Max Verstappen's fourth consecutive championship victory in 2024 has sparked debate about how his closest rival, Lando Norris, fell short.
Verstappen secured the title with two races remaining, despite Red Bull's car no longer being the fastest in the field. The Dutchman even claimed in Las Vegas that he would have clinched the championship much earlier had he been driving Norris' McLaren.
When asked whether Verstappen was justified in making such a bold statement, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko backed his driver.
"Yes, because he is certainly right," Marko told Osterreich. "This year, no driver other than Max would have won the world championship for us. He certainly did not have the best car."
Norris, however, refuted Verstappen's claim, insisting that no driver could have overcome the deficit he faced earlier in the season.
"Definitely not," the 24-year-old said. "No one ever in the history of Formula 1 has come back from the size of deficit I had.
"The advantage they had in the beginning of the season over everyone was way more than we've had."
But Dutch racer Jeroen Bleekemolen disagreed, highlighting moments where Norris may have lacked the assertiveness needed to be a champion.
"When Verstappen was driving for Toro Rosso, he was once ordered to move aside for his teammate Carlos Sainz. He didn't do that," Bleekemolen told Ziggo Sport. "Norris could have had that attitude more often towards his teammate Oscar Piastri this season. That's part of it if you want to become world champion."
1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes McLaren's team strategy was a significant factor in Norris' failure to challenge Verstappen. Speaking to Le Journal de Montreal, Villeneuve suggested that McLaren, and Piastri's manager, Mark Webber, may have hindered Norris' title chances.
"Unfortunately for Lando, McLaren didn't help him," Villeneuve said. "It's as if the team didn't want him to win the championship. Which is strange.
"There are terms that protect him [Piastri] that a new driver should never have."
Bleekemolen echoed this sentiment, criticizing McLaren's decisions, particularly when Norris was ordered to step aside for Piastri in Hungary.
"Decisions were made that I didn't understand at all," Bleekemolen said. "They were missing the bigger picture.
"There appeared to be a lot of uncertainty within the team. They responded too late to a new situation in which they had the best car. The drivers themselves let it slide at times, but if there had been more clarity from above, that would have helped them enormously.
"McLaren focused for a long time completely on the development of the car, to close the gap in pure speed. They succeeded in that, but not on the operational part. And that becomes painfully visible when you are not driving for places five to ten, but for the title.
"Because the smallest mistake is then punished."
Bleekemolen also highlighted a key difference between Verstappen and Norris in their approach.
"Verstappen is so confident that he never looks at the others," he said. "Norris looks around a lot more, to see what other drivers are doing.
"He can certainly work on that, but on the other hand, that killer instinct is something that is either in you or not."
