Max Verstappen is looking forward to winning his fourth consecutive world championship next year. It has been an incredible few seasons of complete domination for the Red Bull driver. As long as the Austrian team will have the fastest car on the grid, Verstappen might remain unbeatable. But F1 fans and experts know it very well that things can change very quickly in the sport.
For instance, Red Bull used to dominate the grid back in the period between 2010 and 2013. Back in the day, Sebastian Vettel was ruling the sport. Later, from 2014 to 2021, it was the turbo-hybrid era that belonged to Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. But the new cost cap era is seeing Max Verstappen on the top of the podium constantly. However, the Dutchman is aware of the challenges Red Bull might face next season.
Max Verstappen Thinks McLaren Can Be A Real Threat Next Year
In 2023, McLaren surprised everybody showing a positive growth in the middle of the season. They closed the gap between themselves and Red Bull massively. There were quite a few races in 2023 when Lando Norris was able to beat Lewis Hamilton and others. This impressive progress has made Max Verstappen believe McLaren will be the side to watch out for in 2024. Recently, on the Talking Bull podcast, Max mentioned he believes the Woking-based outfit was the most impressive in terms of where they started and where they finally ended. Hence, the Red Bull star thinks McLaren will be the biggest threat.
Really, the McLaren team had a start worthy to forget about. They were only able to score 17 points after the first eight Grands Prix. But the Woking-based outfit turned things around since the Austrian Grand Prix. As a result, in the next 14 races, they were able to score a massive 285 points. Talk about progress, McLaren’s 2023 season should be the perfect example. The only team that performed better than McLaren in the remaining 14 GPs was Red Bull thanks to Max Verstappen. Moreover, Red Bull was able to score an unbelievable 539 points in the last 14 races.
The Dutch Driver Has Been A Real Blessing For The Austrian Outfit
Thanks to the car designer Adrian Newey and the engine partner Honda, Red Bull was able to build the fastest car on the grid. They have done it last year as well as this year. But even then, for a driver to win almost 20 races in a calendar year is unbelievable. That’s what the Dutch driver has been able to accomplish in 2023. He broke his own record of last year when he won as many as 15 races. Moreover, the previous record for most wins in a season belonged to the German greats Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
Both the German greats had won as many as 13 races in a season. But in the last two years, Max Verstappen took the F1 world by storm. In 2021, he shocked Lewis Hamilton fans as he narrowly beat the Mercedes star to win his maiden Driver’s World Championship. Since confirming his maiden title success, the Dutchman has never looked back. He just kept getting better. But even Max Verstappen knows very well that the streak will depend on the Red Bull’s car.