Max Verstappen heads into this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix heading the Formula 1 world 🦩championship for the first time in his career. 

Follow𒊎ing his maiden Monaco Grand Prix victory last time out, Verstappen’s confidence is sky high as he goes into the Baku round four points clear of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. 

The Red Bull driver’s second victo🏅ry from the opening five races saw him turn what had been a 🔯14-point deficit to Hamilton into a four-point lead. 

Verstapp🧸en landed a blo𒊎w to Hamilton in Monaco but with 18 races still remaining - and with the drivers and machinery so closely matched - it is impossible to call who has the edge at this early stage. 

One driver who knows how it feels to be in Verstappen’s poꦿsition𓆉 is Fernando Alonso. 

Curious pa⭕rallels can be drawn between V🔯erstappen and Alonso, with both going up against a seven-time world champion having been respectively labelled as once-in-a-generation talents.

Alonso famou💮sly usurped Michael Schumacher in back-to-back title fights to bring an end to the German and Ferrari’s rein of F1 domination in the mid 2🅠000s. 

But the returning double world champion does not believe there is any extra pressure on V♕erstappen due to him being in the championship lead. 

“Right now in the fifth race it means nothing,” the Spaniard said. “It will not chan🔥ge anything fo💛r Lewis or for Max I am guessing. 

“If it’s the last race, maybe it changes a little bi🦄t, it’s better to be in front but in the sixth race, you’re not thinking about the points.”

One rival who pr♍evented Alonso from taking more championship trophies was Sebastian Vettel, who has experienced it all on his way to winning four world championships. 

During Vettel’s run to his maiden title triumph, the German only ꦬled the 2010 standings at one stage - when it mattered most as the chequered flag fell at the Abu Dhabi decider. 

Conversely, he also held early title leads over Hamilton in 2017 and 2018 only to miss out on the world championship on both occasions, despite arওguably having the faster car for pa🅺rts of both campaigns.

“I don’t think it makes a big difference at this stage,” Vettel explained. “If you ꦓare in🐼 contention that’s what gives you peace of mind. 

“You know that if you’ve got a good🌌 car, you’ve got a good team around you then you can get th💦e job done. Obviously if you are ahead you want to make sure that you finish in front of whoever is behind you and increase the gap. 

“But like I said, it’s still very early. It’s only like five races and we s꧃till have a lot of races to come, so the main thing is ဣthat you are there or thereabouts.”

Kimi Raikkonen is one of only two drivers (the other being Nico Rosberg) to have successfully beaten Hamilton in a direct title꧑ fight, having pipped the Briton in his rookie F1 season in 2007. 

The Finn came out on top of a dramatic three-way title battle in Sao Paulo by a single point having remarkably ﷽come from 17 points behind with only 20 available in the final two r🔜aces. 

R𒈔aikkonen needed to win in China and Bra♕zil and hope Hamilton hit trouble at both events. And that’s exactly what happened, completing the most improbable F1 championship comeback.

“You always try to do your best🌺 and in the end, t🔥hat’s all you can do, especially when you’re in the fight at the front,” said Raikkonen. 

“You basically try, whatever the situation, you try to get the best end result. Obvi🐷ously, some days are a little bit better than others, because it takes so many things.  

“When you have someone close to you in the championship, you’re looking at what he does but focusing on trying to do your best as a team. Hopefully it plays out in a good way for𒉰 ✤you in the end of the year but there are still many races to go. 

“I think you try to limit the bad days and when it is a bad day you still try to scorℱe points and that will pay off in the end.” 

Hamilton stressed he always has a hunter's mentality regardless of🎃 whether he is ಌahead or behind in the championship. 

“I would say you are hunting the whole year, whether you are ahead or behind,” he explained. “It ꦬdoesn’t really fe🌌el any different to me. 

“We are all hu♐nting for that same goal, of winning races and winning championships. So I think we aܫre all hunters.” 

Meanwhile, for Verstappen, it is about remaining grounded and taking a race-by-race ap꧙proach to his first ever F1 title battle. 

“Winning Monaco is very special, but we want to be in this exact position in Abu Dhabi, which I know will be very hard,” he ♕said. 

“We just have to kee🍬p doing what we’re doing, but just a little bit bett✤er. We are only five races in. It’s going to be very tight. 

“Lewis is very experienced and has who has a lot𝓡 of championships already so it’s definitely going to be a good battle.”