McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Max Verstappen's performance over the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend underlined his belief that the Red Bull driver is firmly in contention for this season's F1 drivers' championship.
Stella was left in no doubt about that after witnessing Verstappen clinch back-to-back pole positions around the Baku City Circuit on Saturday, taking his tally to six overall for the season, more than either of his drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Even though Verstappen went into the race 94 points adrift of Piastri in the standings, the Dutchman added an exclamation point to the "capital letters" Stella had stated he wanted to use on the word "yes" when asked after qualifying whether he felt the four-time F1 champion was still in contention.
Verstappen claimed the sixth grand slam of his career on Sunday, adding fastest lap and leading every lap en route to winning the race, to the pole, to close the gap on Piastri to 69 points with 199 still available from the remaining seven races and three sprints.
Suggested to Stella that people might believe him now, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, he said: "Well, I used the capital letters already. I said 'yes' in capital letters. This just confirms it.
"We're talking about Max Verstappen, we're talking about Red Bull. We saw in Monza that they improved, that they seemed to have made an improvement with their car.
"The way they won at Monza, from our assessment, was something more than simply a car that adapts well at low drag. They were fast in the corners, medium-speed and low-speed corners, and fast in the straights.
"And we know that Max, when he has a competitive car, can deliver strong weekends."
Verstappen's pursuit of a fifth title was aided on Sunday by Piastri crashing out on the opening lap, and Norris finishing seventh, leaving the Briton 25 points behind his team-mate, and 44 ahead of the Dutchman.
Stella feels the next race in Singapore should suit the MCL38 more than Baku, in particular.
"We knew Baku would be a difficult circuit for us, so we will see now in Singapore, which is a track on which we should perform well," he assessed.
"Hopefully, we can go back to fighting for victories, and then we will see how the rest of the championship will unfold.
"But definitely, Max is in contention for the drivers' championship. We knew it, and we got confirmation."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix! Oscar Piastri's shock Baku crashes are a major talking point, as is whether Max Verstappen has drawn himself back into the F1 title fight.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
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