Don't Look Now, But Max Verstappen Is Somehow Back In The F1 Title Hunt

When I got up early this past Sunday to watch the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, I knew I'd be seeing an interesting race given the Baku City Circuit's track record.

What I didn't expect was to think that we may have a genuine three-way title fight by the end of it, but here we are.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won this weekend's race thanks in part to a weekend for championship leaders McLaren that was nothing short of a total disaster.

While the team could've clinched the constructors' title in Baku, it also appeared that drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were going to be the only ones with a shot at the drivers' title.

However, Piastri — who has a reputation for being one of the most consistent drivers on the grid — had a weekend so bad I was wondering if some sort of Monstars-like race of cartoon aliens had sucked out his driving ability.

He crashed in qualifying and started P9, then jumped the start in the Grand Prix, which put the car into anti-stall and dropped him to the back of the pack before the first corner. 

And that's a first corner that comes at the end of one of the shorter runs from the line there is in F1.

But he only made it another few corners before crashing out of the race entirely.

This gave Norris a prime opportunity to put a massive dent in Piastri's 31-point championship lead.

However, he had squandered another opportunity the day before by hitting a wall on his final flying lap and only qualifying P7.

And that's where he stayed.

Oscar Piastri’s crash and Lando Norris’ struggles in Baku opened the door for Max Verstappen, turning the Formula 1 championship into a three-way fight. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)

Verstappen Has Done The Seemingly Impossible And Put Himself Back In Title Contention

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen — the reigning four-time champion — took pole and went on to completely dominate the race. That's his second win in a row, and the Red Bull is looking lively after spending part of the first half of the season looking like a shopping cart.

But crucially, even when this year's car, the RB21, was at its worst, Verstappen — being the car-driving freak of nature that he is — was able to get some solid results out of it.

So now, here we are. Piastri leads Norris by 25 points, who in turn leads Verstappen by 44 points, meaning P1 and P3 in the standings are separated by 69 points.

There are seven Grand Prix left, plus sprint races in Austin, São Paulo, and Qatar, which means there are plenty of points left.

Is the ball still in Piastri's court? For sure, but this weekend, in which he made as many errors in one qualifying lap and about six corners of the race, showed he's still human.

While a week ago I thought this was a two-horse race between Piastri and Norris, I now think Verstappen is in play, especially as the team has looked much better since Laurent Mekies took over (even Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull had one of his best weekends in Baku).

So, buckle up, kids. The end of this season could get wild.