It's time for Verstappen's challengers to rise in 2024

Who can challenge Max Verstappen? That is the big question for the coming seasons. Ferrari are putting everything on Charles Leclerc, while Mercedes and McLaren are spreading their chances. The real title rival has to step up now.

After a thrilling title fight in 2021 between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the Dutchman has seized power in Formula 1. After Mercedes and Hamilton dominated the sport for years, now the era of Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have arrived. How long the era will last nobody knows, but the competitors are doing everything they can to make it as short as possible.

The teams will get closer as the years go by. After all, the rules remain the same and so Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren will slowly move closer to Red Bull Racing. The question, however, is who will be able to challenge Verstappen. It was an exciting title fight in 2021, but even then Verstappen proved more consistent than Hamilton. The Brit is not getting any younger and it remains to be seen at all whether Mercedes will be the first team to be able to close the gap.

Indeed, as teams, Ferrari and McLaren seem further ahead. Ferrari won a race in 2023 and got stronger and stronger through the year. That was especially true of McLaren, which, with a sprint race win for Oscar Piastri and the most points after Red Bull Racing in the second half of the season, also start 2024 with confidence.

Ferrari extended Charles Leclerc's contract. The Monegasque is Ferrari's designated front-runner, but he still fell visibly short in 2022's duel with Verstappen. Ferrari certainly did not deliver a top performance, but Leclerc came up short himself. He missed out at the Imola GP, only to even fly into the wall at the lead of the race later in France.

Leclerc did not exactly show an upward trend in 2023 either. Even in that season, where there was no pressure of a title race on his shoulders, he was unable to remain faultless. If you want to compete with Verstappen, you have to be. With a new contract in his pocket, Leclerc must show in 2024 that he is capable of doing so. That he has the speed, he has shown on several occasions.

The same goes for Lando Norris. He did not yet find himself in a situation where he could really challenge Verstappen, but that will happen more and more in 2024. With a multi-year deal in his pocket, Norris should also start to pay off his team's trust. In 2023, the Briton made a step forward in race pace, but was also prone to mistakes on several occasions under pressure.

The pressure from Oscar Piastri, in particular, will increase. The Australian was also offered a new deal by McLaren and, with a year's experience under his belt, will want to be even better in 2024. Can Norris handle that pressure? Norris is also still without a win. Bad luck, or is it no coincidence that his teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Piastri did manage to win a (sprint) race in the same car?

For George Russell, the first thing is still to beat Hamilton. In 2022, Russell finished above his teammate in points, but in 2023, the young driver fell way back. Russell made several mistakes and eventually finished in a disappointing eighth place in the championship. You can't expect Hamilton, at 39, to challenge Max anymore, let alone the other experienced firecracker Fernando Alonso aged 42.

It is time for the next generation to rise. Leclerc, Norris and Russell have all proven to be fast. For a title campaign, however, you need more, especially against Verstappen. All three have gained the confidence of their team, now it is their turn in 2024.