Yahoo Autos Simply Dreadful Day for Red Bull, Max Verstappen at F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Red Bull Formula 1 racer Max Verstappen had one of his least competitive displays for some time as the reigning World Champion.
Verstappn finished seventh in the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in a race in which he complained about the RB20, and trailed win-contending teammate Checo Perez by some margin.
Having started the race nine places ahead of nearest title rival Lando Norris and the fact he finished behind him compounded a bad day at the office. The only reason Verstappen was fifth, rather than seventh, was due to a dismal outcome for the other side of the Red Bull garage.
In trying to grab second place from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the closing stages, Perez left himself vulnerable to a fast-charging Carlos Sainz, who moved ahead out of Turn 1, and the two crashed in clumsy fashion as they accelerated out of Turn 3.
It was a deeply disappointing conclusion to what had been Perez’s strongest drive of the campaign—outclassing Verstappen on merit for the first time in over a year at a circuit where he thrives—and it was costly in the context of the Constructors’ fight; McLaren was set to move a couple of points ahead of Red Bull but the gap is now, already, 20 points.
Verstappen still holds a 59-point advantage in the Drivers’ Championship, and it could have been worse, given Norris had to recover from 15th on the grid after unfortunate timing of a yellow flag combined with a mistake left him out in Q1.
But, given where Perez was able to put the RB20 through the weekend, it was an off-color display from a champion who usually finds the car’s ceiling.
The catalyst were set-up changes that Verstappen and Red Bull made prior to qualifying, which he feels “tipped it over the edge” and meant he “paid the price for that in the race.”
“The car was jumping around a lot in slow speed corners,” Verstappen said. “My wheels were literally coming off the ground. Then of course you lose contact patch with the tarmac which you don’t want. That then caused me to slide a lot more, overheat the tires more and there was no way to drive around it so the pace was just a bit all over the place. In the medium I stayed there but then the tires overheated.
"I had to box and then it was just a bit unfortunate I got stuck behind Alex and Lando. I was in that fight, George passed me, and then we actually had good pace, the two of us. We were catching the leaders but then as soon as I got close to George again within that window where you have the dirty air, because of the jumping that I’m dealing with I’m sliding already quite a bit. And then when I get close to him I’m sliding even more and that just tipped it over the edge where it becomes quite uncontrollable towards the end of the race, which was very difficult again.”
Nearest rival Norris was content with grabbing back a handful of points.
“I’m happy, yeah I could be happier if there wasn’t a yellow flag yesterday [in qualifying], but happy for myself and for Oscar, another win for him is amazing,” Norris said. “A win and a fourth from where we started is not what we expected today, outscored Red bull, a very strong race, the car was amazing today and that gives us a lot of confidence going into the next few races.”
