Red Bull boss assesses Max Verstappen title chances after Baku triumph

Despite Max Verstappen slashing his deficit in the standings by 35 points in two races, Red Bull is not getting swept away in the wave of speculation that the Dutchman could yet claim a fifth title on the trot.

Although this season Verstappen has matched last year’s eight-race run without a win, unlike in 2024, this year he didn’t have a points buffer over the chasing pack when he hit that slump and instead found himself leading the chasers in third place.

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While McLaren secured 13 grand prix wins, including seven 1-2 results, Verstappen struggled to even reach the podium.

Down on pace and dealing with an unbalanced RB21, the reigning World Champion was 104 points down on championship leader Oscar Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix.

But two races later, and with back-to-back wins in Monza and Baku, that gap is down to 69 and there’s a glimmer of hope for Verstappen and Red Bull.

More than a glimmer if you ask Lando Norris, who was seventh in Baku while his teammate Piastri crashed out on the opening lap.

“People have caught up,” he told Sky F1. “Red Bull brought upgrades last weekend [in Italy], so they are clearly doing well, and their race pace is strong.

“But they still won plenty of races this year. It’s not a surprise. They’ve improved in some areas. They’re a winning team for the last however many years. We knew they could be a threat.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella called Verstappen a “very serious contender”.

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Mekies, though, isn’t letting that talk distract him from the job at hand, which quite simply is to do the best the team can every weekend and count the points at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

“I tell you how we look at it,” the Red Bull team principal told the media after the Azerbaijan race. “We really take it race by race so we don’t look at the championship positions. We don’t even look at it from a constructor’s perspective.

“Yes, it’s nice to look at the battle for second place on the constructors, but we take it step by step, in terms of our understanding of the car, in terms of lap time from the car.

“We got some good answers in Monza, of course. We got some good answers today. We are equally conscious that they are two very, very specific tracks.

“So the way we look at next race is not by looking at the gap to whoever, but Singapore is going to be a different challenge. How we tackle it? How did what we learned apply to that? How much of that we think can be tested there, and how much risk you want to take?

“And at the moment, we try to have a high-risk approach, to try to learn as much as we can at the end of the season, and that prevail on championship discussions or whatever.”

It’s an approach that Verstappen agrees with.

“I mean, I don’t rely on hope,” said the 27-year-old. “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.”

Despite Verstappen winning two on the trot, the driver was cautious about his prospects ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen has never won the Marina Bay race, nor has he started from pole position.

“Well, I have never won [at Marina Bay],” said Verstappen. “Red Bull has won, right? We’ll see. It’s completely different.

“High downforce. A lot of deg on the tyres, so we’ll see what happens. I really don’t know at the moment.”

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