Red Bull Motorsports
F1
“He hasn’t put a foot wrong": How Verstappen won his toughest title defense
Max Verstappen is F1 World Champion for the fourth time, but throughout the 2024 F1 season, the Dutch driver and his team turned challenges into victories. How did they pull it off?
The greatest driver of his generation, Max Verstappen secured his fourth consecutive Formula One Drivers’ World Championship with a fifth-place finish at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. It was a dream finish amid the glitz and glamour of F1’s newest and most glamorous Grand Prix. The Dutchman now joins the mighty Alain Prost and the great Sebastian Vettel with four titles, trailing only the legends Juan Manuel Fangio with five and Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher both with seven.
While Max continues to rewrite the F1 record books, this was a very different title fight compared with the extraordinary dominance of 2023. While his performances on track were near flawless, Max didn’t always have the quickest car, but he did have the strongest team to back up his prodigious skills.
Big winner in Vegas: Max Verstappen
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
According to Lando Norris – his biggest rival in the title fight, the man he beat in Las Vegas to lift the crown: “He hasn’t put a foot wrong the whole year. That’s a strength of his. He has no downsides, no negatives. When he’s had the quickest car, he’s dominated races. When he’s not had the quickest car, he still been just behind us and almost winning the races anyway. He has not had any bad races all year. He has just driven as Max has always driven, which is perfectly and can’t fault him anywhere."
Lewis Hamilton, the man Max beat in 2021, said: "He has done a fantastic job, not made any mistakes and delivered every time and every point he is supposed to. I’m really happy for him."
I'm very proud of this season because for most of the season, I would say for 70 percent of the season, we didn't have the fastest car.
Verstappen himself commented: "I'm very proud of this season because for most of the season, I would say for 70 percent of the season, we didn't have the fastest car, but actually we still extended our lead. From Miami onwards, most of the time we were not the quickest and that is very early on in the season – 50-60 points can be very easily overturned. I had that always in the back of my mind and focused on what I could control and gave it everything every single weekend."
Verstappen’s triumph has been outstanding given how the chasing teams have closed the gap this season. It’s seen the World Champion have to dig deep on his reserves to protect his lead far more than in 2022 and 2023.
01
A perfect start to the 2024 season
The 2024 F1 World Championship opened with spectacular back-to-back victories in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, extending Verstappen’s winning streak from 2023 to nine Grands Prix – stretching back to Suzuka in 2023. From the outside of the paddock, it looked like 2024 would continue in the same vein as the previous campaign.
For the second year running, Verstappen ruled the roost in Bahrain
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But in the off season, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes had got to grips with the F1 rules to produce quicker cars that suited different circuits. In Melbourne, brake failure ended Max’s race and he lost out to Norris in Miami – but two pole positions and victory in the Sprint suggested it was a blip. But then Charles Leclerc was fastest for Ferrari in Monaco. Although top spot in Japan, China, Imola, Canada and Spain suggested it was business as usual.
02
Winning in the long run
And then it wasn’t. Mercedes were back on top for the first time since 2021 with victories in Austria, Great Britain and Belgium. But McLaren were the team to beat, posting consistently quick times and winning in Hungary, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan and Singapore. Lando Norris was mounting a serious championship charge. Then Ferrari were back again, with wins at Monza, the Circuit of the Americas and Mexico.
As Oracle Red Bull Racing tried to find more speed in the RB20, it meant sacrificing the car’s superior handling. But even without the fastest machine at his disposal, Max Verstappen kept scoring vital points. So how did he do it?
03
Maximising points with a winning team
Oracle Red Bull Racing have won eight drivers’ world championships and six Constructors’ titles. They have also won 121 races – Max has been at the wheel for more than half! Every member of the team is from the top drawer and they know how to win – and it is hard to overstate how important it is to have a champions’ mentality.
Max has made sure he works with every department both at the track and back at team HQ in Milton Keynes to make the most of his campaign.
