The Dutchman reveals that the internal combustion engine stopped working correctly from Q1 causing a loss of half a second and a chain of electrical failures. He trusts in changing the unit without penalty and aspires to the podium from eighth place.
Max Verstappen has explained in detail the problem that prevented him from fighting for pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Dutch Red Bull driver who had set the best time in the last free practice session and felt satisfied with the improvements introduced in the RB22, saw how his hopes vanished during qualifying due to a failure in the internal combustion engine that got worse session after session.
"Throughout qualifying, already from Q1 I had a problem with the engine, which meant I was losing at least half a second compared to my teammate and things only got worse. In Q2 and Q3 it was a real disaster so I think we clearly have a problem with the engine" Verstappen declared.
The Dutchman clarified that the origin of the failure was not in the electrical system as it might initially seem, but in the combustion engine itself: "It wasn't an electrical problem, in Q1 we detected the problem immediately, later it became clear that we really had a problem with the internal combustion engine. The situation only got worse and in Q3, that engine was no longer working properly at all" he explained.
The initial failure triggered a series of chain problems that further complicated Verstappen's session: "The speed on the straights kept decreasing, on that second lap of Q3, my battery wasn't charging either but that was obviously because the combustion engine had a problem. That causes many misfires and a lot of other problems, because it completely confuses the system" he detailed.
The onboard images showed how Verstappen's head moved sharply forward between turns 15 and 16, a section that is normally taken flat out: "Yes, because there the battery shut off, since you go so slow on the straights, obviously you consume more battery when exiting the corners to compensate. As a result, at some points you have to clip a lot and that clipping is very aggressive" he explained.
The mechanical chaos also disrupted the team's strategy, Verstappen had to abort his second fast lap, which made him lose temperature in the tires, a critical factor in Baku: "If you have to abort a lap, then you don't have the right tire temperature for the last lap and the engine is practically breaking down and there was also a yellow flag on my last lap so I had to leave at least two tenths on the table at that corner" he lamented.
Despite the problems, Verstappen keeps his eighth starting position and trusts in being able to change the engine without penalty: "Well, if there are still doubts, we will have to replace the engine but we still have another engine available in the cupboard" he noted. The Dutchman acknowledged that at some point in the season he will have to assume a penalty but trusts that it won't be in Baku: "The problem is that everyone completely drains the battery on the long straight, so you really can't use the battery to overtake because it's the same for everyone" he added.
Verstappen showed himself convinced that, without the failure, he could have been higher up on the grid: "Obviously, it's a real shame because this week had gone well for us, maybe I wouldn't have matched George's time but there is such a difference between P1 and P2 that without a doubt, we would have finished somewhere in between" he assured.
The Red Bull driver aspires to come back positions in Saturday's race and to fight for the podium, despite the difficulties he has faced in qualifying.
