“Well done max, you are a 4 time world champion!” 

– Christian Horner, Ceo and Team Boss of Oracle RedBull Racing, Said Over Team Radio

On Saturday November 23rd, Max Verstappen was crowned the Formula One World Driver Champion for the 2024 season. 

Verstappen finished fifth in Saturday’s race held on the Las Vegas strip, which  made the gap between him and rival Lando Norris big enough to grant him his 4th championship with two races still left in the season. 

Verstappen, who races for Oracle Red Bull Racing, had a breeze charging through the first quarter of the season but his momentum was slowly drained with a combination of his car’s bad performance and a hard fight with competitors from McLaren, Ferrari and even Mercedes, a team that has had their ups and downs. He stood on the top step again in Brazil after a brutal 10 races and just shy of 5 months without a single win. In these 5 months, he did manage to earn a few podiums, including three second place finishes. Norris began to close the gap and was on course to snatch the lead and championship from Verstappen but fell short because of some shortcomings in his driving, poor pit stops, bad luck, and having to fight with other drivers for points.

Things got exciting in Miami in the sixth race of the season where Verstappen got unlucky with a safety car placement and ended up giving Norris his first win in F1. This win gave Norris and McLaren the confidence boost they needed to push for the title. At this point, with what could be called the second best car on the grid, Norris was primed for success, but Verstappen, who had won four of the season’s first five races, won the next, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, though Norris continued to inch up the standings. 

This got heated in Austria, home of RedBull, where Verstappen and Norris fought tooth-and-nail, eventually ending up in a collision that punctured tires on both racer’s cars. Norris had to retire, though Verstappen still managed a 4th place finish. 

Later in the season, Norris won in the Netherlands, home of Verstappen, and temporarily shut down criticism that he couldn’t be competitive. After this he said over radio: “Simply Lovely, Huh?” a phrase Verstappen uses whenever he wins a race. Norris’ taunt toward Verstappen, who had not had a win in a while, was called by many unsportsmanlike behavior.