F1 Azerbaijan GP: “I was struggling,” Max Verstappen blames ‘luck and balance’ for disappointing P2 behind Sergio Perez in Baku

Max Verstappen endured some tough luck as he crossed the line P2 in Baku.

Max Verstappen via PlanetF1

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is renowned for its high intensity and frequent on-track incidents. This year’s race, however, was in stark contrast to all the previous encounters at this venue. The race saw Sergio Perez take the checkered flag to become the first-ever driver to win twice at Baku, followed by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen was a victim of unfortunate circumstances, as his pit stop strategy saw him forfeit the race’s lead to his teammate Sergio Perez. Nyck de Vries crashed on lap 11, prompting Red Bull to call the leader Verstappen into the pits. The Safety Car was deployed moments later, providing those ahead of him with a free pitstop. Verstappen ended up behind Leclerc and Perez on the restart but managed to overtake the former quickly. Verstappen also suffered with the balance of the car and his tire temperatures. Perez was too strong, however, leaving Verstappen to settle for P2 after some bad luck.

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When interviewed by Damon Hill after the race, Verstappen said, “The Safety Car was a bit unlucky, the tyres were overheating and also the balance, I was struggling and once I got that sorted I was quite good again in the last ten laps. We know it’s a very long season, you keep learning – it can never be perfect all the time.” Verstappen is optimistic of the races to come, and is ready for he and his team to bounce back from this mistake and learn from it.

The title fight is heating up between the two Red Bull drivers

With Sergio Perez’s triumph today at Baku, it sees him at 87 points, just six behind leader Max Verstappen. The two were allowed to race without team orders inhibiting them for the first time this weekend, and it was the Mexican’s proclivity for success at street circuits that came out on top in the encounter. This is the closest the pair have been to each other at this stage of the season ever since Perez joined Red Bull.

Perez made his intentions clear, even since his win at Jeddah- to fight for the title. He was initially inducted into the capacity of being Verstappen’s wingman, but his recent success has facilitated stronger ambitions. He is intent on challenging Verstappen until the last race of the season and won’t sit back and watch as the Dutchman attempts to crown himself champion for the third year running. This battle will be exciting to watch in the coming races.

Six points separate Max and Checo after Baku ?#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/MugPSKZhj5
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 30, 2023

Tensions flared after Jeddah, with the emergence of confusion over the fastest lap point, which Verstappen snatched from Perez on the final lap. The confusion fueled rumors of a rift, percolating ever since the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2022 when Verstappen disobeyed team orders. This also gave rise to fears of a repeat of the incident between Ricciardo and Verstappen in 2018. Perez openly requested that the team should allow the pair to fight it out on track without any bias. He simultaneously insisted that there is mutual respect between he and his teammate, and any battle on track will be clean and without intervention.

Christian Horner gave the pair the green light to race each other today. Despite Perez having edged out the typical favorite, Verstappen was mature and calm over the mistake made by the team and is positive of stronger results in the races to come. He did encounter some issues with the drivability of the car. However, it is something that will be rectified by the team in the coming weekends, propelling him to victory.