04
The fastest pit crew in F1
The Red Bull Racing pit crew is the fastest in F1
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
The team has the most efficient pit crew in F1 with Oracle Red Bull Racing winning the DHL’s Fastest Pit Stops award every year since 2018. While it is only a fraction of a second, victory in F1 comes down to the margins. The skill, discipline and cool-thinking also speaks to a well-drilled and determined team in the garage. In China, they performed the fastest pit stop of the season and also executed a dramatic double stack to ensure both Max and Sergio Pérez were on the podium.
05
GP stands for Gianpiero
Max Verstappen enjoys a superb relationship with his Race Engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. While their exchanges may get heated during the race – Max’s advice is to not listen in – they have the utmost respect for each other. With GP supporting him from the pit wall, Verstappen was able to maximize his points: crucially he was ahead of Norris in Great Britain and Belgium, and second on the podium when the Brit won in Zandvoort and Singapore to minimize the Brit’s advantage.
Max Verstappen with his race engineer Gianpero Lambiase
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In Vegas, GP was gently reminding Max that his goal was not victory on track, just finishing with the points he needed to clinch the title. That Lambiase is being promoted from head of race engineering to head of racing speaks of his importance to the team. That he will also continue as Max’s race engineer, speaks of his importance to the World Champion.
06
Producing a winning strategy in the factory
Oracle Red Bull Racing boast an outstanding strategy team with Head of Race Strategy Will Courtenay supported by strategy engineers Hannah Schmitz and Stephen Knowles. They work long hours looking in the week building up to a race. “We’ll start off by gathering a lot of data from historic events from previous years and also other events this year,” says Courtenay. They will look at tyre wear, overtaking, the amount of time lost in the pitlane to develop a plan of attack.
“The simulations start to tell you: these are the likely strategies you're going to be doing, whether it's a one-stop or a two-stop and what the main sort of race tires are going to be”, Courtenay says.
Max celebrates perhaps his greatest-ever win at the Brazilian Grand Prix
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The team then test the strongest options in the simulator at Milton Keynes. When the cars hit the track, they will use live data to fine tune their findings in the simulator to develop the best race strategy. And Max is particularly skilled in race strategy both from his experience in F1 and from running his own sim racing team and will provide his own input.
07
Max Verstappen’s pure driving skills
The team on the pit wall, pitlane, in the garage and back at the factory are all pulling together but ultimately it’s Max Verstappen who has to deliver on track. His fourth world title is a result not only of his pure pace and courage, but also his supreme tyre management and grasp of strategy. And we saw him at his very best in Interlagos.
Having gone 10 races without a win, Max delivered a masterclass in the wet to all but seal that fourth world title. Starting 17th on the grid, with Norris starting from pole, Max was masterful in treacherous conditions. While a host of drivers crashed out and Norris dropped back to sixth, Max found grip where there was none to scythe through the field and win by a huge 20-second margin at the flag.
Triumphant: On the podium in São Paulo
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08
The last word
“If you want to beat Max you have to be close to perfect,” Norris added in Las Vegas. “He is one of the best the sport will ever see.”
"Max has been in a league of his own this year," commented Team Principal, Christian Horner. "With eight Grand Prix wins – more than double anyone else – his consistency, teamwork and sheer determination have been extraordinary. He’s handled the pressure with the poise of a true champion."
This season has definitely taught me a lot of lessons that I'm very proud of.
The final word to the World Champion: "It was a very challenging season. It's been very challenging to me as a person and I had to be calm,” said Max. “This season has definitely taught me a lot of lessons that I'm very proud of.
“At one point, the car was also just really difficult to drive. And then it was about just working together with the team, because when you have these tough moments, it can also be very demotivating,” he continued. “Those moments are actually very important to keep it together and work harder and try to understand what is going on. Because in those moments, if you give up, you are going to give up the championship as well."
Max Verstappen celebrates with the Red Bull Racing team
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
