Verstappen warns McLaren: 'Then they need a perfect season ending'

Max Verstappen thinks Red Bull Racing has taken a clear step in the right direction in Baku. The championship leader finished only fifth in Baku, but thinks that happened because of a bad setup choice, and not because of the RB20 being a 'monster' once again. Verstappen says McLaren needs a "perfect" final third of the Formula 1 season to become world champion if his team can continue like that.

Verstappen more positive in Baku than he was in Monza

Verstappen may have had a disappointing result in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but he said earlier this weekend that his team had made clear progress. Thefore, the his previous description of calling the car a 'monster' no longer applies to the RB20. The F1 weekend at the Baku City Circuit was promising until the team made the wrong adjustments to the Dutchman's setup prior to qualifying.

The three-time world champion still believes Red Bull have made a step forward. At the same time, it was Oscar Piastri, not Norris, who excelled in Baku on behalf of McLaren. Yet Verstappen still sees Norris as his main rival. "The gap is still decent [to Piastri], I would say. So, of course, at the moment it's still just Lando," the Dutchman answered by asked by GPblog.

All in all, Verstappen remained positive after the weekend in Azerbaijan. "Of course, I would have liked to extend the gap. But, yeah, with our race today, I'm still happy that it was only that," said the Red Bull driver. He also added: "I think if we do a better job ourselves, they [McLaren] need to have a perfect end to the year."

This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder

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