Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is proud of his “straightforward” victory at the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Having snatched pole position in a chaotic Qualifying session, Verstappen led the race from lights to flag amidst an early safety car after championship leader, Oscar Piastri crashed out, and claimed his sixth Grand Chelem of pole, fastest lap, led every lap and victory.
Verstappen post-race described the race as “straightforward” due to having began from pole position which allowed him to comfortably control the pace unchallenged from Williams’ Carlos Sainz then Mercedes’ George Russell.
“It was an incredible weekend and today we had really good pace and it ended up being quite a straightforward race.
“Starting out in front today was key for us and we managed our tyres well. We were going well on the first stint and executed everything how we wanted to.”
The four-time reigning champion however admitted that his hard to medium tyre strategy was risky but is thankful that the race was quiet after Piastri’s accident had been cleared up.
“Our strategy was to go from Hard tyres and then on to Mediums and luckily there were no safety cars in the middle of the race which might have messed this up. This is a tough track to be consistent at, with the challenging layout and also very hard winds so you have to keep reminding yourself to keep out of the walls!
“I was happy with the car and we really managed our pace and had quite a big gap to the Mercedes.”
His win and Piastri’s retirement meant that Verstappen cut his title deficit to 69 points with a maximum of 199 points on offer in the final seven rounds, which consist of seven Grands Prix and three sprint races, and has sparked talks of an unlikely title comeback.
Verstappen though has refused to be drawn on that tantalising prospect as he instead reflected on Red Bull’s performances on low downforce circuits, and iterated that Red Bull’s focus is on enjoying their improvement and not getting ahead of themselves.
“It has been a great weekend overall and the last two weekends for sure have been amazing. Both are tracks where we have low downforce so we will see how we go on other circuits. Hopefully we can continue forward with this form, but we are just enjoying the moment right now.
“We are really happy with what we are doing: the relationship that I have with the Team is really good and when the car goes well, everything comes together.”
Team Principal, Laurent Mekies added that Verstappen had delivered a “masterclass” drive and maximising their upgrades in the last two races, but warned that any late-season title charge is unlikely despite their effort to keep developing the car amidst a heavy revamp of rules in 2026.
“There is no silver bullet, but no one has ever given up on this season in terms of understanding why we were not reaching the level we wanted and, little by little, the work that Max and Yuki have been doing with the whole Team has been paying off and at least, here and in Monza we were back in the game.
“We are not leaving any stone unturned in this 2025 campaign. We are fighting to get more and more learning, to unlock more and more understanding because even if the 2026 regulations are completely different there is always a lot we can carry over from this season.”
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