Max Verstappen heads to Baku with confidence after Monza win but calls for caution. Max Verstappen says his Monza victory gave Red Bull confidence.

Max Verstappen looks ahead to Baku

After securing his third victory of the season, Max Verstappen is not slowing down. The Dutch driver has already set his sights on Baku, where the four-time world champion could once again play a decisive role in the title battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. At the moment, Verstappen remains the only rival capable of challenging the McLaren drivers over the long run of the championship.

While Baku presents some differences compared to Monza, it is still a low-downforce track. On circuits where cars need to be run with minimal drag, Red Bull has shown the ability to be more competitive than McLaren. With the “Max factor,” the improvements introduced with the updated floor at Zandvoort, and perhaps some favorable race incidents, Verstappen cannot be ruled out from the fight for victory in Azerbaijan. Still, the Dutchman prefers to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

Max Verstappen’s comments

“We have to wait and see; I don’t even know myself if we can repeat the same result,” said the reigning world champion. “Monza was obviously a great Grand Prix for us, it gave everyone in the team a big boost in morale. I’m excited to be here in Baku and to see how competitive we can be on this track. I think we’ve made good progress, but we need to wait and see how the car behaves on a circuit like this.”

Max Verstappen explained that every circuit has its own specific requirements: “Each track demands something different, but I think it’s important for us to focus on having a more stable weekend, without going too extreme with the setup. Grip levels here are very low at first, the track is always quite dirty at the beginning and then it improves a lot as the sessions go on. With so many 90-degree corners, you also need a very different driving technique compared to other circuits. Honestly, I have no idea how competitive we will be. Of course, I hope we can be strong, but we’ll see tomorrow.”

He also pointed out the need for consistency over the next races: “I think we still need a couple more races to really understand if this is the right direction for us. Our aim is to find a more stable balance. The car has often struggled to maintain good consistency in the corners and to be more predictable. That’s something we discovered at Monza, and hopefully we can keep building on it.”