Yes, we know it’s early to make it look like the season is a foregone conclusion, but given how comfortably Max Verstappen won the title last year and how he cantered to victory in Bahrain, it doesn’t hurt to look at the alternatives.
With Verstappen having won 19 of the 22 races last season, our calculations last season led to a world in which a thrilling title fight would have taken place elsewhere.
Calculating these standings is simple, in that any result Verstappen achieves is taken out of the equation and wherever he finished, every driver below moves up a place, and in the cases where he earned a point for fastest lap, the point gets redistributed to the next-fastest driver on the list.
As this applies for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc clocked the second-quickest lap of the race, so an extra point goes to him in this instance.
Given the seven-point difference between first and second (where he finished almost every time), the differences gained by the drivers behind led to changes in the World Championship standings that, had both Red Bull drivers not been involved last season, Lewis Hamilton would have edged away from Fernando Alonso as a hypothetical World Champion.
Of course, this is all just for fun, so you don’t have to take it too seriously, but we thought it might be interesting to take a look at an alternative universe nonetheless!
With the Red Bull RB20 looking imperious at the start of the season, particularly with Verstappen behind the wheel, you get the feeling that this might become slightly more pertinent as the F1 2024 season progresses.
[Correct as of 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix]
1: Sergio Perez – 25
2: Carlos Sainz – 18
3: Charles Leclerc – 16
4: George Russell – 12
5: Lando Norris – 10
6: Lewis Hamilton – 8
7: Oscar Piastri – 6
8: Fernando Alonso – 4
9: Lance Stroll – 2
10: Zhou Guanyu – 1
11: Kevin Magnussen – 0
12: Daniel Ricciardo – 0
13: Yuki Tsunoda – 0
14: Alex Albon – 0
15: Nico Hulkenberg – 0
16: Esteban Ocon – 0
17: Pierre Gasly – 0
18: Valtteri Bottas – 0
19: Logan Sargeant – 0
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