Oscar Piastri says he isn’t worried about the threat of Max Verstappen just yet for the 2025 title. Image: XPB Images
The McLaren driver crashed out on the opening lap in Baku after a difficult qualifying session and a jump-start penalty, while Verstappen dominated for his second consecutive win and fourth victory of the 2025 season.
The result trimmed Piastri’s advantage over Verstappen to 69 points with seven rounds remaining, fuelling hopes at Red Bull that their reigning champion could yet mount a late challenge.
Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris remains second in the title race, 25 adrift of the lead.
“I’m not going to rule him out, but I’m honestly not too concerned with that,” Piastri said when asked if Verstappen remained a threat.
“I’m just trying to bounce back from this weekend and put in the best performances that I can.
“I know that if I get back to where I know I can be, then I’ll be more than okay, so that’s what I’m going to focus on.”
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The Australian admitted his Azerbaijan Grand Prix was “messy” from start to finish after crashing in both qualifying and the race.
“I just locked up,” he said of the race-ending incident at Turn 5.
“I think just ultimately misjudging the grip level.
“I probably lost that from dirty air, but I know better than that to expect the lack of grip. So I’m certainly not blaming it on anything else.
“It was two simple errors on my behalf that they cost today.”
Despite Verstappen’s back-to-back wins in Monza and Baku, Piastri stressed his approach will remain unchanged.
“If I felt like I was in a completely different headspace, then it’s kind of easier to blame it on that and also a problem to rectify,” he said.
“But this weekend’s felt like any other weekend, just unfortunately, there’s been far too many mistakes from start to finish. Every single session has been messy.”
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko believes the defending champion can still pressure McLaren if the team maintains its current form.
“The gap is still big, and it’s not often that a McLaren doesn’t finish the race,” Marko told De Telegraaf.
“But we’ll see. If we’re competitive in Singapore in two weeks’ time, maybe we can start dreaming.
“We have to be as close as possible to McLaren to make them nervous.”
Marko labelled Piastri the favourite for the championship but said Singapore will be a key indicator of Red Bull’s chances.
“Singapore will be the benchmark for where we really stand,” he added.
“Not only is it a different circuit, but it’s also boiling hot. Our car doesn’t always like that either.”
While Piastri’s points lead remains healthy, McLaren’s stumbles in recent rounds and Verstappen’s renewed momentum have injected fresh intrigue into the final stretch of the 2025 season.