Formula 1: Max Verstappen's Qatar win ended a four-decade streak

It would be far from a controversial statement to say that the 2024 Formula 1 season has not gone to plan for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Certainly, it hasn't been anything close to the all but unstoppable form they showed just one year ago.

In 2023, Verstappen set numerous records, including the most wins in a single season with 19, single season win percentage at 86.36%, single season points at 575 (breaking his own record of 454 from the previous year), the longest win streak of all-time with 10, and many, many more.

You could look back at many of the sport's most dominant and iconic seasons from an individual performance point of view, and nothing even comes close to what was done in 2023.

In 2024, though, it's been far from the same story. While the season started out in the exact same manner, with Verstappen winning four of the opening five races, Red Bull hit a massive lull in development and general car understanding, making for a much more competitive and unpredictable rest of the season that now sees McLaren and Ferrari separated by 21 points for the world constructor championship entering the final round in Abu Dhabi. Red Bull have already been eliminated.

Verstappen has only won five races – still more than any other driver – since his dominance in the opening five rounds, largely because of this drop-off. His season-opening run and ability to often overachieve when the car wasn't in its sweet spot are what allowed him to hang on for a fourth straight world championship.

Even in a season when results have been hard to come by, Verstappen has still managed to match and break several records in 2024.

Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez, has had massive struggles almost all season, leading to him clinching eighth place in the standings and Red Bull clinching a disappointing third in the constructor standings.

Despite scoring podium finishes alongside Verstappen in all four of Verstappen's wins through the opening five races of the year, including three runner-up results, Perez hasn't been on the podium since. In fact, he's only scored one top five result in 18 races in that timeframe. He's had several crashes, made several critical mistakes, and above all, has just severely lacked pace and struggled to get a handle on this tricky car.

However, Perez's struggles do highlight just how strong Verstappen's season has been.

Verstappen has managed more than double the amount of wins this season than Perez has scored podium finishes. The seven-place gap between the two of them is the largest from a championship driver pairing since 1994, when Michael Schumacher and, ironically, Jos Verstappen finished in first and 10th, respectively, for Benetton.

The 277-point gap between Verstappen and Perez is so massive, that even if you combine the points gaps between the other nine teams' driver pairings, it only amounts to 254 points, 23 less than the gap at Red Bull. It is the second largest point gap between a pair of teammates in Formula 1 history behind last year's 290 between the two, and it is virtually double the size of the next closest: Fernando Alonso's 139-point gap ahead of Felipe Massa in 2012.

Verstappen's Qatar Grand Prix win, while being ordinary from the perspective of the record books, did help him match a Formula 1 feat that has only been done a few times before.

While he had already become just the fifth driver in Formula 1 history to win four straight world championships, and the second youngest to win four titles at all during the previous race in Las Vegas, Verstappen became the first driver in 41 years to win the title while his team finished outside of the top two in the constructor standings. Nelson Piquet, ironically the father of his partner Kelly Piquet, was the fourth and most recent driver to pull this off in 1983 with Brabham.

In fact, had Verstappen and Red Bull been a one-car operation this season, they would still be firmly in the race for third place in the constructor championship, as Verstappen himself currently sits just 17 points behind Mercedes' total of 446. Last year, he would have won the constructor championship by himself, when Red Bull took the crown by a wide margin.

While many people will file this down to Perez being in poor form, it's important to remember the numerous incredible performances Verstappen has had in less-than-ideal machinery to create that gap.

His two most recent wins in Brazil and Qatar stand out as some of his absolute best, with him going from 17th to first in rainy Sao Paulo and then rebounding from a horrid eighth place finish in the Qatar sprint race to then take pole (before his penalty) and win the Qatar Grand Prix on merit.

All four of Verstappen's titles have been extremely special in their own way. In 2021, he took down the greatest statistical driver of all-time, Lewis Hamilton, in his first title challenge. In 2022, he overcame the largest deficit by an eventual championship winner in Formula 1 history after two DNFs in the first three races.

In 2023, he put together by far the most dominant season in Formula 1 history, and arguably, in all of sports history. And in 2024, he won the title with two races still to run while driving the consensus second or third fastest car almost all season.

Should Verstappen pull a "Nico Rosberg" and retire following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this coming weekend, he would already be in the conversation to be on Formula 1's Mount Rushmore of drivers. Rather than hating, it's about time fans start appreciating the greatness we're seeing on a week-to-week basis.