Max Verstappen revealed a problem with his power unit left him at a disadvantage in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver was quickest in the final practice session at the Baku City Circuit. However he fell to eighth in qualifying, four places behind his team mate Isack Hadjar.Verstappen’s final qualifying run was spoiled when Lando Norris went off in front of him, triggering yellow flags. But Verstappen said that was only “the last thing that happened” in a qualifying session which had already gone badly wrong.
“The whole qualifying, I’m just lacking top speed,” he told Sky. “I’m half a second a lap off just on top speed, even compared to my team mate. The engine was just not working. So that’s one problem.
“Then in Q3, in my middle lap, just trying to start the lap, the battery didn’t charge. So you start a lap with half a battery, so you have to abort, then you lose temperature because you don’t have enough power, basically. And that then snowballs into the final lap.
“I started the lap, but again, no top speed, a yellow flag in my lap, not enough tyre temperature, and then that’s where you are.”
Verstappen was second-fastest in Q1 and Q2 but he was slower in Q3 than in both the earlier sessions. “We were in a really good place the whole weekend and we had a disaster of a qualifying because of a lot of issues,” he concluded.
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