Verstappen Describes Problems That Affected His Performance After P6 In Qualifying

Saturday, 14 September 2024 at 19:00

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen assessed the situation after qualifying in P6 for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Red Bull F1 team brought a new floor to the 17th round of the season at Baku City Circuit after struggling for a couple of race weekends in a row.

This floor seemed to be working great, at least for Sergio Perez, who was on pace with his Max Verstappen from the start of the weekend.

The Mexican driver ultimately outperformed the triple World Champion for the first time (in 2024) in Grand Prix qualifying, clocking 0.210 seconds faster than the Dutchman.

But what happened to Verstappen? As reported on his website, the 26-year-old F1 driver suggested he opted for the wrong setup.

"After my first run in Q1, I already knew it would be difficult. We had changed a couple of things in the car, and that caused a lot of bouncing in the back of the car when turning in and out of a curve."

Photo from behind the fence of Max Verstappen with DRS open, speeding down the straight at Baku City Circuit during 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying,

Max Verstappen on a flying lap during the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying

"That was difficult. In Q2 it still went relatively well, but the car did not feel good and I couldn't get the maximum out of it. I had too much oversteer, and you don't want that on a street circuit."

While Verstappen qualified sixth, Helmut Marko suggested that much better results would have been possible for him had he not made a big mistake on the first run of Q3.

Verstappen ran wide on the big curb outside of turn number 16 and lost the rear of his car for a brief moment, which lost him a lot of momentum.

The exit out of this corner is the most crucial as it leads onto the longest straight (there are three turns, but all flat out) in the F1 calendar.

Therefore, it is no surprise that Marko said Verstappen lost about 0.6 seconds just from that single mistake. If the Dutchman didn't make this mistake, he could have started from P2 (front row). He added:

"In my first run I made a mistake in the last turn, where the car broke out of the turn. In the run after I had so too many problems with bouncing."

"If you're not totally comfortable, you can't attack. We changed some things, and know what the problem is. This is a bummer. The way the car feels now is not good. We'll see."