Verstappen reveals extreme scale of Azerbaijan GP struggle

Max Verstappen has revealed the extreme scale of his difficulties in last weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix following a set-up change ahead of qualifying. 

The reigning world champion enjoyed a positive Friday in Baku before enduring a difficult Saturday and Sunday. He qualified in sixth for the race, where he finished in fifth behind Lando Norris. 

His championship lead suffered a further three-point blow as a result of Norris recovering from 15th to fourth, whilst Verstappen was dealing with multiple issues. 

Jumping was another significant problem for the Dutchman at the Baku City Circuit, as was driving on three wheels. Verstappen explained the cause of the problems after the race. 

"I think we just paid the price with the change that we made into qualifying that made it just really difficult to drive," Verstappen told select media including RacingNews365. 

"The car was jumping around a lot. The wheels were coming off the ground in the low speed corners, so we don't have contact patch with the tarmac. It's very difficult."

When asked whether the set-up change was a team decision, he answered: "Yeah, our side, you win and lose as a team. 

"We thought it would be a good direction to go into and at the end, it wasn't."

Wasted chance

The Azerbaijan GP is viewed as a wasted opportunity by Verstappen, given he started the race nine places ahead of Norris. 

With Norris starting in P15, the McLaren driver was not expected to finish ahead of the championship leader. 

Whilst Verstappen's championship lead has been reduced to 59 points, he also views Baku as a weekend where Norris and McLaren could have taken a greater number of points from him. 

When asked if he missed a great opportunity to extend his lead over Norris, Verstappen said: "Yeah, it is, but you can also turn it around. 

"I think they [McLaren] could have done a better job as well, right? So it's what it is. I think we learned a lot about the car. 

"I think the car did feel a bit better than what we had before. But then, yeah, with the setup, maybe we went the wrong way, and we'll try to do better."