Calm Verstappen expected: 'He knows you don't win World title in one race'

David Croft believes that on a mental level things are okay for Max Verstappen. In Monaco, he was slower than teammate Sergio Perez all weekend and he also has bad memories of last season's race in Azerbaijan. The Sky Sports commentator thinks Verstappen's experience will help him tremendously in this regard.

The current leader in the world championship won't be so easily put out of action anymore, Croft believes in an interview with his employer. "Max might get a bit edgy at this time last year. But he’s a world champion now and he knows the championship is won across the whole season. Not just in one race, so I think he’ll be fairly calm about what happened in Monaco and what’s happened here (Baku) in the past. There’s nothing he could of done last year, about the tyre failure."

The 51-year-old Briton thinks Verstappen was incredibly driven from the very first moment. That is, he's going to take every minute in the practice sessions to get it right in terms of balance in the RB18 compared to Monte Carlo. "All I know is that Max is the sort of guy that will go out from first practice tomorrow to try and get as much mileage on the board. To get the setup absoluetly perfect and then go an nail it in qualifying. That’ll be his hope. But Ferrari will be strong in qualfiying here as they have been all season long."

Motivation is high

Not only Verstappen will be motivated to the bone, but also in the garage of Ferrari they will want nothing more than revenge. Two weeks ago, the Italian formation went hopelessly wrong with strategy, donating victory to Sergio Perez. Croft states that there have been many 'debriefs' in Maranello to ensure that similar mistakes are not made in the future.