What was behind Verstappen’s curiously poor Baku weekend?

Formula 1 fans were treated to an unfamiliar sight in Baku as Max Verstappen was outqualified by Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez for the first time in 33 races, before being well beaten in the race. How did the world champion’s weekend go so wrong?

It was particularly odd that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ended up being Perez’s best race in 18 months, and that the Mexican was genuinely in contention for the win when his otherwise dominant team-mate Verstappen struggled.

Baku came off the back of a bruising period for Red Bull as car balance issues introduced in May caused a slide F1’s formerly dominant team struggled to arrest, with Verstappen now winless for seven races while McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all grabbed victories.

Having driven a “monster” in Monza, Baku offered glimpses that Red Bull had understood the crippling handling issues that initially derailed Perez’s campaign and then started affecting Verstappen.

Perez had been on the back foot after Friday practice at most weekends this season, struggling to find solutions to turn the car set-up around to suit his style. But aided by a tweaked floor design, in Baku the Mexican was much happier and that confidence extended to qualifying where he claimed fourth, outperforming Verstappen for the first time since the 2023 Miami Grand Prix.

But while Perez found a solid set-up, Verstappen’s side of the garage went in a different direction and according to the Dutchman had “tipped it over the edge” of what was driveable.

“As soon as I went out in Q1, I just felt the car took a step back,” Verstappen explained on Saturday. “We made some changes and the car just became incredibly unpredictable and difficult.

“That caused a lot of bouncing in the back of the car when turning in and out of a corner. I had too much oversteer, and you don’t want that on a street circuit.”

Because of F1’s parc ferme rules, Verstappen was largely stuck with what he had, with the suspension set-up in particular being frozen as any changes would have meant a pitlane start.

It didn’t take long for Verstappen’s issues to resurface during the race. He craftily passed Mercedes’ George Russell at the start for fifth, but then struggled to keep up with the pace of Ferrari man Carlos Sainz in front, complaining over the team radio that the car had “zero bite” and struggled to navigate Baku’s tight 90-degree corners.

Following his…