Max Verstappen (Red Bull) is the World Champion for the fourth time in a row! He follows in the footsteps of former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, who won from 2010-2013. Lando Norris (McLaren) put up a valiant fight, but couldn’t pull ahead.
Funnily enough, Verstappen didn’t win this race, or even get on the podium. Vegas’ podium included George Russell (Mercedes), fellow world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari). Verstappen got 5th, but since Norris finished 6th behind him, Verstappen secured the World Championship 2 races from the end.
There seemed to be no bad blood between Norris and Verstappen during the post-race interviews, which wasn’t really a worry. Norris has been a worthy opponent for Verstappen this year, and hopefully will be next year as well.
Despite the World Drivers Champion being won, the fight for the World Constructors Championship is still on. McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull are in a tight race for first, while Haas and Alpine are in a fight for the middle of the leaderboard.
As a Verstappen fan, I was super excited about his Championship win. Though, I was glad that this season was a true fight to the top for the most part. This was one of the first seasons ever where seven drivers had multiple wins, and some their first wins.
Since 2023 was a Verstappen-dominant season, it was refreshing to be surprised by every race. As a new fan this year, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but it has been so exciting.
Qatar and Abu Dhabi are next and last on the calendar for 2024, and then we move on to the winter break. Luckily, over winter break, we’ll have the release of Netflix’s Drive to Survive to hold us over until the 2025 season begins.
On to Qatar!
The “High-Octane Herald” is written by Ava O’Donnell and details the latest Formula One news regarding races and current events.