Villeneuve: Verstappen can win the championship

Verstappen has now won two races in a row, Monza and Baku, and while he is 69 points behind the Championship leader, Oscar Piastri, who had a horrendous weekend in Azerbaijan, Villeneuve claims a fifth consecutive F1 Drivers' Crown is still possible for the Dutchman.

"Max Verstappen can win the championship," the Canadian said. "Verstappen is only three races away. And that's not as much as people think.

"My only worry is at Singapore. Even when the Red Bull was an incredible car, for some reason that's never been a good track for them. That's the kind of track where they have suffered. On the other hand, they weren't that bad in Zandvoort.

"So, who knows? This season has been full of surprises. A team that should be good at a track is useless and vice versa. We keep being surprised. And it's amazing.

"Verstappen is a genius," the 54-year-old went on. "He's driving like world champions should. He's driving at that level.

"If you think about the golden days when you had Prost and Senna and Mansell and Piquet, they were all driving like this. Against each other. That's the level you want in F1. That's the level you have to show.

"If Max Verstappen wins the World Drivers' Championship, it's definitely his greatest achievement ever. This year is definitely above the rest because they were not supposed to be in the hunt.

"He is easily the best of this generation without question," Villeneuve maintained.

While Verstappen had only one option, which is to attack, McLaren and their drivers, Lando Norris and Piastri, both underwhelming in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, will be under pressure fending off the charge of the reigning F1 Champion.

"Well, when fighting for the championship, you're always on the edge," the former Williams and BAR drivers said. "You know that you can't afford a tiny misstep, because the one running behind you is running faster, and you know that he will not hit a branch!

"The more you look backwards, the more you stumble, so it's very difficult. You know when you see those movies where a person is running away from the other? Always looking backwards, always stressed, and it's the one behind that always ends up catching up.

"It's a pressure that's very, very tough to deal with in the Max situation; he's behind, he sees where they are," Villeneuve pointed out. "He knows exactly where he has to go.

"It's easy. But when you're ahead, you can't see what's happening behind. You're tempted to look behind, but you can't afford to.

"Red Bull have turned things around, and they're great under pressure," he claimed. "They're great fighters. And McLaren has shown last year that they're not.

"They know that internally. The drivers know that, so that's why they feel the heat," Villeneuve concluded.

(Quotes from OLBG)