Hill shares 'gut prediction' about 'dramatic' Verstappen title bid

Damon Hill believes F1 rivals face a "tall order" to prevent Max Verstappen from winning the 2024 titles, despite Red Bull's recent struggles.

After winning seven of the opening 10 races, Verstappen has not won in four races since Spain, his worst run since going 11 races without a victory in 2020, with Red Bull's RB20 falling into the clutches of McLaren's MCL38 and the resurgent Mercedes W15 machines.

The Dutchman, who enjoys a 78-point lead over Lando Norris in the drivers' with 284 points up for grabs over the remaining 10 rounds, including three sprint races, has urged his team to up the development rate, but 1996 world champion Hill's "gut reaction" is that Verstappen will join Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel as a quadruple title winner.

"My gut reaction is that it is going to be a tall order to stop Max Verstappen in a Red Bull," Hill explained on the F1 Nation podcast.

"I know everyone is catching, but he has shown that he is prepared to fight every inch of the track to keep those victories and he is able to pull results out of the hat. 

"He's been quite critical of the team and wants to see more action because he's starting to have to work a lot harder than he's been used to in the last couple of years. 

"He will really have to fight for this championship, so whether they can come up with a little bit more pace for him on the development of the car, I am sure they can, but he is still going to be chased all the way through to the end."

Tight to call

After the staggering dominance of 2023 in which Verstappen won 19 of 22 races and set numerous other records, Red Bull boss Christian Horner was keen to point out that he expected convergence throughout '24 as Red Bull reached the end of its car concept and others, such as McLaren and Mercedes found gains. 

It is a theory Hill put together, as the 22-time grand prix winner also mentioned the budget cap Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions (ATR) as possible reasons for the drop in comparative form.

"I think the trajectory has been quite noticeable in the plateauing of Red Bull and Verstappen, it has been quite dramatic," he said. 

"I don't know whether it is the cost cap or all the other restrictions for guys who have won more than anyone else in previous seasons, but it partly has to be that. 

"But it is not good just saying: 'okay, well let everyone catch up.' If they don't know what they're doing, they won't catch up, so they are obviously earning those positions, they're earning the right to challenge for victories. 

"McLaren notably and also the recovery of Mercedes has been pretty dramatic since James Allison announced "how could we have been so stupid?"

"Now they've got their little tweak or whatever they've done to make the car work, and the only people who have got a bit of a vortex going and are going around in circles without getting further ahead is Ferrari."