The 5 key moments of Max Verstappen's 4th title

Bahrain (Round 1/24 – March 2)

With almost total domination in 2023 (19 victories in 22 races), Max Verstappen started the 2024 season escorted by the label of ultra favorite. The content of the pre-season tests held in Bahrain only confirmed the trend that we all feared for the show, with a Dutchman already above the fray and who did not even try to hide it. Slightly challenged in qualifying during the first Grand Prix in Sakhir, Max would finally return to his good old habits. He took the best at the extinction of the lights, maintained his advantage at turn 1, and went far. Very far.

At the end of the first lap, he had a lead of 1 seconds over the second-placed driver, 1,2 seconds on the 8th lap and more than 10 when he made the first of his two stops. He never lost the lead of the race, crossing the line as the winner, 30 seconds ahead of his teammate Pérez who was tasked with securing the double. On the evening of Bahrain, the feeling that dominated the paddock was this: Max Verstappen's solitary march was inevitable in a new season to come without suspense. A feeling that would be validated over the first five rounds. On the evening of the 22th race in China, he already had a 4-point lead over Charles Leclerc, and even 52 on Lando Norris, all while being forced to abandon in Melbourne due to a mechanical problem...

© Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

Miami (Round 6/24 – May 5)

After five GPs marked by merciless domination, the race held in Florida could have taken on the false air of a turning point of the season. Thanks to an aggressive improvement made to Lando Norris' car, McLaren indeed immediately positioned itself as one of the best single-seaters on the grid. Well helped by a perfectly timed exit from the safety car, the Englishman was going to seek his first victory. But opportunism was added to a stunning performance, since the Bristol native signed a final stint much faster than that of Max Verstappen. Enough to envisage a more intense fight for the title than expected, despite the Dutchman's already considerable lead at the head of the championship...

© Antonin Vincent / DPPI

Austria (Round 11/24 – June 30)

Despite McLaren's awakening in Miami, Max Verstappen remained sovereign in the following four Grands Prix, with three victories and a 6th place, having missed his pumps in Monaco (6th). In Austria however, on his employer's land and in front of a wall of overexcited oranges, Lando Norris was going to royally complicate his life, thanks to his ultra-bleeding race pace. These two gave us in Spielberg the most tense weekend of the season, with a lot of fighting and even a bit of crumpled metal. The sprint first played its role as an appetizer with a progressive increase in pressure. Lando Norris put on a show in T3 by pulling off a brilliant braking move to steal his rival, who responded to him at the next corner by taking advantage of an open door operation.

The next day, weighed down by a pit stop that was too long, Max Verstappen decided to stick his neck out so as not to let his buddy pass, who had been attacking him relentlessly for nine laps. Between untimely shifts and late braking, these two offered a thriller full of twists and turns. Until a painful end to the film marked by contact between the two men, of which Verstappen was found guilty. Enough to truly launch hostilities between the Dutchman and the Englishman. "I offered a fair, respectful and borderline fight, but that's not what I got in return," Lando denounced. (...) I have nothing to say, it's up to him to say something, he retorted in the mixed zone, when asked if he would go and discuss the incident with Max. I didn't do anything wrong, it's his fault. He's the one who has to react, not me. » The two men eventually smoothed things out, but would clash again on the track later in Austin and Mexico City.

© Ton Roelofs / DPPI

Azerbaijan (Round 17/24 – September 15)

While he was chasing a victory since Spain (7 races), and was still on a very difficult final round at Monza, where the lack of performance earned him a depressing 6th place, Max Verstappen did not arrive very confident in Baku. With the lack of pace of his car were added difficulties in handling it due to a bad set-up on his car. For the first time this season, he was beaten in qualifying by his teammate Sergio Pérez, who would have also beaten him in the race if he had not been caught in a crash with Carlos Sainz in the final loops. Red Bull may have brought a modified floor to Baku to remedy the balance problems of an RB20 oscillating between understeer and oversteer, but the account was still not there. Fortunately for him, the Dutchman took advantage of Lando Norris' elimination in Q1 to limit the damage to the championship (Norris 4th, Max 5th). After the struggle at Monza, Red Bull took note of a change in reality. "We are no longer in the position of the hunted, but of the hunter. It changes the dynamic!" Horner went so far as to say, who nevertheless remained in the lead of both championships. If Baku figures among the key moments of the Dutchman's season, it is because it alone represents all those moments where the son of Jos superbly limited the damage each time his car was not up to par. By then, however, his title chances were looking increasingly slim, with a 59-point lead, albeit against a Lando Norris side with the wind at their backs.

© Florent Gooden / DPPI

Brazil (Round 21/24 – November 3)

It is difficult to rank 62 victories in order of importance. The 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix will, however, surely remain one of the greatest races ever achieved by the Dutchman, if not the greatest. Because the Dutchman had many opposing elements to deal with: a faster McLaren, five penalty places for an engine change, and an elimination in Q2, after being caught out by a red flag. The following day, the rain would pose a new challenge as well as a determining factor in his comeback from 17th on the grid. Irresistible during the first ten laps, he made a superb comeback, and took advantage of a red flag at the best of times to earn a free pit stop and find himself on the podium. He ended up winning the race ahead of the two Alpine, and took 17 precious points from Lando Norris on a day when he thought he was going to lose some… In Sao Paulo, Max put one hand and four fingers on the trophy, at the same time as he buried Lando Norris' title hopes. Concluding in Las Vegas was now just a formality.

© Antonin Vincent / DPPI