For The First Time In 1,029 Days, Max Verstappen Isn't Leading The F1 World Driver's Championship

After a very sour start to the 2022 season that saw Max Verstappen finish out of the points twice in the first three events, the Dutchman won three Grands Prix in a row in Italy, Miami, and Spain to re-take the lead of the F1 World Drivers' Championship from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Every day since May 22, 2022 we have lived in fear of the awesome power wielded by the despicable Max Verstappen regime, until today. On a wet Sunday in Australia, after 1029 days living in the shadow of a Max Verstappen WDC leader, the despotic dictator was defeated in battle by the young Briton Lando Norris astride his trusty McLaren steed. No driver has ever spent as long leading the championship, and I hope that his reign of terror has come to its permanent end. 

Across those 1,029 days Verstappen has won 39 Grands Prix, well over half the number that were held. In order to hold on to his championship lead across that much time Max needed to win the opening rounds in 2023 and 2024, which he did handily. It goes without saying that Max is a talented driver, and when he has the fastest car on the grid he can turn it into a championship. Red Bull, over the course of the season in 2024, put together the third-best team in the constructors' championship and he still managed to barely squeak the victory out after an extremely dominant open to the 2024 season. McLaren saw a late-season improvement well above and beyond what Red Bull had and took the constructors' championship as a result, and it seems the papaya team is still on its championship form. Will 2025 see the beginning of a dominant Lando Norris?

In one of the sloppiest Formula One Grands Prix I have ever seen McLaren had a clear advantage keeping the car's tires from overheating, at one point growing Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri's lead over Verstappen to some 16-odd seconds around the Albert Park street circuit. With wet and drying and re-wetting conditions, it was a disastrously messy event that saw several drivers smash their cars into the wall and several strategies thrown out the window with a guess on the unpredictable weather. After the entire grid had switched onto slick tires to race on a drying track, the rain decided to come back and throw a wrench in the mix. Both McLarens, running first on the road, came to a wet patch and quickly slid off the road. Norris recovered with the lead intact, but Piastri was sidelined losing time trying to recover from the wet grass. In the end, Lando took home the F1 Grand Slam with pole position, fastest lap, and the race win. Six drivers, including four of the six rookies, failed to make it to the finish. 

Verstappen will have to settle for second in the championship standings with 18 points to Norris' 25. This is the first time a McLaren driver has held the driver's title lead since Lewis Hamilton did at the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix. Max will get another opportunity to re-take the championship lead from Norris with the Chinese Grand Prix coming up on March 23. We have to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn't happen.