Baku relaunches Max Verstappen. Ferrari: everything was missing
The Red Bull upgrade fuels Max Verstappen’s world title dream, while Ferrari suffers across the board. The Scuderia lacked pace, execution, engine power, and driver performance in Baku, and now even the minimal consolation prizes of the season are at serious risk.
The best driver in the best low-downforce car
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix turned out to be far less exciting than expected, with Max Verstappen delivering a crushing and effortless display of dominance. On a track where in the past he had occasionally struggled, even against teammates, the Dutch driver left no chance for his rivals after securing a strong pole position on Saturday. The race could be summed up in one phrase: give the best car to the best driver, and domination is inevitable. That was exactly what happened in Baku.
On one hand, fans witnessed another reminder of the immense talent of the four-time world champion. On the other, it was clear that Red Bull’s latest development package, particularly the new floor, provided a significant step forward in performance. The aerodynamic load visibly increased, but because it came from the floor, it delivered improved efficiency with almost no additional drag. The RB21 was therefore faster without compromising straight-line speed.
Equally important was the balance. The RB21 seemed to offer more setup options, with the ideal configuration found more easily than in previous weekends. Over the last two races, the correlation between simulations and track reality also appeared to improve, meaning engineers led by Laurent Mekies could finally arrive at the circuit with a solid baseline instead of starting almost from scratch. That allowed them to fine-tune rather than rebuild. Strategy was another area where Red Bull excelled once again, opting to start on the hard compound despite the cool conditions. The decision paid off immediately, as the hard tyre proved to be the best in the early phase of the race, likely helped by the higher energy transfer from the car when fuel tanks were full.
It was the perfect package, which also gave Yuki Tsunoda his best result of the season in a Red Bull-powered car. The performance raised hopes not only of Verstappen’s comeback in the drivers’ championship but also of Red Bull fighting back to second in the constructors’ standings.
Still, the real answers will come at the next round in Singapore. There is no doubt that the Milton Keynes machine is currently the fastest in low-downforce conditions, as proven in Monza and Baku. The key question is how it will respond when much higher downforce levels are needed, particularly against McLaren, and how the mechanical grip will hold up in those conditions. Verstappen’s world championship chase remains unlikely, but if his winning streak continues, the season finale could become much more dramatic than expected.
Mercedes and Sainz among the other big winners in Baku
Alongside Verstappen, Mercedes left Baku smiling. The team looked strong in the cool conditions and on the stop-and-go layout, where traction was crucial. George Russell delivered an excellent performance, even while weakened by a respiratory virus, while Kimi Antonelli narrowly missed the podium. The Italian rookie was held back more by the strategic decision to start on medium tyres than by mistakes of his own. For Antonelli, it was exactly the race he needed: clean, in the points, and with a few solid overtakes. While he was disappointed to miss the podium, his fourth-place finish was a breath of fresh air after a difficult stretch in the middle of the season.
Carlos Sainz was arguably the happiest driver of all. After a fortunate qualifying result that put him on the front row, he proved his pace on Sunday, particularly in the first stint with heavy fuel. The Spaniard’s skill in managing long runs and car balance was on full display, and his podium was a fully deserved reward for an excellent weekend.
McLaren struggles in Baku but pace not the main issue
For McLaren, Baku was the worst weekend of the season, even though the performance slump was more circumstantial than structural. The layout of the street circuit exposed the team’s weaknesses. The short, constant-radius corners reduced the benefits of their aerodynamic package, the low-downforce setup nullified McLaren’s advantage of generating more downforce than rivals, and the cool temperatures meant that no one faced tyre overheating – usually one of McLaren’s strengths. Mechanically, the car still had an edge, particularly in the slow, twisty section of the old city, but it was not enough to offset other factors.
As a result, the apparent lack of pace from Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri was less about McLaren being slow and more about rivals no longer struggling with issues that McLaren had already solved. This made the field more level. However, the drivers failed to deliver the standout performances the team needed, especially with the constructors’ championship within reach.
Oscar Piastri endured arguably his worst weekend in Formula 1. After crashing in qualifying, he repeated the mistake in the race, colliding on the opening lap after botching his start and triggering anti-stall, which dropped him to the back. Normally very consistent, the Australian made a rare series of errors in Baku, and it will be interesting to see how he responds mentally in Singapore.
Lando Norris also squandered opportunities, starting with a poor Q3 lap that left him out of position on the grid. In the race, he was hindered by the difficulty of following and overtaking on this track, compounded by a slow restart after the Safety Car and another subpar pit stop from his mechanics. As a result, Norris gained only six points over Piastri, who retired – one fewer than if he had won with Piastri finishing second.
Ferrari disastrous: everything went wrong
For Ferrari, Baku was nothing short of a disaster. The team from Maranello lacked everything: pace, strategy, driver execution, and engine power. The chosen setup was wrong from the start, as both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc admitted after the race. Ferrari went down the low-downforce route, but the cold weather meant it was nearly impossible to warm up the tyres in qualifying, while in the race the car had no rear grip at all – a nightmare on a circuit where traction is crucial.
The lack of energy in the tyres also caused fluctuating temperatures, creating multiple thermal cycles. Even in a race with virtually no degradation, Leclerc still suffered a drop-off in the final laps. Strategy calls failed in both qualifying and the race, and the drivers did not maximize their opportunities either. Lewis Hamilton failed to reach Q3, and Leclerc crashed in qualifying. Both drivers had supported the wrong setup choice, which compounded the issues.
Overtaking was almost impossible for a car lacking traction, meaning Ferrari’s poor grid positions already sealed their fate. Leclerc also faced an additional issue: his power unit was down on energy recovery in the first stint, leaving him short of power compared to rivals. It was the final blow in an already miserable weekend.
Team principal Fred Vasseur pointed the finger at his drivers, saying execution was poor. He was clearly referring to the wrong setup choice and the weak qualifying results. He may have been partially right, but the truth is that the new rear suspension has failed to deliver improvements in Ferrari’s key weaknesses. That is a worrying sign, especially since aerodynamic development had been put on hold while waiting for this suspension upgrade. The outcome is that Red Bull, which kept developing its aerodynamics, has made a major step forward, while Ferrari is stuck. The Scuderia now risks missing even the modest goals of a single victory and second place in the constructors’ championship – targets that had already seemed like mere consolation but are now slipping out of reach.
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