Verstappen doubts better grid spot could have denied Russell

Max Verstappen left the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with second place, but little doubt that George Russell had the measure of him over the 51-lap event.

The Red Bull driver started way down in eighth after qualifying trouble, yet carved through the field with characteristic efficiency, dispatching Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc and his teammate Isack Hadjar on his way to third.

From there, however, the prospect of turning his recovery into victory remained elusive. Verstappen struggled to make meaningful progress against Oscar Piastri before the safety cars reshuffled the race and eventually put him within striking distance of Russell.

Even then, the four-time world champion believes a better starting position would probably have changed little.

Russell’s pace was the problem

Verstappen's eventual deficit at the flag was less than two tenths, but the final margin was deceptive.

Russell had controlled the race for long stretches, and Verstappen admitted that starting closer to the front would not necessarily have put the Mercedes victory under serious threat.

“You know, you have a problem and that means that you have to start P8. But I think even if I started second, I think the pace of George, it would have been very hard to pass,” he said.

“So maybe I could have followed him a bit better, of course, then in that first stint.”

A cleaner qualifying session would nevertheless have spared Verstappen much of the work required to reach the front. His opening stint involved picking his way through several cars, while the Red Bull's pace was not quite sufficient to immediately dispatch Piastri.

“Then you box, you’re a second behind and then probably we would have done the same race, just pushing each other along. It would have for sure made my first stint a bit easier instead of overtaking all the cars that I had to,” he explained.

The first safety car, triggered when Alex Albon crashed at Turn 5, ultimately gave Verstappen the strategic reset he needed.

Safety car delivers a late chance

Verstappen had been wrestling with his medium tyres and was struggling enough to hold up team-mate Isack Hadjar. The neutralisation allowed Red Bull to switch him onto the soft compound, transforming the final phase into a much more enjoyable pursuit.

“And then the Safety Car actually came at the right time to swap to the Soft tyres,” he said.

“And then I have to say that, yeah, those last laps were very enjoyable because there was barely any deg really. We were just pushing to the end and the gap was always like one second, 1.1. So yeah, that was nice.”

The second safety car further compressed the field and gave Verstappen one final opportunity to pressure Russell.

For a moment, the timing screens suggested he might have dragged the Mercedes into a genuine last-gasp fight. Verstappen began the final lap more than a second behind, but closed dramatically through the final corner and onto the long run to the chequered flag.

The apparent threat, however, was largely an illusion.

“Of course, it looked close on the line, but I think that was more because I think George suffered from a little bit of boost lag in 15 with the yellow flag,” he said.

“So if you look at the last stint, it was always one second. So that’s probably also where we would have finished.”

• 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Race results

For Verstappen, then, Baku offered encouragement without quite delivering the breakthrough he wanted.

Starting eighth made his task considerably harder, but even from the front row, he believes Russell's Mercedes had possessed enough race pace to keep him at arm's length.

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