For months a two-way intra-team title fight between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris has seemed like a forgone conclusion to the 2025 season, but McLaren team principal has always refused to rule out defending champion Max Verstappen.
He repeated that statement after Verstappen took a second pole position on the bounce, keeping cool amid the Baku qualifying chaos to overhaul Williams' Carlos Sainz while other frontrunners faltered. That included McLaren's own Oscar Piastri, who crashed in Turn 4, and Lando Norris, who got out of shape in Turn 15 in a messy final lap, heading out first to avoid falling victim to yet another qualifying stoppage.
