Jenson Button claims title pressure “starting to take its toll” at McLaren

Jenson Button believes the pressure of the F1 title fight is “starting to take its toll” on McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Championship leader Piastri endured an uncharacteristically poor weekend in Baku last time out as he crashed out on a nightmare opening lap of the race.

Piastri saw his points advantage cut down to 25 but McLaren teammate Lando Norris could not fully capitalise as he finished a disappointing seventh.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed his second win in a row to close his own gap to Piastri to 69 points with seven races remaining and 199 points still up for grabs.

Verstappen and Red Bull’s recent revival has brought the four-time world champion back into the conversation as an outside bet for the 2025 drivers’ crown.

And 2009 world champion Jenson Button reckons both McLaren drivers are starting to feel the pressure as the title race enters the business end of the season.

"When you look back at Baku, the McLarens were still quick but their two drivers fighting for the world championship, it's starting to take its toll,” Button told Sky Sports F1.

"Then you have Max, who has won four, going out and enjoying himself.”

On Piastri’s scrappy weekend in Azerbaijan, Button added: "It's going to be interesting to see how it affects him.

"If he can write it off as a tough weekend, which hopefully he can, he'll be out strong again.

"But it was unusual - two times the same incident, basically. It's very unusual for someone of his calibre.”

Sky Sports F1 co-commentator Martin Brundle said: “We always think he's very horizontal - we are about to find out [if he really is].

"I think he'll be fine. It's a seven-race championship to the end of the year, plus three Sprints.

“He's got a race in his pocket over his team-mate and nearly three races in his pocket over Max Verstappen, so he's still sitting in a very good position."

Can Max Verstappen fight for title number five?

Assessing Verstappen’s title prospects, Brundle thinks the Dutchman has got his work cut out if he is to become a five-time world champion.

Brundle feels Verstappen will need the McLaren pair to run into more trouble in order to turnaround his sizeable deficit.

"It's a long shot. Suddenly instead of the two McLaren drivers looking across the garage at their rivals, they have to look in their rear view mirrors,” Brundle explained..

”If normal service resumes here in Singapore and next in Austin, Max has got his work cut out.

"You can't discount Ferrari and Mercedes getting big points too. I think it will need McLaren to step in their own toes though for Max to get back in it.

"Max has been there before in a championship fight, Oscar and Lando haven't."