\n<\/p>\n
Verstappen provided a stark contrast to the McLaren drivers in Baku. Error-free, he delivered a perfect weekend, taking pole, the win and fastest lap.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Stella had insisted that the Dutchman was still a threat in the drivers’ championship – “yes, in capital letters,” he said, despite the fact that Verstappen at the time was 94 points adrift of Piastri.<\/p>\n
Now, he’s 69 behind. Still a lot – Verstappen needs to score an average of nearly 10 points a race more than Piastri to overtake him by the end of the season.<\/p>\n
It’s a long shot, to say the least, and Verstappen says he’s “not thinking about it”.<\/p>\n
Stella pointed out that a new floor introduced at Monza had improved the Red Bull car, but also put the result in the context of track characteristics and the cars’ respective strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n
“We will see now in Singapore, which should be more of one in which we should perform well,” Stella said. “Hopefully we can go back to fighting for victories and then we will see how the rest of the championship will unfold.<\/p>\n
“But definitely Max is in the contention for the drivers’ championship. We knew it and we got confirmation today.”<\/p>\n
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc summed the situation up well.<\/p>\n
“Max is not leaving anything on the table, that for sure,” Leclerc said. “They’ve done a big step forward with the car and they are now at a very strong level as well.<\/p>\n
“It’s not been a very smooth weekend for McLaren in the last two weekends so I don’t think that Red Bull is now dominating again.<\/p>\n
“It’s very close between McLaren and Red Bull but Max is doing a better job at the moment.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n