Why Max Beat Lando in 2024
- Tarasekhar Padhy
- Nov 8, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 20, 2024
(If you prefer, you can watch this video: Why Max Beat Lando in 2024)
There are two kinds of drivers in Formula 1: race-winning drivers and championship-winning drivers.
The difference lies in the mentality. One believes he can win and tries his best to move forward through the field and extract the most out of the car. The other performs within his comfort zone and chalks up a suboptimal performance to “it is what it is.”
However, the real difference between a winner and a champion lies in how they deal with challenges and setbacks.
In this article, let’s look at two events where Max and Lando encountered setbacks in their careers and how they responded to it.
“Livid” Verstappen in Baku 2023
The RedBull F1 team built a mammoth of a car for the 2023 season. After the first couple of races, it was pretty evident that they would win the driver’s and constructor’s championship.
The only hope for a championship battle was Sergio Perez, Max’s teammate. And to his credit, he delivered, at least initially. In the first four races, he won a couple of races and so did his teammate and it seemed that we may get an exciting intra-team rivalry reminicent of Hamilton-Rosberg in 2016.
The fourth race, the Azerbaijan GP, was won by Perez, with Verstappen finishing second, a little over a couple of seconds behind.
In the sprint race, on the day before, Perez also won, with Verstappen coming third.
What was even more interesting was Sergio started behind Max in the sprint and the main race and still managed to finish ahead of him. [3]
In the post-race interviews, Max congratulated his teammate on a great performance and lauded him in-front of the press. On the other hand, Perez did multiple interviews where he clearly stated that he can and will take the championship fight to Max.
source [2]
For a second, it really seemed that we would have an interesting title battle. At this point, Verstappen led the driver’s championship by only six points with 19 races to go.
However, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Max Verstappen unlocked his villain arc after Baku and went on to win the next ten races in a row, a record that still stands today and perhaps won’t be broken for a very long time. When the season ended, he was a whopping 292 points ahead of his teammate.
In fact, with 585 points on the board, the Dutch champion could have won the constructor’s championship as well!
So, what happened after Baku?
Well, when Max sealed the championship in Qatar with five races to go, his father was talking about the season with Karun Chandhok (former F1 driver and broadcaster). Jos, Max’s father, revealed how furious the Dutch driver was with himself after Baku.
The actual word was “livid.”
During that moment, Max swore that he won’t ever lose to Sergio ever again. [4]
And, well, the result speaks for itself. The psychological damage endured by the Mexican driver has sent him to a mental state where he struggles to even score points.
“Unlucky” Lando in Brazil 2024
Lando Norris arrived in Sao Paolo in 2024 as the favorite. He cut ten points off of Verstappen’s championship lead in the past weekend in Mexico and was driving the fastest racecar on the grid.
The sprint race was a breeze as well. The British driver started P2, alongside his teammate Oscar Piastri who qualified P1 for the event. Norris ended up winning the race after McLaren asked the drivers to swap positions in the dying stage of the sprint race.
Now, Max only had a 44 point lead over Lando, with four races to go, including Brazil.
Keep in mind, that Norris outscored Verstappen by 10 points in the previous race alone and was driving the fastest racecar. The young Brit’s luck shone brightly during qualifying as well. He put the car on the pole while his championship rival was knocked out in Q2 when he was P12.
To salt the wounds, Max also received a 5-place grid penalty because he took a new power unit, which exceeded his allocations for the season. So, effectively he was starting from P17. [5]
There’s more.
The 2024 Sao Paolo Grand Prix took place under wet conditions. This translates to a lot of spray coming into drivers’ eyes as they follow the car ahead which makes overtaking difficult.
For a second, it seemed that Norris would again take double-digit points out of Max’s lead.
When the race ended, Max led the driver’s championship by 62 points.
Wtf happened?
Apart from a world-class driver from the Dutch driver where he won the race by 20 seconds, got the fastest lap, and was voted the driver of the day, the British driver made the following errors:
When the race began, he lost the lead to George Russell before the first turn. Russell’s Mercedes was, arguably, the third-fastest car on the grid.
It took him 25 laps and a pitstop to regain that place.
He was pipped by Ocon, Gasly, and Verstappen when he took the pitstop. To his demise, the session was red-flagged because Colapinto’s Williams crashed out. This was a terrible decision as a yellow flag was imminent considering the worsening racing conditions. Moreover, he insisted on pitting despite knowing how difficult overtaking is from his experience with Russell for over 25 laps.
After the race resumed under the safety car, he went wide in turn 4, conceding the position to George again.
Then, Sainz’s Ferrari ended up in the barriers which caused another safety car. This time, after the race resumed, he went wide in turn 1 and lost two places. One to Leclerc’s Ferrari and another one to Oscar.
If Oscar didn’t have the 10-second penalty for a collision with Lawson’s Vcarb earlier and McLaren didn’t order for a position swap again, he would have finished 7th. [6]
So, to summarize everything, Norris went from pole to sixth while his rival went from 17th to first (with a 20-second lead and the fastest lap).
The British driver chalked it up to “luck, not talent” in the post-race interviews and doubled down on his decision to pit under treacherous conditions, knowing that he struggled to overtake. [7]
Conclusion: A champion’s edge
Ownership and action.
Wherever you point the finger to justify your losses and poor predicament, that thing has power over you.
When Max lost to Sergio in Baku 2023, he pointed at himself. He took complete ownership of the loss and vowed to improve. The results were quite impressive for Verstappen and RedBull and devastating for Perez.
However, when Norris threw a God-given chance to put one hand on the WDC in Interlagos 2024, not only he threw it away, he also pointed fingers at “luck.” If anything, luck was on his side, considering he was starting on pole and his title rival was back in P17 and the race was occuring in conditions where overtaking was particularly difficult.
This lack of accountability and blatant doubling down on stupid decisions to protect the fragile ego is not a champion’s trait. A champion takes absolute ownership of whatever situation they find themselves in. Then, they take action to improve it.
That's where champions gain a mile over the winners.
I doubt Lando will ever win a WDC, even if he is driving a rocketship. In fact, I believe Piastri has better racecraft and ownership. Either way, time will tell about this.
For now, let’s congratulate Max for securing his fourth title in Las Vegas. Yes, that’s my prediction as the race hasn’t happened yet.
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