Yesterday we saw the conclusion to the first half of the Formula One season with the teams now o a compulsory two week summer break. There has been 7 different race winners form the first 14 races which is a change as last Season Max Verstappen dominated winning 19 of the 22 races.
The big difference this season is other teams have closed the advantage gap Red Bull has had over the last few years. This always happens in any sport because remaining at the top sets the benchmark for others to surpass. Mercedes dominated for 7 years and since their fall from grace have been working to get back there.
A team like McLaren has been trying to reclaim the Constructors Championship last won by the team in 1998. This year going into the summers break they must be thinking they have a realistic chance of making that happen with the way their car has been performing.
If one looks at the last 8 races and he amount of points scored by the various teams the McLaren team has been dominating. McLaren has scored 242 points with Red Bull achieving only 169 and the Constructors Title standings difference is now only 42.
The problem is Red Bull only have 1 driver scoring points consistently in Verstappen with Perez struggling thus far. What is interesting is tonight they announced they would keep Perez on until the end of the season which could be a costly blunder. With 10 races to go this season Red Bull could easily end up finishing 3rd or even 4th. Verstappen could win the Drivers Championship, but without points coming from Perez they have no chance fighting for the Constructors title. I find this an absolute absurd decision to not swap Perez out for a more competitive driver and believe the Constructors Championship will definitely be going to another team this season because of this. Verstappen has a 78 point advantage in the drivers championship so he should be able to see this one home but it could get very tight.
Red Bull are struggling especially that their design engineer guru in Adrian Newey is on leave since May 1st and is free to join another team in January 2025. Newey is not someone you can just replace and is proving how much so with Red Bull now in the cross hairs of 3 other teams closing in rapidly. I would say McLaren has already surpassed them and is now the quicker car with Mercedes on par with Red Bull now. Ferrari on their day with the right set up are also within the mix so now we have 4 teams challenging for race wins which has been unheard of in the last few decades.