Formula One halftime report: Max Verstappen’s fading dominance and the promise of more drama to come

Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen holds a 78-point lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship standings. Photo / Getty Images

THREE KEY FACTS

• Red Bull Racing hold a 42-point lead at the top of the Constructors Championship
• In 14 races this year, there have been seven different winners
• Defending champion Max Verstappen leads the driver’s standings at the summer break

The summer break for Formula One has come at just the right time. The first stanza of the championship has been more interesting than probably the past five years rolled into one. Eric Thompson looks at some of the more head-scratching, odd and plain strange happenings so far in 2024.

Max Verstappen’s fading dominance

The Red Bull Racing driver and three-time world champion hasn’t had it all his own way this year. Sure, he’s won seven of the 14 races but has been nowhere as dominant as in the past.

Having been well beaten in half of the races, he’s starting to look a bit rattled. This has been evident in the rants at his engineer over the radio and punting into other drivers when skill wouldn’t allow him to get past.

Added to this is his 3am simulated racing gig on the eve of a race and being slapped over the wrist by his team. If the likes of Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and a resurgent Lewis Hamilton keep harassing him on the track, it’s quite possible we’ll see a major implosion sometime this year.

McLaren pressuring Red Bull

This has been fun to watch, especially Christian Horner’s grumpy countenance after each race seeing his constructors’ lead being eaten away.

A few years ago, McLaren and the phrase “challenging the top team” would never have been heard. With young guns Norris and Piastri, and a car that now works well and is capable of winning races, Horner’s headache will soon turn into a migraine.

The only sour note for McLaren so far has been the team order for Norris to let Piastri pass to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. That could cause a bit of friction within the team and derail their current form.

Adding a bit of weight to Horner’s shoulders has been the departure of Adrian Newey and more recently Jonathan Wheatly.

Who’s going to drive what with whom?

There’s more here than you can poke a stick at. The recent announcement that ousted Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has finally signed with Williams for 2025 has settled some general speculation.

But there is still the Sergio Perez dilemma. Verstappen’s Red Bull wingman is supposed to defend the reigning champ and add to the constructors’ points haul.

That’s not happening but he’s been told his seat is safe. Odd.

This just adds to the speculation surrounding Daniel Riccardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Kiwi Liam Lawson and the guessing merry-go-round about where those three will finally land.

To add further intrigue, there are warring factions inside Red Bull Racing around Riccardo and Lawson, with Horner favouring the former and Helmut Marko, the latter. This has also caused grief for the owners of the parent company.

If all this isn’t entertaining enough, team principals are being shuffled around or axed, and old fox Flavio Briatore has been allowed back into the hen house. Good stuff.

Heavyweights under microscope

It came to light that there were allegations FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem tried to get officials in Saudi Arabia last year to overturn Fernando Alonso’s post-race penalty, which cost him third place.

This was followed by another allegation that Sulayem tried to get the FIA not to approve track certification for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He was eventually cleared of everything.

As well as on-track drama for Horner, there was a biggie off-track. He was accused of misconduct towards a team member who was dragged through just about every tabloid outlet across the world.

He was later cleared of the allegations but that didn’t stop one of the paddock’s more colourful loose cannons, Max’s dad Jos Verstappen, throwing all his toys out of the cot.

It’s been an entertaining season so far and long may it continue.