Max Verstappen says that his Red Bull Racing car performs better than the entire season after winning back-to-back Grands Prix for the first time since last June.
Verstappen checked the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, led each round out of the post and set the fastest round for his sixth career Grand Slam. He is only the second driver who wins the Baku race more than once, after former teammate Sergio Perez.
The victory follows a similar dominant victory in Italy two weeks ago, where he claimed the victory with the greatest margin of the season. Asked if this was the best to have felt his RB21 this year, after he had claimed his sixth pool on a route to his fourth victory, the Dutchman replied in the affirmative.
“Together with Monza, yes,” he said. “Monza has never really been a particularly strong song for us, so to do that, that was already a big plus.
“For me here in Baku it’s good, but never great, apart from maybe 2021 and 2022, but the rest has always been a bit difficult. So to have a weekend like this, it was very important.”
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It was not just about the result for the reigning champion; It was also about the way he could build up until Sunday and then run what he described as a “fairly simple” race.
“In general just a great weekend for us,” he said. “I am very happy with how the race went – I mean, I could go for a long time in that first stint. The car almost did what I wanted.
“We just stayed away until in principle everyone set up, and then there were only a few laps on the medium, so a few backmarkers were released, which took a little time. But then it just brought home.
“For us that is another just great result. A bit unusual – this season is really gone to the left and right, but now it is now two weekends in a row, things are going really well.”
Two races are sufficient of a trend for McLaren -Baas Andrea Stella, who suspects that the upgrade to the Red Bull Racing car was brought to Italy, has reset the pecking order and Verstappen once again made a regular victory candidate.
Baku and Monza are two of the most extreme circuits on the calendar. Both are dominated by long straight pieces, although their corner profiles are different. Verstappen warned that a greater sample size was needed before conclusions were drawn about the revival of Red Bull Racing.
“It’s hard to say at the moment,” he said. “But certainly the last two racing weekends were great for us. Singapore [the next race] Is a completely different challenge with the high downforce, so we will see what we can do there. “
But the Dutchman gave shorter Shrift to the idea that his reduced 69-point deficiency to title leader Oscar Piastri again made him a championship candidate.
“I don’t trust hope,” he said. “But they are still seven rounds left. Nine -sixty points are many, so I don’t think about it personally.
“I’m just going to race on race, which I have done in principle the whole season, just try to do our best, try to score the most points we can, and then after Abu Dhabi we will know.”
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