At the beginning of the 2024 Formula 1 season, nobody would have predicted that Red Bull Racing were going to miss out on securing both championships for a third consecutive campaign.
After five races, Max Verstappen already had four victories under his belt and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez joined him on the podium each time.
However, the Miami Grand Prix was the turning point in the season when McLaren delivered an update that immediately changed the pecking order on the grid.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown witnessed Lando Norris win the first Grand Prix of his career and from that point, the papaya team went from strength to strength.
Verstappen congratulated Norris on his victory in Miami but quickly realised he needed to be wary of the 25-year-old as he carved away at his lead in the drivers’ championship.
Ultimately, Verstappen held on and at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, secured the fourth consecutive F1 title of his career.
However, by then it was clear that Red Bull would not be retaining their constructors’ title, with Perez failing to record a podium finish since the Sprint Race in Miami.
Talking on The Intercooler Podcast, Brown has explained why he believes Red Bull suddenly fell away.
He contrasted it with the incredible turnaround McLaren achieved after sitting bottom of the standings at the start of the 2023 season.
Zak Brown explains ‘what went wrong’ for Red Bull during the 2024 Formula 1 season
Brown was talking about what made McLaren so successful last season and said: “It was the leadership, the camaraderie, the trust, the transparency, the culture and you can’t buy that.
“What you need is the right people working together. And Andrea’s got a great phrase, ‘Don’t eat the poison biscuits,’ within your own team.
“And then our sport might be a little bit unique to other sports, we all do spend time trying to destabilise the competition, you know, it’s very political in that sense.
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“I think when you look at Red Bull, which is an unbelievable team, with hugely talented people, they’ve lost some really good people, they had their challenges at the beginning of the year off track and I think Max Verstappen’s an unbelievable driver.
“They’ve got a great wind tunnel, they’ve got a great racing car, what went wrong there is the environment was destabilised.
“They’ve lost some people, the technology didn’t fall apart overnight and I think it’s hard when you’re dominant for as long as they have been, and at Mercedes, people then want to move on and hit the ceiling.
“So, I think I hope to have that challenge in three, four, five years, I’ve got a team that’s used to winning championships and then keeping hold of them becomes a challenge.”
Big Max Verstappen change predicted for 2025 might worry his rivals
Red Bull confirmed Perez’s exit at the end of the season with his performances, not of the required level for a team with championship ambitions.
Liam Lawson has been hired in his place, although the young New Zealander will be expected to support Verstappen, to begin with rather than immediately challenging for race wins.
Tom Kristensen has predicted a big change in Verstappen that may worry his rivals, even if he doesn’t have the fastest car.
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Ultimately, F1 is cyclical and no team or driver stays at the top of the sport forever.
Verstappen could speak to Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso about that if he wanted some advice on how to prevent his domination from ending, although they might not be too willing to help one of their rivals in that respect.
The Dutchman is relying on Red Bull making key improvements over the winter to give him a chance of staying on top, but as Brown has warned, those changes aren’t easy to make, especially when the likes of Adrian Newey have departed.
