Max Verstappen, the reigning F1 world champion, will start Sunday’s 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from sixth on the grid after a difficult qualifying session where he struggled with Red Bull’s car setup. Verstappen blamed the team’s last-minute changes for making the car more difficult to drive on Baku’s notoriously challenging street circuit.
Verstappen’s sixth-place starting position marks the first time in the 2024 season that teammate Sergio Perez outqualified him on pure pace. The Red Bull ace found himself six-tenths of a second off Charles Leclerc’s pole time, a gap he attributed to an unstable car.
“I think some changes that we made going into qualifying, thinking they would improve the car, actually made it worse,” Verstappen explained in an interview with F1 TV. “From the first lap I did in qualifying, I was not happy with the car, and I just tried to drive around it.”
Verstappen admitted that when the car setup isn’t right, especially on a street circuit like Baku, it’s difficult to push to the limit. “As soon as it matters, people start risking more, but I just didn’t feel comfortable enough to attack,” he said.
The Dutchman also mentioned that the car was “jumping a lot, losing contact with the tarmac,” which contributed to his inability to extract more performance. To add to his woes, Verstappen went off in the last corner during qualifying, compounding an already frustrating session.
Red Bull’s Recent Struggles Continue
Verstappen’s struggles in Baku come after two difficult races at the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, where he finished far off the winning pace. Despite these setbacks, Verstappen still holds a significant 62-point lead in the drivers’ championship, though that margin is now under threat.
However, Verstappen’s title rival, Lando Norris, was dealt a major blow in qualifying. Norris was eliminated in Q1 and will start from 17th, giving Verstappen an opportunity to potentially extend his lead for the first time since the F1 summer break.
Red Bull’s Strong Race Pace May Hold the Key
Despite the challenging qualifying session, Verstappen remains optimistic about Red Bull’s chances in Sunday’s race. Red Bull has often struggled in qualifying over the past two seasons, only to dominate on race day thanks to their superior race pace.
“As for better race pace, I don’t know,” Verstappen said. “It probably depends a bit on the compound and on the high fuel load. It [balance problems] all calms down a little, but at the end of the day you run the [fuel] tank down so at some point it will come back.”
While Verstappen’s confidence in the team’s Sunday performance is tempered, he acknowledged that the setup changes made in qualifying may not have been the right call. “In hindsight, it’s probably just a bit of a shame that we made those changes going into qualifying, as we’re now stuck with them,” he concluded.
The 51-lap race at the Baku City Circuit will test Verstappen and Red Bull’s ability to recover from their qualifying struggles and maintain their championship advantage as the 2024 F1 season heats up.
