conceded<\/a> that \u201cthe takeaway from the Monza race, and the way\u00a0we have reviewed this internally and set our mindset for the final one-third of the races, was that Red Bull\u2019s performance in Monza should not be considered a one-off because of Monza or a one-off because of low downforce.<\/p>\n\u201cThey have taken a new floor in Monza, and they might be setting up their car slightly differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow Verstappen is talking about grounding much more than he was doing before, so they might have unlocked performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not be surprised at all that Red Bull may continue the streak that they have started \u2013 because pole position in Monza, victory, and now pole position here.<\/p>\n
\u201cRed Bull are a very serious contender to win races and a very serious contender for the Drivers\u2019 Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
That new Red Bull floor is critical. Where drivers Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda were previously complaining about feeling unbalanced in corners and unable to extract the most pace from the car, this new floor seems to have rectified most of those problems, thereby once again allowing Verstappen\u2019s name to enter the championship conversation.<\/p>\n
After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Stella doubled down in saying that he still believes Verstappen could be a title threat, though he softened the blow by noting McLaren understood Baku would be one of its weaker tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will see now in Singapore, which should be more of a one in which we should perform well,\u201d Stella told media. \u201cHopefully we can go back to fighting for victories, and then we will see how the rest of the championship will unfold.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut definitely Max is in contention for the drivers\u2019 championship. We knew it, and we got confirmation today.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is the rest of the grid saying about Max Verstappen?<\/p>\n
Andrea Stella isn\u2019t the only person in the Formula 1 paddock singing Max Verstappen\u2019s praises after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Asked about the likelihood of Verstappen becoming a threat for the World Championship, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said it\u2019s entirely possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had a good run, the car is good, and you know, Max Verstappen, you always need to be wary of what he can achieve, especially if he\u2019s seeing that that is actually back on the cards,\u201d Wolff claimed.<\/p>\n
After being informed of Verstappen\u2019s 69-point gap to the lead, he added, \u201cWell, that\u2019s a long shot. Things need to work in his favor. But you can see a DNF for the championship leader, and Max scoring 25 points, you can see things swing quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonathan Wheatley of Sauber, who used to work at Red Bull with Max Verstappen, claimed, \u201cWhat\u2019s the phrase; the cream rises to the top?<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I watched his onboard for his qualifying yesterday. He never looked like he was going to hit a wall. He\u2019s just extraordinary; he knows how to get the most out of that car.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe it\u2019s two circuits that really suit his car. I\u2019ve been constantly enjoying watching him racing for the last, I don\u2019t know, since 2014 or something, and this weekend\u2019s another example of that. It was a masterclass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yuki Tsunoda, Verstappen\u2019s teammate, was asked to comment on his feelings regarding the upgraded RB21, and whether or not the car can be competitive everywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think definitely we are more confident in the coming races to perform better,\u201d Tsunoda said, \u201cso I\u2019m sure we\u2019re not giving up with this season, especially securing drivers\u2019 championship for Max. I\u2019ll try to extract performance as much as possible from the car that I have, and also at the same time for some races, if I can support him that would be [good].\u201d<\/p>\n
Over in the Scuderia Ferrari garage, Charles Leclerc admitted, \u201cI think Max is not leaving anything on the table, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019ve done a big step forward with the car, and they are now at a very strong level as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that it\u2019s been a very smooth weekend for McLaren in the last two weekends, so I don\u2019t think Red Bull is now dominating again. I think it\u2019s very close between McLaren and Red Bull, but Max is doing a better job at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Oscar Piastri admitted that he\u2019s \u201cnot gonna rule [Max] out\u201d in his post-race interview, even though he also noted that \u201cI\u2019m honestly not too concerned with that. I\u2019m just trying to bounce back from this weekend and put in the best performances that I can, and I know that if I get back to where I can be, then I\u2019ll be more than okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Lando Norris, too, had plenty of praise for Verstappen, though he argues that Baku and Monza simply haven\u2019t suited the McLarens.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax was winning races already at the beginning of the year, he could have won round one, I think he was pretty close to winning round two.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole season they\u2019ve been quick,\u201d he admitted. \u201cThe Red Bull has been good, they brought some upgrades to Monza which seems to have helped them improve even more.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, not a surprise, I think we know that they\u2019re an incredibly strong team and have one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1, so we expect nothing less.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to make our life difficult I think for the rest of the season but we also know from our side, we struggled a bit here, Monza clearly we\u2019re not quick enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made improvements but things where the Red Bull have been so good and dominant in the past, they still have and we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday when I was following the Red Bull, there was clearly some areas where they were just another level to us and we need to understand why.\u201d<\/p>\n
But\u00a0how could Max Verstappen win the F1 2025 title?<\/p>\n
There are seven grands prix remaining in the F1 2025 title, as well as three sprint races. On average, 28.4 points are available every weekend.<\/p>\n
If Oscar Piastri were to fail to score another point this year, then Verstappen would only need to score 10 points (the equivalent of a fifth-place finish) per race weekend to bridge the gap \u2014 something that seems entirely doable for a driver who has scored an average of 15 points (the equivalent of finishing third) per weekend.<\/p>\n
However, counting on Piastri to fail to score points is foolish; discounting his DNF in Baku, his worst performance in 2025 was ninth in the season opener. Even including the DNF as a 20th-place, Piastri\u2019s average finish in 2025 is 3.4.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s imagine a hypothetical situation where Piastri only finishes third the rest of the year. That\u2019d leave him with a total of 447 points come the checkered flag in Abu Dhabi. If Max won\u00a0every single race for the remainder of the year, he\u2019d amass 198 points, leaving him with a total of 453 points.<\/p>\n
Yes, that\u2019s championship-worthy\u2026 but the six-point margin in question is slim, and it relies on a significant downturn on the part of the McLaren, as well as a dominant showing from Verstappen. Neither of those things are guarantees.<\/p>\n
Theoretically, Verstappen is still in the hunt. A championship is still possible, but it requires perfection from Red Bull and disaster from McLaren \u2014 two things we have yet to see consistently this season.<\/p>\n
Read next:\u00a0PF1 Postbox: Horner severs Red Bull ties, and is Max Verstappen a title contender again?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has doubled his F1 2025 win total in the last two races of the season following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,54428,817,3874,813,816,818,825,17165,918,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-162925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-azerbaijan-grand-prix","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-f1-features","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-home-page","16":"tag-max-verstappen","17":"tag-popular","18":"tag-red-bull","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}