Max Verstappen’s 2024 season was very different from his usual dominance. After winning the first few races easily, he found himself on the back foot as teams like McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes made big improvements.

Red Bull, on the other hand, struggled with upgrades that didn’t work as well as expected and made the car’s balance really poor. Despite this, Verstappen managed to tame his RB20 again and still secured the results he needed to clinch the world championship.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was Verstappen’s closest competitor for most of the season, but couldn’t close the gap, allowing the Dutchman to win his fourth world title with two races to go.

Verstappen later stated that he could have won even earlier if he had been driving the MCL38, which he thought was a better car than Red Bull’s by the end of the season.

Norris disagreed with Verstappen’s claim, pointing out that Verstappen’s early season dominance had already given him a huge lead, which was basically unbeatable.

Mercedes’ George Russell, agreed with Verstappen and said that McLaren’s mistakes helped Verstappen win. The Briton, who won two races this season, also believes that if he had been driving either a McLaren or a Red Bull, he could have been world champion too.

“Yes, absolutely,” Russell told the Daily Mail when asked if he could’ve won in the MCL38.

On a question if he could’ve done that in Red Bull as well, he responded positively again: “For sure.”

He added: "Max has won once in the last 12 races so he is very beatable.

“The difference [between Verstappen and Norris] is that when Max has had the chance he has won, whereas his rivals who should have beaten him this year did not.

“They [Norris and McLaren] have thrown away a lot of points and therefore Max, who is an exceptional driver, has won the championship early.

“I say I could have won in the Red Bull because it was the quickest car at the start.

“Even Checo [Sergio Perez] was second a few times. It’s only in the second half of the season that they were the third-best team.”

Russell’s abilities will be tested next year by his new teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is replacing Lewis Hamilton and has big ambitions for his rookie Formula 1 season.