Fierce rivalries have been prominent throughout the decades in Formula 1 racing history. In the 1980s and 1990s it was Williams vs. Mclaren; in the 2000s it became Ferrari vs. Renault in the 2010s RedBull vs. Mercedes; and most recently in 2024 after three years of RedBull dominance, Mclaren became the new rival to RedBull. Both teams are now fighting for the title of world champion. With only six races left, who will take the title?
At the beginning of the season, RedBull was slated to dominate once again with their incredible pace and strong strategies. However, after the Miami Grand Prix this past May, their consistent winning streak had began to render into their competitor’s hands. Their performance retrogressed from first and second place on the grid, dropping towards fifth and out of point range.
Although RedBull had been fighting to continue their winning streak, they had just lost their Constructors Championship lead to Mclaren during the race at Azerbaijan. While Mclaren has pushed their way to the front, their season has had a rocky start with lower grid positions. Their points ranged from fourth place to eighth place during the earlier races.
After their race in Azerbaijan, both Mclaren and RedBull had demonstrated promising skill and strong strategies, such as in lap 16/51 where Lando Norris held off Sergio Perez and eliminated the threat of Oscar Piastri being undercut when exiting the pitlanes. (This is when a driver pits earlier than the car they are racing against. The goal is to use fresh tires to set a faster lap time and get ahead of the other car pits later.)
With these brilliant moves made by Piastri to keep pressure on Charles Leclerc, a Ferrari driver, Piastri eventually overtook Leclerc’s first place position on turn one of the Baku circuit. During the last two laps of the race, RedBull driver Sergio Perez collided with Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, ultimately leading to a virtual safety car, which secured the win for Mclaren and grave points were lost for RedBull.
The sudden reversal of Mclaren and RedBull’s positions led to a power shift between the two teams. Although the drivers win the points, their strategists and teams who work behind the scenes play a major role in the success of a race. Andrea Stella, who is an engineer for the Mclaren racing team, enlightened F1 fans about ‘Papaya Rules,’ which created extreme controversy throughout the media. The ‘Papaya Rules’ are meant to maintain “clean” racing between both drivers on the Mclaren team, where one driver is not favored over another. Both drivers are expected not to fight each other during races and be more careful with the ‘papaya’ cars.
The effectiveness of Mclaren’s strategy was questioned during Piastri’s first win in Hungary, where Piastri was undercut by his teammate Lando Norris, who was told to return the position to Piastri, because Norris will ‘need’ Piastri. Fans were outraged as the team essentially gave Piastri his first win, and Norris received fewer points, which could have been crucial to catching up with Max Verstappen.
In response, Mclaren put out a statement which discussed repealing the ‘Papaya Rules’ and focusing their attention on Lando Norris, as he is the closest contestor to Max Vertseppen for the Driver’s World Championship. The ‘Papaya Rules’ will now have a new approach in which drivers are not expected to give back a winning position, and teammates will fight for their positions– even if it is against each other–but still drive as a team.
RedBull has also made some recent changes to their team, the most significant being the loss of Adrian Newey, who was the Chief Technological Officer for RedBull racing. He has now signed a contract with Aston Martin, which will begin on March 1, 2025. This will have a huge effect on the RedBull team, since Newey served in multiple roles: lead engineer, aerodynamicist and car designer. His role at RedBull was crucial, and after the announcement in May, the team’s performance had seen a progressive decline from their original dominance.
Due to the improved performance from Mclaren and the decline of RedBull, recent statistics indicate that Mclaren may have the upper-hand within the championship standings. Although the Driver’s Championship is still up for grabs, Mclaren has a promising chance of taking home the victory.
Many fans may argue that RedBull will end up winning the championship once again this year, marking their fourth year of winning the World Championship since 2021. However, data shows that Mclaren may break their winning streak. There are six races left in five different countries; anything could happen. But the question still remains, who will win the World Championship?
