Amid all the chaos at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – where Formula 1 qualifying produced a record six red flags – Max Verstappen kept his cool.
The Red Bull driver got one flying lap at the end of Q3 and delivered to secure his 46th pole in F1 and sixth of the season – more than any other F1 driver this year, including the McLaren pairing.
But qualifying in Azerbaijan wasn’t the only thing on Verstappen’s mind. At the same time, Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham were contesting a GT World Challenge race – both drivers of his GT3 project named Verstappen.com Racing. The duo took the win in Valencia, driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 run by Emil Frey Racing.
“I was really pissed that I missed the entire race because F1 qualifying took so long. But when I grabbed my phone after I got out of the car and saw the result, everything was fine again,” Verstappen laughed during his Dutch media roundtable following the Baku qualifying session.
“It’s really impressive that they managed to win that race. Of course, they still have a lot to learn – you could also see that on Saturday morning during qualifying. We have talked about it afterwards, before they went into the race. But this is a great result for them. And of course, it’s a proud moment for me as well, seeing them win.”
Coaching his GT3 drivers in between sessions underlines how Verstappen’s passion for motorsport goes beyond Formula 1. At the same time, the Red Bull driver had a job of his own to do: a qualifying session that turned into a chaotic spectacle.
“I must say I felt good throughout the whole of qualifying. Many times in Baku I didn’t feel comfortable in the car, because the balance wasn’t right for me. But this time it was different,” Verstappen explained, reflecting on his own performance.
Red Bull has carried the momentum from Monza into the first post-Europe flyaway of the season. “[The car] feels better now, and that enabled me to attack the corners with more confidence,” the Dutchman added. “You can fine-tune things more during a race weekend instead of making all those big changes, and therefore you get much better references going into qualifying.
“That lap was good. Nobody could get into a proper rhythm, but maybe that was a good thing for me – that suddenly you had to be ready and make it happen.”
At the decisive moment, Verstappen delivered, as is often the case. “You know it’s only one lap, and you know it’s for pole. You also know that the others will go all in, so you have to try something. In the end, it worked out for me.”
Despite looking in control, Verstappen stressed that qualifying in Baku was far from easy given the conditions.
“The wind was strong and very inconsistent,” he detailed. “That makes a huge difference with these cars. When you arrive at a certain corner, it’s almost impossible to know what will happen next. Of course, you always leave some margin in places where you know it can be windy – and then I had some raindrops on my visor as well.”
Carlos Sainz explained in the post-qualifying press conference that it’s even more complicated with the current generation of F1 cars. The ground-effect machinery is more vulnerable in slow-speed corners and extremely sensitive to wind, meaning drivers can suddenly lose 30 to 35 percent of downforce, according to the Spaniard.
Verstappen agreed: “Yes, especially with the wind. It’s because these cars are very big and heavy. In all the slow-speed corners, small movements because of the wind can already make a big difference. It’s even more of a factor at this track because there are quite a few spots where it’s very open in between the corners. You feel it a lot around here.”
At the end of the day, Verstappen had cause to celebrate twice – the GT World Challenge win and his pole lap – although the focus is already on Sunday.
“The McLarens will come forward, that’s for sure,” he pointed out. “They are still very quick, but we have to focus on ourselves. We’ll just do our own race and see where we end up. My long runs were good, but that’s no guarantee at all for Sunday. We simply don’t know about the others, but in terms of feeling it’s again better this weekend.”
