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, after reducing the distance with the leader of the drivers’ championship, Oscar Piastri, thanks to his resounding victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After his triumph in Monza and with seven races to go until the end of the season, Verstappen’s victory in Baku puts him 69 points ahead of Piastri, who, in a weekend marked by errors, suffered an accident in qualifying and another on the first lap of Sunday’s race. On Saturday, amidst the chaos in Baku, with the classification suspended on six occasions, Verstappen took pole position, while Norris only managed the seventh-best time. On Sunday, with Piastri out of the race on the first lap, Norris was unable to take advantage of the opportunity to score points, finishing in the same starting position and seeing how the lead over Verstappen was reduced to 44 points. The perfect weekend for the Dutch driver earned him his sixth Grand Slam (pole position, fastest lap, victory, leading every lap) in his career, 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 simply fantastic.

Max Verstappen

When asked about his chances in the fight for the drivers’ championship, Verstappen replied:

I don’t rely on hope. There are seven races left and there’s still a 69-point difference. It’s a lot. But basically everything has to go perfectly on my part. And I also need a bit of luck on his side, you know, so it’s still very difficult. Personally, I don’t think about it. I just go race by race, which is what I’ve basically been doing all season, trying to do my best, trying to score as many points as possible. And then, after Abu Dhabi, we’ll know.

Max Verstappen

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has highlighted Verstappen’s consecutive victories. “Red Bull seems to have improved,” he told SiriusXM after the race. “I think they have made a genuine improvement. They had upgrades in Monza. It seems they have found a way to exploit these upgrades with the setup. I already said yesterday that 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.”