Max Verstappen believes a Red Bull power unit problem cost him a realistic opportunity to start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the front row, with an internal combustion engine issue triggering a chain reaction that also disrupted battery deployment and left him only eighth in Baku qualifying.
It was a deeply frustrating outcome for Red Bull after the RB22 had looked capable of establishing itself as the second-fastest car during practice. The car had been particularly strong through the second sector, but what had appeared to be a promising weekend unravelled on Saturday when the combustion engine problem began affecting the hybrid system.
Max Verstappen’s Baku qualifying unravels after promising practice pace
“A disaster.” Those words summed up Max Verstappen’s feelings about an eighth-place result that satisfied nobody at Red Bull, particularly because the potential had been there to fight for the front row and challenge Ferrari and McLaren for the position behind an apparently unreachable Mercedes.
Red Bull had already demonstrated encouraging consistency during practice and had managed to establish itself among the leading group. The upgrades appeared to be working, the RB22 was not showing any major balance problems and Verstappen himself was satisfied because the team had found a good compromise from the beginning of the weekend.
Circuits dominated by slow corners and acceleration zones have often allowed the RB22 to show its strengths, as had also been seen in Austria, Monaco and Canada. Baku appeared to offer another opportunity for Red Bull to be competitive.
The team was still dealing with ride-height compromises, always a delicate issue on a street circuit, while its lack of top speed on the straights remained a weakness that had already emerged at other races. Nevertheless, Red Bull knew it needed to capitalise on the positive signs from practice. The minimum objective was to establish itself as the second force behind Mercedes and remain firmly in contention for the podium.
Combustion engine problem triggers battery trouble
Everything changed in qualifying. Red Bull initially hoped to use the slipstream to compensate for its straight-line deficit, having successfully experimented with the tactic on three occasions during FP3. That opportunity did not materialise, but the much more significant complication came from the power unit.
Verstappen had already been prevented from fighting for the front row in Madrid because Red Bull could not manage its energy deployment effectively. The circumstances were different in Baku, but the outcome was similar. Suddenly, the Dutchman began losing tenths even compared with his team-mate.
The problems were already evident in Q1 and stemmed from an unusual chain of events. A loss of combustion-engine power also disrupted the battery, creating a domino effect that compromised the rest of qualifying.
“In Q1 we immediately saw that there was a problem. Obviously, at that point you’re still thinking whether maybe the engine is too hot or too cold. Everything is possible, because everything is extremely sensitive now. But later it became clear that we really had an engine problem. It got worse and worse and in Q3 that engine was practically no longer working as it should.”
Without the expected contribution from the internal combustion engine, the problem became particularly damaging at Baku, where battery deployment is used heavily during the opening portion of the straights. Verstappen’s top speeds began to fall.
That created another problem. The MGU-K was no longer operating in the intended way: it was not only recovering energy incorrectly but was also consuming more energy than necessary in areas where it should not have been doing so. On Verstappen’s final run, he lost more than three tenths to Isack Hadjar on the final straight alone.
Verstappen explains Red Bull battery and clipping problem
“The top speed kept dropping. On the second lap in Q3 the battery wasn’t recharging, but that was obviously because the internal combustion engine had a problem. That causes a lot of misfires and many other issues, completely confusing the system,” Verstappen explained.
The charging problem had already appeared in Q2 before becoming even worse during the final part of qualifying.
“When you are that slow on the straights, obviously you use more battery on the exits of the corners to try to compensate. As a result, at certain points you enter superclipping, and the clipping is quite aggressive,” Verstappen added, explaining that the data showed he was losing around half a second to Hadjar’s car.
Baku places particularly demanding requirements on straight-line speed and hybrid energy management, making the issue especially costly for Red Bull. The circuit’s energy demands had already been one of the important technical themes heading into the weekend, including the 2026 Baku straight-mode zones.
Red Bull qualifying strategy also compromised
In Q3, Red Bull attempted a strategy similar to that used by George Russell, adding more fuel in order to complete three attempts and help generate tyre temperature. However, the cascading power unit problems created further difficulties and prevented Verstappen from properly exploiting the chosen strategy.
The clearest indication was that Verstappen’s best Q3 lap was actually slower than the time he had recorded in the previous qualifying segment.
“In Q3, on my second lap, coming out of the final corner my battery didn’t go to 100%, so I had to abort that lap. Then the tyres were too cold because you don’t have the speed you need, you don’t have the power you need. When I tried my final lap, no power, tyres too cold, yellow flag.”
In practical terms, Verstappen completed only two meaningful laps in Q3. On the middle attempt, the battery had not recharged sufficiently before he began his flying lap, leaving him with a clear power deficit both on the start-finish straight and the following straight. He was therefore forced to abandon the attempt.
That created another complication. Because Verstappen was out of sequence with the other drivers and needed to concentrate on recharging the battery to restore a sufficient level of hybrid energy, he could not prepare his tyres properly on a circuit where generating temperature was already difficult.
The result was a significantly compromised final attempt, on top of the power unit issues that were already costing him several tenths.
Front-row opportunity adds to Verstappen’s frustration
That is where much of Verstappen’s frustration came from. Red Bull had a competitive car at a circuit potentially well suited to the RB22, where the lack of downforce that had hurt the team more severely elsewhere was not as obvious a limitation.
Eighth place therefore represented a major missed opportunity, particularly because Red Bull believed the front row was attainable after championship leader Kimi Antonelli crashed during qualifying.
Russell ultimately took a dominant pole position for Mercedes, while Charles Leclerc secured second place for Ferrari. The size of Russell’s advantage made Verstappen accept that pole itself had not been realistic, but he believed the substantial gap behind the Mercedes driver was where Red Bull should have been fighting. The final qualifying order also underlined the scale of the missed opportunity, with Russell comfortably securing Baku pole ahead of Leclerc.
“It’s a shame. I’ve been happy with the car all weekend, we did a good job, and then a disaster comes in qualifying. These are problems outside my control, but it’s a bit of a reflection of this season. Looking at George’s time, clearly we wouldn’t have had the pace for pole. But behind him there is quite a big gap and we should have slotted into that fairly easily, but when you have so many problems you don’t deserve to be there. We need to be more consistent.”
Red Bull faces engine decision before the Azerbaijan GP
Looking ahead to the race, Red Bull has the option of installing an older engine already in Verstappen’s power unit pool without taking a grid penalty.
It therefore promises to be a long night for the Milton Keynes engineers as they investigate the problem that compromised Verstappen’s qualifying. The team must determine whether the unit needs to be replaced or whether it can remain in the car if the failure proves to be a software-related issue that can be corrected before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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