Max Verstappen delivered a blunt assessment of Red Bull’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying, calling the team’s performance “not good enough” after a string of technical problems dropped the four-time world champion to eighth on the Baku street circuit grid.
Verstappen ended qualifying 1.5 seconds adrift of the pace, a stark contrast to his form in final practice, where he topped the timing sheets ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. The session unravelled from the outset, with Verstappen reporting a significant power deficit compared to teammate Isack Hadjar.
“The whole qualifying was not how it should be,” Verstappen said. “Already from Q1, my engine is already half a second down on the straight compared to my team mate and they can’t understand why, so you’re just on the back foot.”
The problems compounded in Q3. On what Verstappen described as his strongest lap of the run, a battery failure forced him to abort mid-lap, costing him tyre temperature at a circuit where thermal management is critical. A yellow flag caused by Lando Norris going off further compromised his final attempt.
“Exiting the final corner Turn 16, my battery just didn’t charge to 100%, so I had to abort the lap, which means you lose tyre temperature and around here that’s killing,” he said. “It’s not good enough. The whole weekend we are running really well, the car was feeling well and then we run into so much trouble in qualifying.”
Verstappen acknowledged that beating Russell’s pole time would have been difficult regardless, but said second place was a realistic target before the issues struck. “When you have that many issues, you also don’t deserve to be there. We need to be more robust and we need to be on top of these things.”
While Verstappen struggled, Hadjar delivered a composed performance on his return to the cockpit following a three-round absence due to a wrist injury. The Frenchman qualified fourth, marking only the fourth time this season he has outqualified his teammate.
“I’m actually even surprised to be that close from second,” Hadjar said. “I took it quite easy but I felt like there was still more to unlock, even in Q3 I wish we had more laps. All in all, it’s still good.”