Verstappen remains relaxed: "The way he deals with this is very important"

Max Verstappen enters a Grand Prix weekend as the championship leader for the first time. The Dutchman won the last race in Monaco, and Lawrence Barretto is impressed by the calmness Verstappen exudes.

With his victory in Monaco and a dramatic performance by Mercedes, Verstappen took over the lead in the standings from Lewis Hamilton. It finally confirmed that Max will be competing for the world title if that was not already clear. Verstappen himself remains sober under it.

"The most impressive thing about Max today when talking to the international media is that he is very relaxed. He's not getting stressed even though he has a car that can fight for the world title for the first time. He's not getting involved in mind games, the way he deals with this is very important. The way that he deals with that is very important because if we get an increasingly tight title fight, he's going to need that real strength to fight Lewis," said Barretto in the Weekend Warm-Up.

Prior to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Red Bull and Mercedes were again pointing fingers at each other, but Barretto is no longer buying it. "We have been here before. I think Red Bull will be stronger here than they say they are but it will really be a straight battle between Mercedes and Red Bull."

From Sergio Perez, Barretto also expects more this weekend than has been the case in recent weeks. ''Something clicked in Monaco, where he feels like he is finally comfortable with the team and starting to understand this tricky car to drive. He just needs a good run of results now, we've seen that throughout his career," Barretto concluded.