Max Verstappen facing worrying F1 trend that could derail Lando Norris title fight
Max Verstappen is in a precarious position heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend.
Max Verstappen faces a daunting challenge at the Baku City Circuit this weekend as he looks to execute a damage limitation race amid Red Bull’s ongoing struggles. The Dutchman has a patchy track record in the capital of Azerbaijan across six previous starts.
Bumpy street circuits have not been kind to Red Bull’s challengers over the past couple of seasons. The Singapore Grand Prix was the Milton Keynes-based team’s undoing in 2023, ending their unbeaten streak as both Verstappen and Sergio Perez were eliminated before Q3.
With the return to Singapore coming up after this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the pressure is on for Red Bull to maximise their return from two of their least anticipated circuits, but Verstappen’s record in Baku is a cause for concern.
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The Dutchman has just one win and two podiums to his name in Baku, and both of those results have come in the past two seasons in much more dominant machinery than he has available today.
Last season’s Azerbaijan GP was one of the key flashpoints of the season as Perez clinched his second and final win of the campaign, leading home his team-mate with one of the strongest performances of his career.
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That result was a frustrating one for Verstappen off the back of his first Baku win in 2022, but his disappointment in Azerbaijan trends much further back. On his first visit to the city in 2016 (under the guise of the European Grand Prix), Verstappen qualified only ninth before finishing one place higher.
Verstappen failed to take the chequered flag in either of the following two visits to Baku, suffering an engine failure in 2017 before crashing into team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in an infamous incident in the 2018 race.
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A fourth-placed finish followed in 2019 and when cars returned to the city streets after the pandemic in 2021, Verstappen’s luck was little improved. A tyre blowout sent him into the outside-right wall at high speed down the front stretch, costing him priceless points in his title fight with Lewis Hamilton.
If Verstappen’s bad luck in Baku continues then it could wreak havoc on the title fight. The Dutchman leads Lando Norris by 62 points heading into Sunday’s race but with three sprint races still to come and McLaren carrying all of the momentum, the Red Bull driver must avoid a poor finish this weekend.
