Max Verstappen left Lewis Hamilton baffled after the Red Bull driver suggested that it is ‘not realistic’ to expect either him or his team to take home a World Championship come the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Verstappen and Red Bull are both at the top of their respective championships. However, the size of their leads has been trimmed significantly amid an uncharacteristically barren run.

Verstappen travels to Baku without a win in his last six Grand Prix starts, and the three-time world champion has only scored two podiums during this period. Those struggles, combined with McLaren’s consistent gains have allowed Lando Norris to close to within 62 points of his rival.

In the Constructors’ Championship, things are even tighter. McLaren trail Red Bull by just eight points with eight races left to run, and Ferrari have also entered the mix after Charles Leclerc’s win in Monza moved them 39 points behind Christian Horner’s team.

“We know that. If we can find a better balance with the car, then actually we’ll be more competitive. But if more competitive is enough, I don’t know.”

While Verstappen is suffering from the arrival of Mercedes and Ferrari in the fight for wins, Hamilton is delighted that as many as four teams and eight drivers are capable of climbing onto the top step of the rostrum each weekend.

“It’s amazing,” he beamed when discussing the close fight for race wins. “This is how it should be. I think that’s ultimately probably the goal when they set the rules, but it never works out.

“So it’s great that we’re finally in that phase when McLaren have had a great rise, you see the Ferrari win in the last race, and us before that. Hopefully these next eight races, hopefully you’ll see something more like that, and it stays consistent, I hope.”