Verstappen outlined the reasons for their slight downturn in performance after the session, explaining that “some changes that we made going into qualifying to improve the car actually made it worse”.
“From the first lap that I did in qualifying I was not happy with the car, and I just tried to drive around it,” he said. “When you’re not confident and comfortable with the car on a street circuit, you cannot push to the limit and I think basically that’s what happened.
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“As soon as it matters, people start risking more. I just didn’t feel comfortable to attack because the car was just very difficult, jumping a lot, losing contact patch with the tarmac, so not very nice. Of course, I went off in the last corner which also didn’t help, so all in all quite disappointing.”
The Dutchman’s team mate was similarly disheartened despite producing his best qualifying performance since the Belgian Grand Prix. Perez has historically flourished in Baku and holds the status as the only driver on the grid who has won multiple times at this circuit.
