Power unit issues thwarted Max Verstappen’s qualifying session at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP. Despite leading FP3 earlier in the day, the Red Bull driver will line up 8th for the race on Saturday. Teammate Isack Hadjar impressed with P4.
Speaking in the print media pen after qualifying, the four-time World Champion explained how he was carrying a 0.5s deficit to his teammate all through it.
“The whole qualifying we were down on power. I mean, it was consistently half a second down to Isack’s car. For whatever reason, we don’t know why that happened in qualifying.”
A perfect storm hits Verstappen in Q3
Circumstances compounded on Verstappen’s final runs, potentially costing him a top 5 despite his significant problems.
“And then in Q3, the middle lap coming out of the last corner, my battery didn’t go to 100%, so I had to abort that lap. Too-cold tyres then, because you don’t have the speed, you don’t have the power that you should have. And then when I tried on my final lap with no power, the tyres too cold and a yellow flag, it’s not happening.
“It’s a shame, I mean the whole weekend we’re doing a good job, I’m happy with the car and then it all just falls apart in qualifying because of problems out of my control. It’s a little bit this season, it’s a bit too fragile at times.”
Red Bull “busy to figure out” how to improve car
On top of the power unit issues, Verstappen reported some bottoming out in qualifying as well.
“Car bottomed a little bit more compared to FP3. They’re busy to figure out what it is. Otherwise, if you have to run with that also tomorrow, it’s not going to be a lot of fun. Let’s see.”
If the balance and power problems can be sorted out Saturday, Verstappen will still have to try and claw forward from his worst starting position at Baku in a decade. Asked of his prospects of advancement on race day, Verstappen said: “I’ll try, maybe a few cars ahead of me that I can pass and then we’ll see.”
