2024 F1 mid-season driver rankings #1: Max Verstappen · RaceFans

Even by way of 14 rounds of the 2024 season, there is no such thing as a query as to who probably the most excellent, quickest and most constant driver within the subject is to date this yr.

To the shock of nobody, it’s the similar driver who has been clearly the perfect on the grid over the previous few seasons. And the driving force who will very seemingly declare this yr’s world championship title.

Max Verstappen loved a dominant two-year stretch over the primary two seasons of F1’s floor impact rules that even Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton couldn’t match. And within the early section of the 2024 season, it regarded prefer it was going to be enterprise as regular for the reigning three-times world champion.

Regardless of some dramatic tales popping out concerning the staff over the opening months of the yr, Verstappen ensured that his staff had been an image {of professional} perfectionism out on monitor. Two rounds, two poles, two victories to begin the season in Bahrain and Jeddah. Though he secured a third-straight pole in Australia, Verstappen would undergo solely his first failure to complete for 2 years when his right-rear brake jammed on firstly, forcing him to drag into retirement as his brake temperatures skyrocketed.

If Pink Bull’s rivals had been beneath the phantasm that they had been now weak after that setback, Verstappen quickly gave them a hearty dose of actuality with a crushing efficiency in Suzuka that gave him one other dominant victory. China was extra of the identical. Regardless of lacking out on pole for the dash race in a moist qualifying session, he rose up from fourth methodically to win earlier than securing pole for the grand prix and by no means trying beneath menace of being overwhelmed within the race.

However after the primary 5 rounds of the season had been accomplished, it was as if Verstappen was hit by an adaptive issue spike. From this level on, he would by no means have issues fairly so simple on the entrance over the remainder of the season. Though he took one other dash pole and win Miami, he misplaced his lead within the grand prix after a Security Automobile got here on the excellent time for Norris. On the restart, Verstappen couldn’t match the McLaren’s tempo after struggling minor injury from hitting a bollard on the chicane and was pressured to accept second place for the primary time in what felt like eternally.

McLaren’s tempo was removed from a one-off, nevertheless, as Pink Bull quickly found. It took a slipstream from Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas on the finish of Q3 for Verstappen to simply beat Norris and Oscar Piastri to pole place at Imola, then he needed to maintain off Norris over some tense closing laps within the race to safe victory quantity 5 of the season.

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Pink Bull arrived at Monaco to seek out that the RB20 had no love for the bumpy Monte Carlo streets. Sixth place was the perfect that he may handle in qualifying after brushing the barrier on his closing Q3 lap and he completed in that very same place after a protracted and boring race. However the actuality was that Pink Bull simply didn’t have the efficiency of their rivals across the road circuit.

By Canada, it was extra than simply McLaren who had joined the get together on the entrance of the sphere. Now Verstappen was dealing with competitors from Mercedes too, with George Russell beating him to pole place in Montreal with an equivalent lap time. However over a difficult race in changeable situations, Verstappen confirmed how nice his abilities are, maintaining calm and picked up all through the race whereas these round him faltered to safe one more victory. The subsequent day out in Spain, he would once more triumph by making the most of others failing to take advantage of their alternatives, getting forward of Norris firstly and passing Russell for the lead quickly after and controlling the race from there.

That might be Verstappen’s most up-to-date victory so far, nevertheless. At this level, Pink Bull had been really caught by their rivals and had been arguably now not the staff to beat. However Verstappen continued to battle for the win, even managing to win his third dash race out of three on the Pink Bull Ring. He discovered himself beneath intense stress from Norris within the grand prix, nevertheless, resulting in an intense multi-lap battle for the win between the pair that resulted in catastrophe once they clashed at flip three, leaving each crawling again to the pits with broken vehicles. Whereas Verstappen was blamed by the stewards, opinion assorted among the many grid. However whereas Norris retired, Verstappen nonetheless got here dwelling in fifth to increase his championship lead.

Life acquired no simpler for Verstappen at Silverstone, the place he compromised his qualifying by operating off monitor at Copse on a humid monitor, damaging his ground. Nevertheless, regardless of this setback, he nonetheless managed to salvage fourth on the grid. He struggled for race tempo early in comparison with the Mercedes and McLarens round him, however within the later laps with arduous tyres, he put Hamilton beneath intense stress and was simply seconds away from snatching one more victory.

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Pink Bull slipped away from the entrance of the sphere in Hungary, with Verstappen making little effort to hide his frustrations at his automotive’s lack of competitiveness in comparison with McLaren. However though he produced one other glorious qualifying efficiency to line up third behind Norris and Piastri, his race was uncharacteristically ragged. He swore up a storm over the radio waves and clashed with Hamilton whereas battling over third, costing him a possible podium end and dropping him to fifth in a uncommon occasion of Verstappen not maximising his consequence.

Though he was not in rivalry for victory within the newest spherical in Belgium, he may not less than be comfy within the information he had an influence unit grid penalty in charge for that. He was virtually actually the perfect driver on the monitor at Spa over the weekend, setting the quickest time in qualifying by a big margin to line up eleventh on the grid, then climbing six locations within the race to complete fifth on monitor, which grew to become fourth after Russell’s post-race disqualification.

With 277 factors, seven grand prix victories, three dash race wins, eight pole positions and 9 podium finishes, Verstappen comfortably sits atop the championship standings even having not received a grand prix in 4 rounds. By way of all his achievements to date, it’s simple to miss the truth that he’s at present whitewashing staff mate Sergio Perez on each Saturdays and Sundays in 2024 – though that claims much more about Perez than Verstappen.

Though he’s dealing with extra competitors now than he has for the final two years, there’s nonetheless little cause to doubt he’ll take title quantity 4 by the tip of the season. Solely an unprecedented collapse is more likely to deny him.

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