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The limitation Max Verstappen finds with the 2022 Red Bull has been a prominent theme of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
Team-mate Sergio Perez has been the faster Red Bull driver for the second race in a row, after outqualifying Verstappen in Monaco and winning the grand prix there.
Verstappen has trailed Perez in every session except Q1 in Baku, where Perez was quickest in first and third practice then qualified second, with Verstappen third.
Verstappen’s deficit to Perez in Baku
FP1 +0.334s
FP2 +0.108s
FP3 +0.279s
Qualifying +0.065s
Verstappen has found the car “just consistently a bit off” to drive all weekend.
“It was just a bit tricky to find a good balance front-to-rear throughout the weekend, in qualifying,” he said.
“Basically that just continued every session the same until the flag.”
After several years leading Red Bull’s development of a high-rake car with a strong front end, and using his car control to tame the loose rear that this often resulted in, Verstappen is less comfortable with the RB18.
F1’s new generation of heavier, stiffer cars need to be run lower to the ground to exploit the ground-effect aerodynamics.
The result has been a car that has more of an understeering balance. And with less grip at the front axle, Verstappen can’t get the car to turn as sharply as he prefers.
Verstappen has found it difficult to hit the ground running at the last couple of events and even by Q3 in Baku he was evidently not comfortable.
“The start of the lap was good,” he said. “Then it went away from me a little bit, tiny mistakes.
“It’s not ideal but in general I’m just struggling a bit to find front-to-rear balance over one lap. So yeah, not of course what I want.”
At the same time, this car trait is closer to what Perez naturally prefers.
The street tracks of Monaco and Baku have therefore swung the balance of power towards Perez because these circuits are where the quick rotation in slower, tighter corners is key.
Verstappen had touched on this earlier in the Baku weekend.
“I definitely see, of course, Checo is a bit more comfortable than last year,” said Verstappen.
“For my side, I would like a bit more front end, that’s what we’re working at.
“I don’t say I’m uncomfortable in the car but these cars are so heavy, and long, and wide that, with increased weight as well, you want a car, which turns better, because it just goes faster around a corner.
“And you can extract a bit more in qualifying when you really push it, which I cannot at the moment.
“But it’s not all very dramatic. I mean, I still won four races. That’s more than I did last year at this time. So, it’s not that bad. It’s just fine-tuning little things.”
It’s true that this hardly constitutes a crisis for Verstappen, nor does it suggest a fundamental shift in which Red Bull driver is stronger.
This is just a good run for Perez that is coinciding with Verstappen finding his main issue with the 2022 car more prominent because of the nature of the tracks.
After his father’s outburst post-Monaco, though, it will be curious to see what happens if Red Bull cannot tune the car more to Verstappen’s liking.
Perez could conceivably lead the world championship after the Azerbaijan GP and, armed with a new two-year contract, his confidence looks sky-high at a time Verstappen looks the least comfortable he has in a Red Bull for a long time.
“Last year we obviously came in with set-up regulations that had been there for a while,” said Perez.
“So, people that stayed longer in the teams had good and bad advantages in that regard.
“Coming new to this [2021] car, this philosophy of car, it was very difficult for me to adapt and to always extract the maximum.
“It had a very unique driving style that took me a while to adapt to. At the end of the season it was fine, but it just took me too long throughout the season.
“Starting from zero [this year] it’s a good opportunity for everyone. And given that it’s my second season with Red Bull, that’s something that makes it already a lot better, knowing my engineers, knowing the people around me.
“That’s a big step. And the car, I feel comfortable with it and I’m able to extract the maximum.”
Outqualifying Verstappen for the second race in a row is a strong action in support of that statement.
