For the fourth time in five races this season, Max Verstappen is victorious.
The defending Formula 1 champion was again dominant in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, defeating second-place Lando Norris by nearly 14 seconds.
The 2024 season is already shaping up to be a repeat of 2023, as Verstappen has four wins and one retirement through five races. Dating back to last season, he has won 11 of his last 12 races and 21 of his last 23 overall.
"It felt amazing," Verstappen said after the race. "All weekend we were incredibly quick and it was just enjoyable to drive. The car was basically on rails and I could do whatever I wanted to with it. Those kind of weekends are amazing to feel."
Verstappen led the race nearly wire-to-wire, only briefly relinquishing his advantage to take a pit stop.
While his dominance is historic, some are starting to push back Verstappen's reign. Norris, who finished second for the eighth time in his career, said the same driver winning every week could get boring for fans.
"Now, we are seeing more dominance than ever, so it is never going to be the best to watch and the only exciting races have been the ones that Max is not in," Norris told reporters before the race. "Of course it is going be [a turn off for fans] - there is no way you can say it won't be.
"If you see the same driver winning every single time without a fight then of course it does start to become boring and that is obvious. You have got one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1, in one of the most dominant cars and it is a combination that is deadly. If Max wasn't there and you had two Perezs it wouldn't be the case."
As it stands, it doesn't much matter what anyone else thinks. Verstappen is putting together the most dominant run in racing history and is arguably the top athlete in any sport at the moment.
The 26-year-old already holds a 25-point lead over second-place Sergio Pérez in the standings just five races into the season. We're already looking at a repeat of the 2023 campaign, where Verstappen dominated to such a degree that everyone else in the sport is competing for second place.
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