BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - SEPTEMBER 15: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan at Baku City Circuit on September 15, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by James Sutton/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202409150323 // Usage for editorial use only //
Verstappen says ill-handling Red Bull was on three wheels in most corners
Max Verstappen says his Red Bull was handling so badly in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix his wheels lost contact with the ground in some corners.
Red Bull introduced a series of changes to their car last weekend to address the handling problems which have plagued its drivers in recent rounds. Although the team was satisfied with the improvements they made, Verstappen said set-up changes on his car ahead of qualifying unbalanced his car
Verstappen said his car was “very difficult” to drive in the race. “It was not enjoyable.”
“Basically what I was worried about already after qualifying and during qualifying was also my main issue in the race, where I had a lot of problems with the car jumping around,” Verstappen told Viaplay. “So I was losing contact with the Tarmac.
“There was always one wheel on each axle coming off the ground in the low-speed corners. So I was just losing a lot of lap time there.
“On the braking as well, the car was jumping and just a lot of sliding because of that. And we know that you don’t want to do that in the race so that all just spiralled into a lot of difficulties.”
Unusually, Verstappen spent all his race behind the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez, until his team mate crashed out on the penultimate lap. His championship rival Lando Norris, who started 15th, overtook him for fourth place with three laps to go.
Verstappen said there was no way he could keep the McLaren driver behind, who switched to the medium tyre compound for the final stint while the Red Bull driver was on an old set of hard rubber. “It was tough,” he said.
“Already our race was just not very good and then, of course, he was on the softer compound to the end [of the race] with light fuel so the degradation was also less of a problem. So it was not great.”
Red Bull pitted Verstappen immediately afterwards to fit a set of soft tyres in an apparent bid to score the bonus point for setting the fastest lap time. However his team mate’s crash prevented him from making an attempt, and Norris took the point.
