Back-to-back race winner Max Verstappen has emerged as an outside Formula 1 2025 championship contender after an underwhelming weekend for McLaren in Azerbaijan

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen has shrugged off suggestions his wins in Monza and Baku have brought him back into the 2025 Formula 1 title fight.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team appears to have turned a corner since the Dutchman’s surprisingly dominant win at the Italian Grand Prix, and Verstappen followed that up with a straightforward victory in Baku after taking a clinical pole position in difficult track conditions on Saturday.

Red Bull’s improved form, credited to an upgraded floor paired with a change in set-up philosophy, has led McLaren team boss Andrea to declare Verstappen is still a title rival this year to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

And as both McLaren drivers suffered a difficult weekend in Azerbaijan, Verstappen has reduced his deficit to leader Piastri to 69 points with seven race weekends remaining.

But when asked if he hopes he can still win a fifth consecutive title, Verstappen replied: “I don’t rely on hope. But it’s seven rounds left – 69 points is a lot – so I personally don’t think about it.

“I just go race by race, what I have been doing basically the whole season. Just trying to do the best we can, try to score the most points that we can. And then after Abu Dhabi, we’ll know.”

Verstappen was buoyed by Red Bull’s turnaround in Monza and Baku on two low-downforce circuits where Red Bull wasn’t in contention 12 months ago, with the Italian round especially difficult for the Milton Keynes-based squad.

“Monza has never really been a particularly strong track for us, so to do that was already a big plus,” he said. “Baku has been alright, but never amazing — apart from maybe ’21, ’22, I guess. But the rest has always been a bit difficult. So, to have a weekend like this, it was very important.”

But Red Bull’s biggest test awaits in two weeks when F1 heads to the technical and bumpy street circuit in Singapore, which was Red Bull’s Achilles heel last year, and should also be McLaren’s favourite hunting ground.

“Singapore is a completely different challenge again with the high downforce, so we’ll see what we can do there,” he added.

“It’s difficult to say at the moment, but the last two race weekends have been amazing for us.”