Verstappen doesn’t rule out F1 title after victory in Azerbaijan

Max Verstappen does not rule out the possibility of conquering his fifth Formula 1 world title, while reducing the distance with leader Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship. His recent and dominant victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has boosted him in the standings. After his triumph in Monza and with seven races still to go, Verstappen’s victory in Baku puts him 69 points ahead of Piastri. The latter, in a weekend marked by errors, suffered an accident in qualifying and another on the first lap of Sunday’s race. On Saturday, the qualifying in Baku was chaotic, with multiple suspensions that altered the grid. Verstappen, for his part, achieved pole position, while Norris was placed in seventh place.

On Sunday, with Piastri out of the race on the first lap, Norris couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity to score points, finishing in the same starting position and seeing how the advantage over Verstappen was reduced to 44 points.

The perfect weekend for the Dutch driver included his sixth Grand Slam in his career (pole position, fastest lap, victory, and leading every lap), tying Lewis Hamilton for second place in F1 history.

This weekend has been incredible for us. Of course, last weekend was already great. But yes, for us to win here again is fantastic.

Max Verstappen

When asked about his expectations in the drivers’ championship, Verstappen commented:

I don’t rely on hope. There are seven races left and still 69 points difference. It’s a lot.

Max Verstappen

Verstappen added that he needs everything to go perfectly and a bit of luck on McLaren’s side, so he considers the situation very difficult. He emphasized that he prefers to focus on each race, seeking to score as many points as possible, and evaluate the final situation after Abu Dhabi.

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella highlighted Verstappen’s consecutive victories and pointed out Red Bull’s improvement, mentioning the updates implemented in Monza and the team’s ability to optimize the car’s setup.

Red Bull seems to have improved. I think they have made a genuine improvement. They had updates in Monza. It seems they have found a way to exploit these updates with the setup. Max and Red Bull will be regular contenders for victories, and Max is definitely a contender for the drivers’ championship. So we have a lot of work ahead. We need to stay focused, improve, and we will try again.

Andrea Stella