1996 F1 champion Damon Hill was recently asked in an interview if he believed that the 2024 campaign would be competitive. Hill simply replied by claiming that Max Verstappen will not have it as easy as he had it last year.
When asked about the same on the most recent episode of the F1 Nation podcast, the former F1 driver replied, “I definitely think it is game on. I definitely think that there are two teams that are showing pace and closing the gap on certain circuits to Red Bull”.
He then added, “You won’t even remember Monaco” in a few weeks’ time. His comments seem to suggest that there will be more race weekends when Verstappen and Red Bull struggle this year.
The 63-year-old’s remarks come at a time when Verstappen has found it difficult to dominate week in and week out as he did last season. In all of 2023, the 26-year-old lost just three races out of 22.
And come 2024, he has already lost three after the first eight rounds. Out of those three losses for Verstappen, two of them came in the last three race weekends.
All this seems to suggest that Verstappen and Red Bull will find it difficult to defend their titles. The Dutchman currently has a 31-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship to second-placed Charles Leclerc.
Meanwhile, the Constructors’ Championship is extremely tight at the moment. Red Bull are just 24 points ahead of second-placed Ferrari. However, with Verstappen yet to compete on his favorite tracks, it will not be easy for either Ferrari or McLaren to break Red Bull’s juggernaut just yet.
Max Verstappen has been utterly dominant during the European leg
F1 is all set to take place in Canada this weekend, following which the remaining European leg of races will resume. Since most of the races in Europe feature traditional circuits, Verstappen seems to have a liking for them and has performed exceptionally well on such tracks in the previous few campaigns.
Moreover, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also claimed recently that the Verstappen factor may just help them retain their Constructors’ title this season despite the likes of Ferrari and McLaren having closed the gap significantly this year. However, before the Dutchman gets the chance to compete at his favorite venues, he may need to pull through this weekend in Canada and get the best result possible there.
The 26-year-old himself admitted that he expects himself and Red Bull to struggle in Montreal. When asked about how he expects his weekend in Canada to pan out, Verstappen replied, “It probably won’t be easy with the kerbing. Our car isn’t good over the kerbs and they resurfaced the track, so you don’t know what to expect”.
If Verstappen does indeed struggle in Canada, it will give a further boost to both Ferrari and McLaren that they indeed can take the challenge to Red Bull this year. And a win for a driver other than Verstappen in Canada is also likely to be exciting for the fans, who have often complained about the Dutchman’s continuous dominance in recent times.
