Verstappen goes 14 races without a win as he returns to the track he dominated last year

Verstappen was never headed in last year's race, leading all 51 laps and winning by over 14 seconds from George Russell, as GPblog reported at the time. That dominance feels a world away. He now sits sixth in the 2026 standings with 145 points, and Red Bull are the only team in the top four yet to win a race this year.

No driver has ever won consecutive Azerbaijan Grands Prix, with seven different winners from nine races at the Baku City Circuit. Only Verstappen and Sergio Pérez share the record with two victories each, and neither managed the feat in successive years. Verstappen has the opportunity to become the first to win back-to-back in Baku, but the venue's history says otherwise.

Charles Leclerc knows better than most how Baku denies favourites: the Ferrari driver took four consecutive poles between 2021 and 2024 and converted none of them into victory, finishing fourth, retiring, third and second. A powerful slipstream effect on the long main straight, frequent interruptions and low-grip street-circuit conditions mean race circumstances can overturn qualifying form in a matter of laps.

Verstappen has been vocal about the RB22's shortcomings throughout the campaign. At Monza, he described the car as 'a car made of paper', and team principal Laurent Mekies declined to reveal the specifics of the problem, while acknowledging that some fixes require changes to the design and chassis that can only come in 2027, with the team's budget focus already shifting in that direction.

In 2025, Verstappen mounted a late surge, winning the United States, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix and finishing just two points behind champion Lando Norris. But Red Bull have reserved most of their remaining budget for the 2027 car, leaving little prospect of a similar turnaround this time around.

Round 15 takes place on Saturday, September 26, having been moved forward one day due to Azerbaijan's annual Day of Remembrance. Whether the four-time champion can defy Baku's extraordinary record of never crowning a repeat winner will go a long way toward defining his most difficult season.