Verstappen's frustration is entirely understandable after a spectacular race in Baku

Max Verstappen started the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on a fresh set of medium tires. He wasn’t the only one in the top ten to do so. George Russell, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto also started on the yellow-walled rubber. The rest of the top ten opted for the softest tire.

On that harder tire, Verstappen didn’t get a good launch. Starting on the dirty side of the straight, Verstappen struggled off the line and Colapinto was alongside him. In Turns 1 and 2, Verstappen kept the Argentine around the outside, allowing him to hold his position. Down the straight to Turn 3, Verstappen even took P7 from Gasly, who had been forced wide by Hamilton in Turn 2.

Verstappen’s post-qualifying frustration proved justified in the opening phase of the GP. The RB22 was indeed a very strong car on the Baku City Street Circuit, with both Isack Hadjar and Verstappen picking off one driver after another.

For Verstappen, it happened as early as lap 2, when he overtook Lewis Hamilton heading into Turn 3. A lap later Verstappen repeated the move on Lando Norris. He needed one more lap for Charles Leclerc, but in lap 5 Verstappen also passed the Monegasque for P4.

That put both Red Bulls suddenly in P3 and P4. Hadjar was told over the radio not to turn it into a big fight. On the medium tire, Verstappen also seemed to have more pace than Hadjar on the soft, so the Frenchman didn’t put up a heavy defense for his third place.

Verstappen and Hadjar caught up to Oscar Piastri on lap 8, but overtaking the Australian proved a much bigger task than expected. Verstappen and Hadjar were much faster on the straight, but in the middle sector Piastri consistently built a gap large enough to keep Verstappen behind. As a result, the gap to George Russell kept growing.

From lap 18, the picture began to shift. Verstappen could no longer get truly close to Piastri and came under increasing pressure from his teammate. Whereas Hadjar had earlier yielded to his teammate, the reverse did not happen. Red Bull told Hadjar he could try, but to keep it clean. A real attack from Hadjar never came.

Still, this moment showed the luxury position Verstappen has (earned) at Red Bull. At most teams, Verstappen would have had to give up his spot to Hadjar, given the latter clearly had more pace to pressure Piastri. However, Verstappen holds the lead-driver status at Red Bull, meaning his teammate will move aside for him, but the team is less likely to issue the reverse team order.

On lap 31, the expected safety car was deployed. Alexander Albon ended up in the wall after his own mistake. The safety car bunched the field but didn’t change the order. Piastri kept his second place, and Hadjar didn’t lose a position despite the double pit stop that Red Bull had to make with both drivers. The fact that Verstappen was still ahead of Hadjar here played right into Max’s hands.

At the end of lap 35, it became clear the safety car would head back into the pits and Russell could restart the race. Russell got away well, but the same couldn’t be said for Piastri. Piastri was immediately caught out by Verstappen into Turn 1, with Max on softs grabbing a place straight away. Launching another attack immediately wasn’t possible due to the chaos in Turn 1 behind Verstappen. A blunder by Franco Colapinto caused chaos and the stranded Norris brought out another safety car.

At the end of lap 38, the safety car came in again and the pressure was on Russell with Verstappen in his mirrors. Russell, however, got a good restart and gave Verstappen no chance to attack right away. In the laps that followed, though, Verstappen proved able to follow Russell comfortably.

In the hunt for victory, Verstappen did everything to try and attack Russell. Just as in the duel with Piastri, Verstappen couldn’t stay close enough in Sector 2 to exploit his high top speed on the straight. In an attempt to lengthen the straight as much as possible, Verstappen even brushed the outside of Turn 16 a few times.

The final lap got tense. A yellow flag and no VSC for Valtteri Bottas’s crash suddenly put Verstappen right on Russell’s tail, leaving just a tenth between them at the line.

In the opening phase of the race, Verstappen once again displayed his class with strong overtakes and stout defending. Verstappen’s frustration after qualifying is therefore easy to understand. Baku was indeed the chance for Red Bull to win a race. A qualifying issue and Piastri’s stout defense, however, kept Verstappen from victory. In the closing stages he could still attack Russell, but on the same tires Russell made no mistake, leaving Max without an opportunity.

In the final phase, Verstappen also showed on the soft tire that he was indeed stronger than his teammate. Still, it’s a major advantage for Verstappen that he has earned the status of lead driver within the team. As a result, Verstappen didn’t receive a team order, allowing him to stay ahead of Hadjar on track and attack Piastri immediately at the restart.