Late Setup Change Costs Verstappen Speed in Baku Qualifying

Sep.15 - Tweaked front wing characteristics could be part of the key to Red Bull's improved form this weekend on the streets of Baku.

In the FIA's pre-event update about car upgrades for the Azerbaijan GP, only modified floor designs were noted for Red Bull.

However, Dutch commentator Olav Mol thinks he has spotted something else.

"Red Bull already said that if the McLaren and Mercedes wings were approved, they will also go in that direction," he said on Ziggo Sport, referring to wing flexibility that the FIA has been keeping its eye on for the past several races.

"I think they (Red Bull) already have a wing like that on the car now," he added. "I think they've pulled these parts out of the cupboard again.

"I think they made them a bit more rigid in Belgium, but now that what McLaren and Mercedes have been doing is approved, they said 'Ok, put that wing back on again'."

Whether it's true or not, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been more upbeat about the car's suddenly-improved behaviour at Baku. Only a late setup change ahead of qualifying may have hurt Verstappen's pace as he lines up just P6 for the race.

"We changed the setup after FP3 and obviously overshot the target," said the Dutchman. "But basically, we have improved the car a bit. We are still fine-tuning it, but it is better than before."

Indeed, team advisor Dr Helmut Marko thinks that without "one of Max's rare mistakes" in Q3, the triple world champion "was just as fast as (Charles) Leclerc," who is on pole.

The bright side for Verstappen is that his key championship rival, McLaren's Lando Norris, had a horror qualifying session on Saturday and qualified a lowly P17.

Verstappen agrees that Norris will therefore struggle to close the points gap even further on Sunday, "but you still want to do as well as possible for yourself, and this was a bad day".

"He was fast," the championship leader added. "It's not like he's 17th because he has no speed. He will definitely move forward."

Marko, however, insisted: "The positive thing is that we have found some speed again. We have improved a lot. And thank God this is a circuit where you can overtake."

Meanwhile, with Carlos Sainz P3 and Baku pole specialist Leclerc starting from the very front, Ferrari has a chance of considerably closing up in the constructors' championship race on both McLaren and Red Bull.

"I don't really know how many points we are behind Red Bull (39)," said team boss Frederic Vasseur, "but maybe we have a chance to close up the gap here.

"First, we're going to focus purely on this race, and then we'll see."

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