Truth be told, Max Verstappen doesn’t look or sound like he is enjoying himself anymore, and his general demeanour these last few weeks has been a bit of a mood killer. Photo: Reuters
Comment by Morgan Bolton
When Max Verstappen dive-bombed his rival Lando Norris at the Mexico City Grand Prix, you could almost feel his seething rage translate into his steering wheel, and then broadcast itself through whatever screening device you happened to watch it on.
The Dutchman has not been a happy chappy recently. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he has been quite unpleasant.
He has been miffed when speaking to his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
He has been sullen when interviewed in pre- and post-race interviews, and during events, he has looked like anger personified packed into his 800kg RB20, which has lost all of its advantages and gained no riposte as the race calendar comes to its conclusion.
Truth be told, the 27-year-old doesn’t look or sound like he is enjoying himself anymore, and his general demeanour these last few weeks has been a bit of a mood killer.
A bad day lacking race pace. I know we can do much better, so let’s keep pushing 💪 Onwards to Brazil! pic.twitter.com/nACBg7Emrj
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) October 28, 2024
For the racing has been gripping in many respects. The three-way battle in the constructors’ championship between Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari has been unexpected, as much as it has been intriguing.
Since Monaco – the eighth stop on the calendar – in mid-May, there have been seven different winners in the 13 races held from four different teams.
The dominance of Red Bull that punctuated last season – when they won 21 of the 22 races – now seems a distant memory.
It is fair to say that after such supremacy, no one expected a string of results as what has been witnessed this year.
Indeed many, including this column, guesstimated that 2024 would be a similar procession as what had come before.
Instead, and although the drivers’ championship will no doubt be stitched up by Verstappen in the coming weeks, there is a real scrap between at least three teams for the more important, but less glamorous, constructors’ title.
Red Bull are currently third in that championship, and if Verstappen does win, it will be the first time since 1983 that a constructor has engineered a car good enough to win the individual glory, but not team honours.
That year, Nelson Piquet did so with Brabham. A season earlier, Keke Rosberg and Williams achieved a similar feat by finishing first and fourth in the respective championships.
That probably is a good indication of how well Verstappen has done to keep his team competitive, but it has come at a cost to his likeability and respect, methinks.
A long wait ⏱️
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 29, 2024
Red Bull had to endure a 20-second pause before they could work on Max Verstappen's car after he was penalised for forcing Lando Norris off the track #F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/zE7n0i9Hkg
To a certain extent, I don’t mind it at all. F1 has become far too sanitised, far too politically correct. The drivers speak in platitudes. They are blank slates that regurgitate corporate speak.
Very demure, very mindful.
F1 needs a villain, an antagonist that stimulates ire, that sparks debate, and which we can all agree can be the bad guy, but also a great driver, a legend even, as the two are not mutually exclusive.
So, when Norris said after this weekend that “Verstappen got what was coming to him” after their tussle on the track, which resulted in a 20-second penalty and a two-point strike on his licence, my interest hit new levels of enjoyment perhaps not seen since the great battle between the latter and Lewis Hamilton.
We've got you covered for every angle of Norris v Verstappen in Mexico 👁️
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 29, 2024
Watch the best onboard action from the Mexico City Grand Prix now 👇#F1 #MexicoGP @qatarairways #DrivenToPerfection
More importantly, when a casual fan watching the sport – as was the case this past weekend with the SO – questions the roguery of a driver, then we are on the right track – no pun intended – for sure.
In Formula One, there should be no friends on the track. Respect for sure – but this tedious ‘corporatese’ which makes up the vocabulary of the modern, professional F1 team, can do with a bit of colour, a bit of a rivalry, a bit of anti-hero against a morally grey protagonist.
That there are three teams – and possibly also Mercedes – that can spar in such a manner at the moment, only makes it that much better.
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