Zafir Nagji, Sports Editor | 

Formula One is a sport of cyclical dominance. Mercedes-AMG won eight Constructor’s Championships in the 2010s and most recently, Red Bull Racing have been the team to beat. Dutch wheelman Max Verstappen looked unbeatable on his way to three consecutive Driver’s Championships victories, including his monster 2023 season where he more than doubled second place’s point total.

2024 started off in a similar ilk with Verstappen taking home seven victories in the first 10 races. However, he has failed to reach the top podium spot in the last five races, and a total of seven different drivers from a total of four teams have achieved at least one race win this season. That’s the most unique race-winners in a season since 2012, when eight racers took home a victory trophy. So, how did the sport switch from unparalleled dominance to unmissable competitive action in a matter of less than one year?

To keep the sport as competitive as possible, the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, brought in a new set of rules that constrain how engineers can design their racecars. In their most recent rule change, brought about after the 2021 season, aerodynamic innovation was the main priority. Cars were permitted to produce more downforce than they ever had before by taking advantage of “ground effect,” involving engineering a floor design that lowered the pressure of the air passing under the car and pulling it down to the ground.

This gave Red Bull Racing quite the advantage over its competitors, as they had the expertise of none other than arguably the greatest aerodynamicist in Formula One’s storied history, Adrian Newey. He and his engineering team designed a car that was fastest around high-speed turns and in straight lines but had some weaknesses around super-slow hairpins and on rough curbs. Still, it was so quick in Verstappen’s hands that it was able to finish over a minute in front of the next non-Red Bull in some races, something that was nearly completely unheard of.

“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster,” Verstappen said after his sixth straight race without a win at the Italian Grand Prix.

However, as other teams began to make upgrades to their cars and add new lessons to their design philosophies, they made up ground on the energy drink-sponsored quad. Soon, the slight flaws that barely affected the Austrian team’s cars became glaring issues that have now cost them entire races and may even terminate their hopes of winning a third consecutive Constructor’s Championship.

“It doesn’t matter where we are [racing] at the moment, we are bad everywhere, so we need a lot of changes,” Verstappen said. “At the moment both championships are not realistic.”

First to start threatening the blue-and-red rockets was Ferrari, who have earned 10 podiums in 16 races so far this season, including Carlos Sainz’s win in Australia after Verstappen failed to finish with a mechanical issue and Charles LeClerc’s wins in Monaco and most recently at Monza. However, the Italians hit a speed bump in the middle of the season with both cars failing to finish at a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix and missing out on podium spots in four of the last eight races. The team also failed to make any significant progress with their upgrade packages this year and even had to revert back to pre-upgrade parts after disappointing results at the British and Spanish races.

“If we don’t change anything on the car, it’s all going to be bad from now onwards to the end of the season, so we have a lot of work to do,” Verstappen said.

McLaren has proven to be the sharpest thorn in Red Bull Racing’s side, with both of their drivers earning their first career victories this season. Lando Norris earned his maiden victory at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix and a second win at the Dutch Grand Prix, as well as appearing on the podium 10 times in 16 races. His sophomore teammate, Oscar Piastri, earned a controversial first win at the Hungarian Grand Prix and stood on the podium three times this season, giving the team a strong, two-headed force to battle with.

“In a way I’m surprised that we’ve been so competitive, considering that from Miami onwards we haven’t actually brought trackside many new parts,” McLaren Team Principal, Andrea Stella, said after Formula One’s summer break. “So it means that obviously the Miami upgrade was big, but there are some upgrades that will come in the second part of the season.”

What’s even more impressive is that the team could easily have even more points if they were less error-prone; the papayas messed up a potential 1-2 finish at the British Grand Prix with a botched pit-stop strategy. Additionally, Norris has consistently had errors with his race starts, as even in his Dutch victory, the Brit lost the lead to Verstappen at the start of the race before eventually regaining the position and taking home the win. However, the MCL38 racecar strikes the perfect balance of blistering pace and low tire wear, and in the hands of two young, fearless pilots, has been arguably the fastest overall car on the grid this year.

“It feels amazing once again,” Norris said after his Dutch Grand Prix win. “I wouldn’t say a perfect race, because of Lap 1 again, but afterwards the pace was very strong – the car was unbelievable today. I could get comfortable, I could push and get past Max, which was the main thing, and I just [went] from there. Honestly, [it was] quite a straightforward race. Still tough, but very enjoyable.”

As if the Austrian team needed more forces working against them, Mercedes-AMG has stepped back into the fight, with Lewis Hamilton winning two races for the German squad and George Russell taking home a third. Additionally, Perez is a whopping 157 points behind Verstappen despite driving the same car; after finishing on the podium four times in the first five races, the Mexican racer fell off a scoring cliff and into an ocean of crashing waves. As of August 22, Perez had caused the most damage of any driver, incurring $3.6 million USD in damages to his RB20 racecar. That total eclipses Alex Albon and his Williams FW46 in second place by over $1.3 million.

Verstappen still leads the Driver’s Championship by 62 points over Norris, meaning the Brit would have to outscore the Dutchman by at least eight points per race to steal the title. The Constructor’s Championship is a much closer battle, as Red Bull Racing leads the papayas by only eight points with eight races left in the year. If the engineering team cannot produce tangible improvements via upgrade packages and Perez cannot put together better results to support Verstappen, this season will be all but over for the once-daunting Red Bull Racing team.

Zafir Nagji is the Sports Editor. His greatest interests are, in order, basketball, F1, hockey, soccer, and football, but he’ll watch anything with a competitive enough spirit.