Max Verstappen put double in Azerbaijan, is he a candidate again to the title?
The Dutch came from winning in Italy and repeated the success in the street of Baku, with absolute authority, and with the McLaren debacle again dream of the chance of reaching the Penta.
Two months before the F1 landed in the Azerbaijan GP, 17th date of exercise 2025, a rumor had practically become a tsunami: Max Verstappen left Red Bull to run in Mercedes. The treatment between the Dutch and Toto Wolff was so taken so, that doubts only went to know if George Russell or Kimi Antonelli would abandon the hosts of the arrows. The trigger of the almost flight of the tetracampeon was in the lack of performance of RB21 and the doubts about the 2026 engine designed by the Austrians in society with Ford, while the McLaren’s Boys walked to pure triumph. The dimes and diretes frozen in the Hungary GP, when Max himself warned: “I stayed in Red Bull.”
Two weeks before Verstappen cut out of rennet with the movements of moving, the dome of Red Bull decided to throw Christian Horner, who had been the only director of the Team since its creation in 2005. The Pope was not liked (not much less) of Don Jos, Max’s dad. That strong political movement was an breakdown and an important reason for Max to continue. But, of course, all the cannons already pointed to the 2026 World Cup, because the current one was a thing of Oscar Piestri and Lando Norris. But…
“You never underestimate a champion’s heart,” was the phrase that Rudy Tomjanovich immortalized when his Houston Rockets achieved NBA’s two -time championship in 1995. No one gave two pesos for his team, but when the hot time arrived, his players took their face and stayed with the ring. Max does not pull the hoop, but he has a big champion heart like those rockets. And when everything indicated that the duel of the title would arise from McLaren and his controversies, and at crazy moments, papaya rules, the champion appeared. And now, to grab your pants.
Verstappen threaded his second triumph in a row in the street of Baku, a track on which he had never been able to win. And did not inherit the victory for some foreign error. As he had done two weeks before in Monza, the Red Bull driver crushed. So much, that he signed his sixth Grand Slam: this is to get pole, lead all the laps and sign the record back.
The two successes achieved were a direct message to the world that had already ruled it out of the fight. To top it off, the McLaren girls lived their worst GP of the season. Just when they had everything to celebrate the constructors crown in advance, they barely reaped six points, for the seventh place of Norris. Piastri closed his worst weekend of the year: he crashed in the first round and went to zero (cut with 42 races in a row scoring).
“This weekend was amazing for us, last weekend it was already great, but for us winning here again is simply fantastic. In the race, the car worked very well in both compounds, we had clean air all the time and we could take care of our tires “analyzed Verstappen. Did competitiveness arose in RB21? “It’s hard to say it right now, but the last two weekends have been incredible. Singapore is again a completely different challenge with the greatest aerodynamic load, so we will see what we can do there,” he added.
The Red Bull was competitive on tracks with low aerodynamic load, a setting that also like Max. The difference is still great, because he left Azerbaijan to 69 Piastri points, but in the last two races he discounted 35. There are seven major awards for the end and the distance remains great. But Tomjanovich already said it …
