Max Verstappen is in troubled waters with the once-assured 2024 championship slipping out of his hands. With only one victory so dominant at the Dutch GP, Lando Norris has left Red Bull questioning their championship worthiness. More than the victory itself, it was the 22.9-second margin that scared Verstappen, who was ‘alarmed’ by his RB20’s underperformance. But with the points gap being 70, it surely won’t be difficult for the reigning champ to defend his crown, right? This is where a decision taken by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali in 2022 comes into the picture.

As per the current points system, there is a difference of 7 points between a race winner and P2 (25 and 18). So even if Verstappen comes second to Norris in the remaining 9 races, he still wins the championship. There have to be external circumstances like a DNF or a rival interference in the top spot for the McLaren driver to win his maiden title. But that’s not all; sprint races, which Domenicali doubled in number from three to six in 2023, will add to the rollercoaster.

In Austin, Brazil, and Qatar, bonus points will be up for grabs. The Sprint race winner gets 8 points, P2 gets 7, and so on till 1 for P8. Norris will have to bank on these events to have any chance of preventing Verstappen from clinching his 4th consecutive title. Additionally, the McLaren driver will also have to put more than 5 fastest lap for that extra point each time to just cut it.

As per the F1 CEO, Sprint races have received a “very, very positive reaction” from fans worldwide. Because fans get double the action on Sprint weekend, it is also a commercial success. If indeed a Sprint race decides Verstappen’s championship standing, he would be furious. On several occasions, the Red Bull driver has voiced his displeasure with this new format. But as far as Red Bull’s racing approach goes, they are smartly settling for lesser for the ultimate good.

Christian Horner sets revised target to curb Max Verstappen’s win-at-all-costs mindset

Max Verstappen has an animal mindset once the helmet is on. In his mind, it’s do or die in each race, as evidently seen at the Austrian GP this year. With the championship at stake, the 3x champ could’ve gone a tad easier in his P1 battle with Lando Norris. But his past self, who was super-aggressive when it came to defending, was reborn and led to the eventual collision, which saw him settling for P5.

With McLaren’s latest upgrade package giving Norris an unassailable boost, Verstappen has to change. For the bigger championship goal, he might need to sacrifice such detrimental wheel-to-wheel battles sometimes. Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner assessed the new situation after the Dutch GP. “So we were 78 points (ahead), now we’re 70 ahead. We want to make sure that we extend the lead, not see it continually diminish,” he told PlanetF1.

He also explained how Verstappen needs to take the best possible alternative rather than attempt a win which is out of the question. “I think that you’ve got to drive with the championship in mind. There’s been seven different race winners this year. So if you can’t win, then you’ve got to be scoring the points,” Horner concluded. Though settling for P2 or lower isn’t something Verstappen is accustomed to, he did well to secure P2 in Zandvoort.

Even in the post-race interviews, he was calm and collected, unlike the Hungarian GP disaster in the first half of 2024. If this more mature version of him stays, he could smoothly become a 4-time F1 champion this year.