Just when it looked like the 2024 F1 season would be a carbon copy of the 2023 season, in which Max Verstappen and Red Bull ran away from the field in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships respectively, everything changed.
Lando Norris took his first F1 victory at the Miami Grand Prix and last weekend Verstappen struggled on the final laps of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Norris closed in. The Red Bull driver held on to victory but was just one second behind when Verstappen took the chequered flag.
perhaps F1 As analyst Will Buxton put it after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: “For the past two seasons, drivers have had to hope for one more car to battle Max. Today, Lando just wanted one more lap. The match was decided.” Buxton posts on social media last Sunday.
Speaking ahead of the grid for the season’s biggest event, the race in Monaco, Verstappen admitted that the competition had gotten tougher in recent weeks.
“Yeah, I mean, after Miami, I think it was pretty clear when we got into Imola, even if Imola probably wasn’t the easiest weekend either,” Verstappen said Thursday. “But certainly, Monaco is always like that. And it comes down to who gives the car more performance and finds the best possible set-up for the car.
“But certainly now that the situation is under control, I think from our side it’s become very important that of course we strive to be at our best, to give 100%. I don’t think that’s necessarily a realistic possibility. I know it’s not, but we’re always trying to get to a certain point and maybe the last few races we haven’t gotten to that point, but yeah, every weekend we try again. “And I’m trying to find a target. The set-up of the car was the best possible,” Verstappen continued. “But certainly, we can see that it’s definitely coming to an end.”
Verstappen also pointed out that Monaco may not be the best layout for Red Bull’s 2024 challenger RB20. “But I don’t think it’s going to be a very easy weekend,” Verstappen admitted.
“But I think Monaco is never simple, even if you are supposed to have the best car. Monaco is a very difficult track to make everything work. [tires] “On the qualifying lap there’s always a lot of disruption, for example red flags, and there’s a lot that can go right, but there’s also a lot that can go wrong,” Verstappen continued. “So you just have to concentrate.”
“Of course Imola had a very bad start, but we managed to turn it around. I don’t want to have a weekend like that again,” Verstappen added. “It’s quite stressful, it’s not good, but we know this is a more difficult track for us, even though we’ve won here in the past. It’s quite complicated, so we’ll see tomorrow how it goes. right.”
Tomorrow will be the first two practice sessions for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix. In a few hours, we’ll get our first glimpse of Verstappen and how close the chasing pack actually is.
