Max Verstappen just stopped short of ruling himself out Formula 1 title contention after his Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory drew him closer to both McLaren drivers in the standings.
The reigning World Champion was in scintillating form around the streets of Baku, completing a perfect weekend of pole position, fastest lap and a lights-to-flag race win.
Verstappen, who had never won in Azerbaijan before, managed to take a second consecutive race win for the first time in 2025, amid a horror show for McLaren.
Title-leader Oscar Piastri crashed out on Lap 1 in what was an uncharacteristic error, and Lando Norris failed to significantly capitalise on it, finishing a disappointing seventh.
It puts Verstappen 69 points behind Piastri and 44 behind Norris with seven races still to run.
Verstappen has continuously ruled himself out of being able to win a fifth straight title this year, and whilst he admitted he is still on the periphery, refused to be drawn on doing so this time.
“I mean, I don’t rely on hope,” he said. “But it’s seven rounds left – 69 points is a lot. So I personally don’t think about it.
“I just go race by race, what I have been doing basically the whole season — just trying to do the best we can, try to score the most points that we can.
“And then after Abu Dhabi, we’ll know.”
It appears that Verstappen’s Red Bull RB21 has found some significant improvement since the resumption of F1 from its summer break, having won two out of the three races since.
But Singapore could prove to be the litmus test for the Milton Keynes-based squad, who have a poor record in the event.
Verstappen acknowledged to Sky F1 that he requires some bad luck from the papaya outfit to be able to fully cement his status as a title contender for the first time this year.
“Basically, everything needs to go perfectly from my side, and then I need a bit of [bad] luck from their [McLaren] side as well. So, it’s still very tough.”
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