Verstappen charges to second in Baku after grid setback
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 26, 2026
Verstappen’s second-place charge
Verstappen turned a tough weekend into a second-place finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, climbing from eighth on the grid to end 0.196 seconds behind George Russell. He made the comeback the hard way, using the medium tire to move from eighth to third in seven laps before passing Oscar Piastri for second at the first Safety Car restart. From there, he stayed in the fight and chased Russell through the closing stages, even after the day had started with a grid spot that left him with a long climb. The result came after a qualifying session that badly damaged his chances. Verstappen still had to work through traffic, manage his pace and keep pressure on the front as the laps wound down, and he did enough to turn a difficult opening into a podium finish.
Verstappen’s qualifying setback
Verstappen called Red Bull’s qualifying performance in Baku “not good enough” after a session that unraveled in several stages. He said his engine was half a second down on the straight in Q1, a problem that left him chasing speed before he could even build momentum. In Q3, a battery issue forced him to abort a lap, and the aborted run cost him tire temperature at a critical moment. A yellow flag caused by Lando Norris made the situation worse and further disrupted what he was trying to put together. Verstappen described the whole session as “a disaster,” and his own read on the day was blunt. He said second place should have been achievable, which showed how much performance he believed he left on the table before the race even started. For a driver who finished Sunday in the top two, Saturday was the part that opened the biggest hole. The qualifying result put him eighth on the grid and forced him into recovery mode before the race had a chance to develop. That setback shaped everything that followed, because it meant he had to attack from the start instead of racing from near the front.
Verstappen’s closing push
Once the race settled, Verstappen spent the final stages trying to reel in Russell without ever quite getting close enough to make a clean move. He said the medium tire was difficult to manage, even as it helped him make ground early, and that made the first part of his recovery more demanding than it looked from the outside. The switch to softs after the Safety Car changed the picture and made his car much faster, which gave him a better platform for the run to the flag. He still needed another break to cut into Russell’s lead, and a late yellow flag after Valtteri Bottas crashed gave him one final chance on the last lap. That restart opportunity did not produce the pass he wanted, and Verstappen still came up short at the finish. He said he did not think a better grid position would have been enough to beat Russell, a sign that he believed the race pace told the full story by the end. Even so, the drive left him with another podium and another reminder that the margins at the front can be tiny. Verstappen remains winless in the 2026 Formula 1 season, and this race added another strong result without the victory that has so far eluded him.
