'Not good enough': Verstappen explains qualifying bust

Max Verstappen has lamented the litany of errors he says prevented him from starting alongside George Russell on the front row of the grid in Azerbaijan.

Verstappen, last year’s Baku winner from pole, emerged as a potential pole contender on Friday when he topped final practice by pipping Russell for the fastest time.

The Dutchman followed up by running second to Russell in Q1 and Q2, his margin just 0.244s ahead of the pole-deciding Q3 segment.

But his day fell apart with a string of frustrating errors that left him unable to keep up with the imperious pole-getter, and instead he slumped to a frustrated eighth, 1.555s off the pace.

Eighth is the equal second-worst qualifying result of Verstappen’s season — and his worst since March’s Japanese Grand Prix — and it was only the third time this year he has been outqualified by teammate Isack Hadjar, who will start fourth.

“The whole qualifying was just not how it should be,” he said. “Already from Q1 my engine is just half a second down on the straights compared to my teammate, and you can’t understand why, so you’re just on the back foot.

“Then in Q3, in my middle lap, exiting the final corner my battery just didn’t charge to 100 per cent, so I had to abort the lap, which means you lose tire temp, and around here that’s killing.

“I tried to put as much temp in it, tried to push on the final lap, of course being down on top speed.”

Adding insult to injury was Lando Norris, who was ahead of him for the final laps of Q3, running deep into the Turn 3 braking zone and triggering yellow flags.

It meant Verstappen was unable to improve with his final attempt — and in fact was unable to improve on his Q2 time despite the circuit gripping up rapidly throughout the hour.

Had he replicated his Q2 lap, he would have slotted into sixth behind Norris and ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

“It’s not good enough,” he said. “The whole weekend we are running really well, the car was feeling well, and then we run into so much trouble in qualifying.

“Looking at George’s lap, I don’t think we would have fought for pole, but there was a big gap behind and we should have slotted into that easily.

“But when you have that many issues you also don’t deserve to be there.”

Red Bull Racing later deduced that Verstappen’s battery charge problem was caused by his initial issue with the internal combustion engine.

If the team elects to change Verstappen’s combustion engine overnight, it will do so with a unit already in his parts pool, meaning he will still line up eighth on the grid rather than being sent to the back.