath him, made several mistakes, as did the Woking-based squad.
Verstappen was at a disadvantage all along
Daniel Valente, a user on X known for his interesting F1 stats, revealed how Verstappen’s car rarely had an advantage over Norris’. He shared a graph on the platform, which showed that in most cases, the RB20 was slower than Norris’ MCL38.
In Italy and Mexico, the performance gap was the most — almost 0.6 seconds per lap. Plus, between the Spanish GP and the Sao Paulo GP, Verstappen went through a winless run, one which lasted more than four months.
Even if the 2024 season started in Miami, Max Verstappen would have just clinched the drivers’ championship with 1 race to spare.
1. Max Verstappen: 319 pts
2. Lando Norris: 291 pts (+28)And this was the pace of the RB20 Max was driving in that span using fastest driver. pic.twitter.com/CAF0ef7IWP
— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) December 3, 2024
However, he was able to seal the title with two races to spare because of two things. First, his seven wins out of 10 at the beginning of the season. Second, his incredible consistency and fighting spirit which saw him overperform in the below-par Red Bull machinery. It is what made him stand out, and made his 2024 championship triumph, the best of his four titles.
