Verstappen takes full advantage: 'Now he's really in it for the title'

Max Verstappen scored an important victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. The Dutchman came into the weekend with a deficit in the championship, but together with his team, he is in the lead at the end of this weekend.

It had been two difficult races for Verstappen in Spain and Portugal. The Dutchman finished second twice, but twice he had to let Lewis Hamilton go ahead of him. Red Bull Racing, therefore, fell behind in the standings and for a while, it looked as if Mercedes would pull away again. That was all undone in Monaco, however.

''Max Verstappen arrived in Monaco and really needed to break his streak here that he had never been on the podium. With an off-weekend for Mercedes, the Dutchman took full advantage of this situation. There was a good chance Verstappen would have had pole if Leclerc hadn't crashed, but in the end he was still able to start from the front and went majestically to victory,'' says Lawrence Barretto in his column for Formula1.com.

''The victory puts Verstappen at the top of the championship for the first time in his career. He is the 64th driver to lead the championship, and is now really competing for the title. Red Bull have missed out on some points this year, but they too took full advantage of Mercedes' poor form in Monaco, by taking over the lead in the standings with 30 points difference in Monaco,'' Barretto concluded.