Max Verstappen admitted his lackluster sixth-place qualification in Baku is right down to ill-advised setup adjustments made earlier than qualifying.
Sixth is Verstappen’s second-worst qualifying results of the season, equaling the identical lead to Monaco and higher than solely his seventh in Italy two weeks in the past. It’s additionally the primary grand prix since Miami final 12 months that Verstappen has been outqualified by teammate Sergio Perez.
A optimistic apply marketing campaign had many anticipating Purple Bull Racing to be a protagonist within the battle for pole, however the RB20’s forecast pace by no means materialized, leaving Verstappen 0.658s off the tempo, albeit with Perez 0.21s additional up the highway. The defending champion stated some setup tweaks made for qualifying have been accountable for the turnaround, having rendered the automobile virtually undrivable.
“As quickly as I went out in Q1, the primary lap, I simply felt the automobile took a step again,” he stated. “I used to be not pleased with the automobile already from lap 1, Q1, so it was going to be a troublesome qualifying regardless.
“We made some adjustments. The automobile turned extremely unpredictable, tough, simply due to the adjustments that we made. We modified some issues round and the automobile began leaping round loads and also you lose the contact patch with the tarmac.”
Verstappen stated he by no means felt assured sufficient within the automobile to chase a extra aggressive lap time.
“My first run in Q3, I misplaced it into the final nook; in any other case you’re preventing for P2, P3,” he stated. “You continue to have a run, you’ll be able to nonetheless enhance the lap time. I simply didn’t have the sensation within the automobile. I by no means felt snug, because the automobile was tough. Once you’re not snug, you’ll be able to’t assault corners.”
Regardless of the poorly judged adjustments and the underwhelming end result, the Dutchman was buoyed by the very fact the workforce at the very least had made progress with its automobile since its season-worst efficiency in Italy.
“We did enhance the automobile,” he stated. “I feel the stability disconnect [improved]. Naturally, it’s to do with the observe in fact. We’re nonetheless engaged on fine-tuning that any more, making an attempt to get the stability disconnect extra collectively.
“However now with the setup, we tried to good it, make a number of issues higher, however sadly it went the opposite manner. I’m a bit disenchanted with that, as you all the time attempt to optimize issues and make it higher. Sadly I feel we simply tipped it over the sting. A disgrace that occurred into qualifying.”
If there’s a silver lining for the title chief, it’s that championship rival Lando Norris certified a disastrous seventeenth. The McLaren driver must outscore Verstappen by slightly below eight factors per spherical to pinch the championship within the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Persevering with that development with Verstappen ending the place he begins in sixth would require Norris to get well 15 locations to second.
The circumstances due to this fact permit Verstappen to deal Norris’s fledgling title ambitions a significant blow without having a headline end result for himself, though the Dutchman insisted he remained targeted on getting essentially the most out of himself reasonably than on a possible title problem.
“I nonetheless wish to do properly myself, and in the present day was a foul day,” he stated.
