After the 2023 British Grand Prix, Red Bull were 208 points clear at the top of the Formula 1 constructors’ championship, having won all ten rounds of the season on their way to delivering the most dominant campaign in F1 history.
A year later they remain in first position, but their advantage has been reduced to just 71 points, and they have won only seven of the 12 grands prix run so far in 2024.
Impressive performance, absolutely, but the Milton Keynes squad’s clinical dominance of F1 has been decisively disrupted by a group of rivals who have rapidly reeled them in.
Sunday’s scintillating British Grand Prix was the proof.
Red Bull dominance is over
Though triple world champion Max Verstappen produced a very strong, measured, drive to take second behind winner Lewis Hamilton, the Red Bull was only the third-fastest car all weekend long, and the Dutchman would have finished way off the pace had changeable conditions not drawn him closer to the leading pack in the closing stages.
At different points in the race, Mercedes and McLaren seemed to trade the pace advantage. The Silver Arrows were consistent at the start and looked comfortable in the dry before the McLarens’ superior balance in the corners allowed them to take the lead in the wet.
It could even be argued that had Lando Norris opted for the medium tyres rather than the softs for his final stint, he could have passed Hamilton for the win.
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