Max Verstappen gives an angry response to Red Bull and the Formula 1 regulations after his latest woes saw him finish eighth in Qualifying at the Azerbaijan GP, out-performed by over half-a-second to teammate Isack Hadjar.
The 28-year-old delivered a 1:44.081 on Friday to offer a time slow than that of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, although he was compromised by the lock-up of Lando Norris affecting his sight of Turn 5.
It is the Dutchman’s worst qualifying result since he started 11th for the Japanese GP in April and marked a disappointing day at the office for the 71-time Grand Prix winner after he topped Free Practice 3.
His FP3 performance had seemed to consolidate Red Bull as challengers for pole position and backed up the pace the team displayed in FP1 and FP2, before he then finished second in Q1 and Q2.
Looking to be the closest challenger to Mercedes’ George Russell, Verstappen looked to be on for a good result on September 25 and in the quest for a podium finish with a view towards winning on Saturday.
However things then soured in Q3 as his performance disappeared and put him surprisingly on the back foot as he eventually ended the day in eighth and 0.581s behind Hadjar – in his first competitive session since July’s Hungarian GP.
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The result marked the fifth time he has been beaten by his teammate around the Baku City Circuit, which lacks any meaningful high-speed corners and does not suit the strengths of the veteran.
But the margin to Hadjar and to be 1.5 seconds behind Russell is far from ordinary for the talented driver and an angry Verstappen issues cold response to Red Bull after Qualifying at the Azerbaijan GP as his frustration with the RB22 boils over.
“The whole qualifying the engine didn’t work,” Verstappen told Viaplay. “We made an adjustment to the car which also wasn’t completely positive. Compared to my teammate I was already half-a-second short on the straights.
“And then in Q3 you want to push in the middle lap, suddenly the battery wasn’t full. Doesn’t charge. Doesn’t work. And they tell me I have to push with half a battery?
“I say, yeah f**k off. I was really completely done with it. You prepare so well for the whole weekend, the car is going well.
“And then everything falls apart in qualifying [and] there is nothing you can do about that anymore.”
Verstappen explains gap to Hadjar
It’s rare to see Verstappen out-qualified by any driver at all – let alone by over half-a-second to a teammate driving the car competitively for the first time since 62 days after recovering from a serious wrist injury.
Whilst Hadjar is known for being capable over one lap and does have the potential to beat the 48-time polesitter anyway, his colleague makes it absolutely clear that pure pace is not why he is starting from eighth.
“I mean that [the yellow flags] was the last thing that happened,” Verstappen said to Sky Sports F1. “The whole qualifying I was just lacking top speed, half a second a lap off just on top speed, even compared to my teammate.
“The engine was just not working. So, that’s one problem. Then in Q3, in my middle lap, I tried to start and the battery didn’t charge, so you start the lap with half a battery, so you have to abort.
“Then you lose temperature because you don’t have enough power. That then snowballs into the final lap.
“I started the lap, but no top speed, a yellow flag in my lap, not enough tyre temperature, and then that’s where you are.”
If Verstappen now hopes to make it back to second place, then he will have to overtake Norris, Gasly and Hadjar along with Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.
The 2026 Azerbaijan GP takes place on Saturday, September 26 from 15:00 local time in Baku, which translates to a 12:00 BST start for fans in the United Kingdom and 07:00 ET/04:00 PT start in the United States.
