Max Verstappen explains why Azerbaijan GP qualifying was “a disaster”

Max Verstappen says late yellow flags in Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying “were the last thing” that ruined his expected push for pole, as he labelled his Q3 at Baku "a disaster".

The Red Bull driver came into Friday afternoon’s qualifying looking like the biggest threat to Mercedes’ George Russell, having topped FP3.

But the four-time world champion’s pole charge never emerged, with Max Verstappen only eighth at the end of qualifying.

Verstappen was 1.5s off the pole time set by Russell, having caught a yellow flag on his final flying lap.

But he says this was just one of several problems he faced, the biggest being that “the engine was just not working”.

“I mean, that was the last thing that happened,” he told Sky F1.

“The whole qualifying, I was just lacking top speed, like half a second in just top speed compared to my team-mate.

“The engine was just not working. So, that’s one problem.

“Then, in Q3, in the build lap my battery didn’t charge, so then you start the lap with half a battery.

“So, then you abort, you lose temperature because you don’t have enough power.

“Then it snowballs into the final lap.

“Yeah, I started the lap, but again the top speed, a yellow flag in my lap, not enough tyre temperature, and that’s where you are.”

Verstappen ended up four spots behind team-mate Isack Hadjar, who was fourth on the grid on his return from a hand injury.

Asked if he can recover ground from eighth and get into the podium fight, Verstappen added: “I have no idea.

“We were in a really good place the whole weekend, and then we had a disaster in qualifying because we had a lot of issues. So, let’s see what we can do.”

Verstappen is a previous winner at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, doing so in 2022 and again last year.  

Though he has had good speed throughout the weekend, Verstappen says he has been struggling with his car bouncing "like a kangaroo" in the sessions.