Verstappen furious after Baku drama: 'I thought: f*** off!'

Ahead of qualifying, Verstappen actually looked well placed. The Red Bull driver was quick in free practice, but saw everything go wrong during qualifying. According to him, the engine wasn’t functioning properly throughout the entire session.

"The whole of qualifying the engine wasn’t running. We made one adjustment to the car, and that wasn’t entirely positive either. But yeah, it just didn’t run. Compared to my teammate I was already half a second down on the straights," Verstappen said afterwards to Viaplay.

In Q3, the situation only got worse according to Verstappen. When he wanted to push for a fast lap, it turned out his battery wasn’t fully charged.

The timing of the problems in particular frustrated the four-time world champion. Verstappen had felt good in the RB22 all weekend, but couldn’t convert that into a good result in the decisive session.

The battery issue also had consequences for his tires. After Verstappen had to abort a lap, he couldn’t get his tires back into the right temperature window.

It didn’t stop there. Verstappen also noticed something was off with engine braking. The Dutchman even described the behavior of his Red Bull as if a handbrake were suddenly being pulled.

Red Bull must now investigate whether the problems can be resolved without replacing the engine. Verstappen is especially frustrated because prior to qualifying he seemed to have the pace to fight at the front.

"We have to look at whether it can be solved with this engine. But it’s a real downer when you’re in such a good place all weekend. Then you end up throwing it away like this," Verstappen concluded.