Is Verstappen back in the running for world champion? The season has been pretty papaya heavy, with Mclaren dominating the scoreboard. Max however, made a comeback this week with a win in Imola, scoring himself another 25 points. He is solidly in third and creeping up on Lando Norris.
As much as it pains me to say, especially as a diehard Lando fan, he is underperforming next to his teammate, and if things keep going this way, then Max will take second in the standings in no time. Leaving this year's battle up to more than the duo I have spent so long talking about. Often in Formula One, a championship is battled between two major contenders, and even if there is a third, the media typically ignores them in order to orchestrate a more entertaining fight. However, I don’t think it will be so easy this time around. The margins between the top three drivers are very slim right now, and have been all season. If the order of the top three continues to change, it will be an unavoidable narrative. I don’t think that the sports media and organizations that largely cover the world of F1 were prepared for this though since the beginning of the season was so telling. Most media, at least from the looks of it, assumed pretty early on that the battle was between the Mclarens and that it would stay there. Nobody anticipated the Red Bull comeback, especially given the comments by the team's drivers.
It is extremely interesting watching the media scramble to change their narrative and adapt to what is happening in real time, especially in combination with Max climbing through the ranks yet again, potentially coming back to claim a fifth world championship.