Max Verstappen reflected upon his championship deficit to Oscar Piastri after the conclusion of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Red Bull racer, who won the recently concluded race at Baku, reduced the gap to 69 points, but has not given up the fight for his fifth F1 Championship.
Verstappen won two consecutive races in Italy and Azerbaijan in aggressive fashion. He secured the pole at Monza and went on to take the victory. In Azerbaijan, he did the same, and with two straight wins, he reduced the gaps as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris failed to increase the lead.
As of now, the Dutch racer has 255 points to his name in 17 races and three sprints. Compared to him, Norris has 299 points, and Piastri has 324. This means Verstappen requires 70 more points in the upcoming races to take a shot at his fifth F1 title.
"Seven races to go and it's still 69 points, it's a lot," Verstappen said, speaking about his championship chances. "Basically, everything needs to go perfect from my side and then a bit of luck from their side I need as well. So it's still very tough."
"I just go race by race, which 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. Then after Abu Dhabi, we'll know," Verstappen further added. (via Sky SportsF1)
Going as per calculations, Max Verstappen needs to get or win maximum points in the future races and sprints, while Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have to drop points to make it a three-way championship battle. However, it looks impossible.
Oscar Piastri determined to put Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend behind him
Interacting with the media following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri said that he was determined on putting the disastrous race weekend behind him as quickly as possible. The McLaren racer also said that he was satisfied with the pace throughout the weekend at Baku.
"Obviously you are never going to feel amazing after a weekend like this but ultimately, I felt like the pace has still been good this weekend. And I think it's rare that I have so many executional errors. So I’m very much focused on putting that behind me," said Piastri, via Road and Track.
"I would be much more concerned if these errors were because I was trying to make up time, or do things like that. Obviously they've been costly errors, but they’re things that can be very, very easily rectified," he added.
Piastri still leads the world championship by 25 points with only seven rounds to go this season. The racer will be tested in various ways as the pressure increases going into the final stages of the 2025 season.