Max Verstappen has messed up the importance of the 2025 Formula One campaign.
Verstappen took advantage of the difficult situation to acquire his first career pole position in Baku.
Surprisingly, it is one of the few tracks Verstappen hasn’t shot on poles.
This is primarily due to the prominent record of Charles Leclerc in Azerbaijan over the years, winning four consecutive pole positions.
Like many of this season, Red Bull found performances overnight between practice and qualifying.
With McLarens and Ferraris making mistakes, Verstappen produced a world champion-level performance to beat Williams’ Carlos Sainz to pole position.
Verstappen continues to perform on an incredible level, but the lack of title at the end of the season means that when he retires, it is not something that will remain memorable for him.
“I don’t think I really care when I get older,” Verstappen said. “I might just think about other things, have fun with friends and family, then get highlights like, ‘Yeah, yeah, that was good’. But it was certainly a good year.
“I’m happy with my performance. It seems the car understands a little better now, and I think this is the most important thing.
“And if you feel a little happy in the car, you can naturally extract a little more, and that’s what we’re doing now.
Can Verstappen make it wins in succession?
Verstappen dominated his final race at Monza from pole position, winning by 19 seconds.
Verstappen was pleased with the progress Red Bull has made since FP1 despite the chaotic qualifiers.
Max Verstappen
“To be honest, there are so many red flags,” Verstappen added.
“So basically it was very difficult to put your knees together because your tires are really not ready or the red flags happen, so it was a very difficult session, especially Q3, with a little rainy rain. And on the final lap, you need to send it.
“I wasn’t even on the best tires I’d hoped for, but all the red flags make you basically run out of tires. And yeah, I’m very pleased with how the weekend has gone so far. I don’t think we’re that bad from FP1.
Verstappen should run clearly with victory early on.
The two McLarens are set to start at the seventh and ninth respectively.
Leclerc was Lead Ferrari in 10th place, while Lewis Hamilton was in 12th place.
Looking forward to the race, Verstappen said:
“But even then, we still have to race our own and look after the tires, because due to the soft compounds, it’s still very difficult with tires around this, so we’ll see what happens.”