Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen demonstrated why he's the real deal at Baku

Verstappen’s Schuberth SF3 Carbon Fibre ABP helmet has plenty of air vents. This may be the secret that keeps the four-time world champion cool and calm in tough situations.

Saturday’s Qualifying saw six red flags brought out due to crashes, a record in F1. Qualifying went on for more than an hour and forty-seven minutes—longer than any race this season! Among the shunters were Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and championship leader Oscar Piastri. But the Dutch ace was not distracted nor carried away.

Will Max Verstappen secure a hat-trick in Singapore?

Instead, he went on to clinically claim pole position by four-tenths from Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson. The fact that there were four Honda-powered Bulls in the Top 8 on the grid might suggest that conditions of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend suited them most. But Max was on top of his game.

A game that he plays brilliantly on track and off! “I mean, I don’t rely on hope, but it’s seven rounds left – 69 points is a lot. So I personally don’t think about it. I just go race by race, what 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. And then after Abu Dhabi, we’ll know” he told media post-race.

On Race day when Piastri uncharacteristically crashed out on the opening lap, his team mate and closest title contender Lando Norris couldn’t capitalise much. Clearly this wasn’t their weekend nor race track. But the all-conquering MCL39 has been a big points scorer almost everywhere so far.

The trouble is no matter how good a race car the McLaren is and no matter how big a lead it has in the Constructor championship over the rest, it still exists in the Max Verstappen era. An era where time and again he’s had the measure of it’s pace by purely outdriving it’s pilots! Are Norris and Piastri performing on the same level as the defending champion to steal his crown? They should ideally bring their A-game to every single session of 2025.

Instead they’re relying on team orders and McLaren’s morals of equal treatment to decide who wins a race. If they don’t focus on maxing out the potential of the MCL39 around the twisty street-circuit of Singapore up next, the season could see a welcome twist in it’s tale!

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Round 18 | Singapore | Sunday, 5th October 17:30 | F1TV & FanCode App

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