Sep.26 (GMM) Max Verstappen has abruptly emerged as a darkish horse for a fifth consecutive world championship after back-to-back wins at Monza and Baku.
Simply weeks in the past, each Verstappen and Pink Bull advisor Helmut Marko had dismissed their title possibilities. However with Christian Horner gone, a brand new ground on the RB21, and McLaren’s lead drivers starting to falter, the Dutchman has minimize the hole to 69 factors behind Oscar Piastri and 44 behind Lando Norris.
“I imply, we’ve already acquired the calculators out, haven’t we?” laughed former Pink Bull driver Robert Doornbos on the Pit Discuss podcast. “This feels a bit like what Vettel did in 2013. This F1 season is unpredictable. After the summer time break they put in a brand new ground, he received in Monza with the largest margin of the season up to now, then he went to Baku and received a Grand Slam.”
Doornbos mentioned the breakthrough got here from the brand new ground. “This yr, about 65 % of your downforce comes from the ground. It’s a really dominant issue,” he defined. “You may by no means loosen up in Method 1, however you do know whenever you’ve discovered one thing. The muse is there, and it appears they’ve discovered one thing.”
He additionally seen a extra relaxed Verstappen. “He laughs on the competitors. That’s not conceited – he’s solely centered on himself,” Doornbos mentioned.
One other ex-driver, Christian Danner, informed Motorsport-Magazin.com he refuses to jot down Verstappen off. “Irrespective of how dangerous issues are at Pink Bull, Verstappen is sort of a terrier. You may’t shake Max off that simply. It’s not in his nature to surrender.”
Sky pundit Ralf Schumacher thinks Baku confirmed McLaren wobbling below stress. “The McLaren merely didn’t have the grip window that Piastri is used to,” he mentioned. “Small errors can happen that haven’t been seen earlier than as a result of they often drive round them. Baku was a turning level.”
And Pink Bull staff boss Laurent Mekies made clear the staff remains to be combating on two fronts. “We’re not going to spare any effort on this 2025 marketing campaign,” he mentioned. “Little by little, the work that Max and Yuki have been doing with the complete staff has paid off, and not less than right here and in Monza we’re again within the struggle.”
“We’re combating to be taught an increasing number of, as a result of although the 2026 laws are fully completely different, there’s all the time so much we are able to carry over from this season.”
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