After a dominant one-way show in 2023, 2024 has been a far from plain sailing Formula 1 campaign for Red Bull.
Still, after 14 rounds, Red Bull leads the Constructors’ standings with 408 points, 42 ahead of McLaren and Max Verstappen leads the Drivers’ standings with 277 points, 78 ahead of Lando Norris.
However, neither of Red Bull’s title leads are safe with 10 rounds of the season still to run.
After winning all but one race last year, nobody believed Red Bull when the team declared it wouldn’t have things so easy in 2024 and untroubled one-two finishes at Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Japan all but confirmed fears that 2024 would be another Milton Keynes walkover.
Seven different winners across four different teams later, everyone’s fears have been quashed and it’s clear that Red Bull has a definitive fight on its hands.
Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have all taken to the top step for Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes respectively and the combined efforts of Red Bull’s challengers have seen Verstappen fail to win in the last four races.
An even more startling fact is that the Dutchman has failed to score a podium finish in the last two races, something he hasn’t failed to do in back-to-back races in half a decade.
Verstappen’s saving grace has been whilst he struggles to wrestle the RB20 to the front of the pack, his rivals are taking it in turns to win races.
“I think it shifts a little bit,” Verstappen said. “For sure, constantly McLaren has been really quick. Mercedes has been quick, but not everywhere.
“And from our side, yeah, we have a bit of work to do, we know that. We have a few things to analyse as well, what to do with the car for the remainder of the season.”
A 78-point lead and a revolving door of race winners should see Verstappen attain a fourth drivers’ title in succession, but the Constructors’ Championship is far from a sure thing for Red Bull.
While Verstappen can be trusted to get the best from the Red Bull on any given weekend, the same cannot be said for his team-mate Sergio Perez, who is amid a far-from-ideal slump.
The Mexican has risen from poor periods before and his ability to complete Red Bull one-two finishes at the start of the season earned him a multi-year contract extension in June.
However, in the last eight races, Perez has only scored 28 points, enabling McLaren to close right in on Red Bull in the Constructors’ standings.
Perez’s poor form led to mounting speculation that he would be replaced by RB’s Daniel Ricciardo through the summer break, with Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner admitting: “I think that [Perez is] acutely aware that we need both cars performing and which is what we had at the beginning of the year. And that’s where we need to get back to.”
Verstappen meanwhile, believes Red Bull has problems beyond its driver lineup, saying: “we just need to focus on performance because our car has been a bit tricky at times.
“So I think it’s not entirely fair to say that everything is [Perez’s] fault.
“Even for myself, the last few weekends have been very challenging to get the best out of the car and the team knows that.
“We try to get the car in a bit of a nicer operating window, a bit more predictable, and also you can build from FP1 into the race with a stable balance.”
One thing is clear, Red Bull doesn’t have the advantage over the competition it enjoyed last year and Technical Director Pierre Wache has attested to that.
“We have undoubtedly improved the car compared to last year, although in some areas we have not quite delivered as we expected,” he told Motorsport.com’s Dutch website.
“Especially in the fast corners, we expected something more than what we have now.
“Without looking at the competition, so purely based on our own tools, we expected something more.”
Red Bull expects more from its car and Perez for the remaining 10 rounds of the season if it is to retain both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ title with key staff departures by no means guaranteeing future success.
With Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey and Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley leaving the team to take up positions elsewhere in 2025 and rival outfits rising to the victory challenge, Red Bull’s dominant run could well be at its end.
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