Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished in second place at the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, just a mere 0,196s behind race winner George Russell, after a close dash to the line on the final lap of the grand prix.
The Dutchman had endured a difficult weekend in Baku up until that point, with the promising pace from the final practice session and the early part of qualifying fading away due to a power unit issue that developed itself on his RB22 throughout qualifying, which meant he had to start from a disappointing eighth place on the grid.
Verstappen unsure if he could’ve won starting from second in 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
Although the myriad of problems he faced in qualifying and the early traffic that halted his progress in the race, Verstappen is unsure on whether he could’ve won the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP even if he started from the front row of the grid, such was the devastating pace of George Russell’s Mercedes around the streets of Baku:
“I mean, we should have done that [start further ahead],” he said. “I mean, that’s what happened yesterday, you have a problem and then that means that you have to start P8.
“But I think even if I started second, I think the pace of George [Russell], it would have been very hard to pass.”
Although he noted that it could’ve been a closer fight with Russell at the first stint had he started further ahead, the four-time world champion doesn’t believe that it ultimately would change the outcome in the final segment of the grand prix, once the two drivers were on the same tyres and the same piece of tarmac:
“So maybe I could have followed him a bit better, of course, then in that first stint.
“Then you box, you’re second, behind, and then probably we would have done the same race, just pushing each other along.
“It would have for sure made my first stint a bit easier instead of overtaking all the cars that I had to.”
Verstappen: Poor performance from medium tyre made the first stint a “surviving” exercise in 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP
From very early on in the Azerbaijan GP, it was quite clear that the red-walled soft compound tyres held a significant performance advantage over the medium tyres, whilst maintaining a good level of degradation – which made Verstappen’s first stint on the medium tyres about “surviving” until Red Bull could switch him to softs:
“For sure the soft tyre was much better than the medium because I just had the first few laps in the first stint were very strong,” he said. “But then the tyres were just not working and it was quite a bit of, like, just surviving in the first stint, trying to go as long as possible.
“And then the Safety Car actually came at the right time to swap to the Soft tyres.”
Last few laps were “very enjoyable” due to low tyre degradation
Verstappen – who sits a distant sixth place in the drivers’ championship – echoed Russell’s sentiment that the battle in the last few laps of the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP were “very enjoyable” due to the low degradation on the tyres, which meant drivers were able to keep pushing without suffering the usual consequences of the tyre falling off its optimal working range:
“I have to say that those last laps were very enjoyable, because there was barely any [degradation], really,” Verstappen added. “We were just pushing to the end and the gap was always, like, one second, 1.1, so that was nice.
“And, of course, it looked close on the line, but I think that was more because I think George suffered from a little bit of boost lag in 15 with the yellow flag. So if you look at the last stint, it was always one second, so that’s probably also where we would have finished.
“I mean, last stint was fun. [I] kissed a few walls as well, just to leave my mark here in Baku,” he jokingly said. “I just tried to open the corner probably a little bit too much, but the tyres were fine.
“It’s always very challenging around here, qualifying and in the race now at the end as well, just pushing flat out. [It] comes, of course, with risk, being close to certain walls on the inside, the outside. But it’s cool.”
