Max Verstappen admits F1 title chase is tough: “Everything must go perfectly”. After two consecutive wins, Max Verstappen has reduced his gap to Oscar Piastri in the F1 Drivers’ Championship.

F1 | Max: “The title? It’s difficult. Everything must go perfectly for me to win it”

Riding the momentum of two consecutive wins, Max Verstappen has closed the gap to Oscar Piastri, who currently leads the F1 Drivers’ Championship by 69 points. With seven races remaining, the chase remains challenging, and Red Bull will need to maintain its dominance even on high-downforce circuits, starting with Singapore.

One victory does not make a season, but two in a row begin to send a clearer signal. Max Verstappen secured back-to-back triumphs in Monza and Baku, delivering yet another masterclass in a season that has been challenging for Red Bull, while simultaneously highlighting — as if it were needed — the extraordinary talent of the four-time world champion.

In Baku, Max Verstappen did not have to contend with the McLarens, which had already removed themselves from contention after a disastrous Saturday. Instead, his main battles were against Carlos Sainz in the Williams and, in the final stint, against George Russell in the Mercedes. Early in the race, Max comfortably built a buffer between himself and the competitors behind. Against Russell’s Mercedes #63, he managed the pace carefully, as Russell had very strong speed due to the track conditions and temperatures that favored the W16.

“George was fast too, and I think the gap was created at the start. I started ahead and did my laps. But it’s not easy to stay on the limit constantly at Baku, partly because of the wind, since a lot of the lap time is made in the corners, which are also the riskiest parts of the track,” Verstappen said.

“If you go a little too far, you hit the wall. So finding the limit is tricky. My car worked well, tyre degradation was good, and we went strong. But what was our margin? Around 14 seconds. Overall, the last two races have been fantastic for us,” he added after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

It is evident that the RB21 now performs best on low-downforce tracks. However, confirmation is required in Singapore, a circuit that is diametrically opposite, demanding much higher downforce. Verstappen himself admits that his championship hopes are slim and will largely depend on the outcome of the upcoming race weekend.

“I think our improvement comes from understanding the car better over the last few weeks. But we performed well on two similar low-downforce tracks. We will need to wait for the next races to see how we fare on high-downforce circuits,” he explained.

“There are still seven races to go, and my deficit to Piastri is 69 points. That’s a lot. Basically, everything has to go perfectly from my side. I also need some luck with incidents that could slow down the McLarens. So it’s still going to be very difficult,” Max Verstappen concluded at the end of the Baku Grand Prix weekend.