Max Verstappen suffers major points loss as Oscar Piastri makes clear progress

Max Verstappen has scored a staggering 90 points less in the first 12 races of this season compared to last year, with only Carlos Sainz having endured a wore start to the campaign. 

In Sainz's case, the Williams driver has scored 133 points fewer than he had done for Ferrari in the first half of last year, with his move offering an adequate explanation.

The same cannot be said for Verstappen, who sits third in the F1 drivers' title and 69 points adrift of Oscar Piastri. Red Bull has struggled for consistent performances, although the Dutchman has still been able to win two races this year.

Piastri not only leads the title, the McLaren driver has also scored 110 points more in the opening 12 rounds than he had last year – no driver can better his improvement.

Remarkably, Yuki Tsunoda scored more points in the first 12 rounds of last season for Red Bull's sister team, than he has this year for the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

Other noticeable drivers are Lando Norris and Alex Albon, who have scored 55 and 42 points more than this time last year, respectively.

Interestingly, despite facing criticism for a difficult start to life as a Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton has scored only seven points less than this time last year, when he was still driving for Mercedes.

Of the 21 drivers to have entered a race this season, only Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto are yet to score a point, and as a result do not feature in the table below.

View the championship standings below after the first 12 races of 2024 as well as 2025!