Back-to-back victories in Monza and Baku have propelled Max Verstappen back into the spotlight, but the Red Bull driver dismissed renewed title talk, insisting he doesn’t "rely on hope". Team principal Laurent Mekies echoed the sentiment, framing the team’s focus as relentlessly short-term and experimental as 2025 enters its run-in.
Clinical Baku, statement streak
Verstappen followed a dominant Monza performance with a commanding Azerbaijan Grand Prix, securing pole, leading every lap, and setting the fastest lap for his sixth career grand slam. The contrast with McLaren was stark: Oscar Piastri crashed out on lap one, and Lando Norris could do no better than seventh.
Title math vs. team mindset
The championship picture has tightened, but there is still a substantial gap. Verstappen sits 69 points behind Piastri with seven races, three sprints, and 199 points remaining. Asked about a late charge, Verstappen pushed back on the narrative.
"I don't rely on hope," he said, playing down the idea that two strong weekends alone transform the title fight.
Mekies was equally cool about the standings, emphasising process over permutations.
"We really take it race by race, so we don't look at the championship positions," he said. "We got some good answers in Monza... We got some good answers here [in Baku]. We are equally conscious that these are two very, very specific tracks."
High-risk learning ahead of Singapore
With Singapore presenting a very different challenge, Red Bull plans to keep pushing development boundaries to extract more pace from the RB.
"At the moment, we try to have a high-risk approach to try to learn as much as we can before the end of the season and [see if] that prevails in championship discussions," Mekies explained.
Key takeaways
- Verstappen wins Monza–Baku double; Baku marked by a grand slam
- 69 points off the lead with 199 points still available
- Red Bull prioritises learning and setup exploration over points arithmetic
- Singapore is the next, very different, benchmark for the team’s recent gains
