Jacques Villeneuve confused by ‘very strange’ Max Verstappen situation during Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Follow us on Google Discover

Max Verstappen will know how crucial the final six races of the Formula 1 season are going to be for his title hopes once the Singapore Grand Prix has been and gone on Sunday.

It was the only track last season where Red Bull didn’t stride to victory but the advantage they had over the rest of the field in 2023 has well and truly disappeared.

McLaren have finally taken the lead in the Constructors’ Championship after months of threatening to close the gap and Oscar Piastri is getting better and better with each passing race as demonstrated by his win in Baku.

Max Verstappen may be relieved that it’s his teammate Lando Norris who is his closest rival in the Drivers’ Championship as the 24-year-old could have closed the gap by a much bigger margin over the past few races had things gone his way.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Working for Sky Sports F1 across the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve was left worried by Verstappen’s performance and demeanour during Sunday’s race.

Red Bull managed to nail the set-up of Sergio Perez’s car and he was able to follow Piastri and Charles Leclerc until his race ended following a heavy collision with Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen had no such luck and although Norris ended up finishing ahead of him despite starting the race in 15^th, he only put a three-point dent in his championship lead.

Jacques Villeneuve concerned with Max Verstappen after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Reflecting on the 26-year-old’s performance, Villeneuve said: “Max for the last few races sounds very downbeat like he’s not even feisty in the race, he doesn’t fight that hard.

“Even on the driver’s radio we barely hear him so something has changed and it’s as if he knows he hasn’t won, he knows it’s not driving like he wants now his teammate was even a lot quicker than him.

“It’s a very strange situation.”

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

After the race while talking in his post-race interview with the press, Verstappen remarked: “Today ended up being a worse-case scenario, but the most important thing is that Checo is okay.

“In the race, we were stuck behind Lando and Alex and had some issues with the balance and the car was jumping around a lot and losing contact with the tarmac.

“We ultimately still had some issues with changes that we made before qualifying and we just paid the price today.

“Most of the time we make a change going into qualifying and it pays off, but sometimes it doesn’t and it is just a risk you have to make.

“There is a fix, but we found out too late to make any changes.”

Helmut Marko highlights worrying issue Max Verstappen was ‘suddenly’ facing in Baku

Verstappen will be worried that after looking at the data from his practice sessions, the team decided to make changes to his car that made it harder to drive.

He was never able to catch the front-running cars in the race and for the first time since racing in Baku last year, the Dutchman wasn’t in a position to challenge Perez.

Verstappen has made changes to his Red Bull without the factory’s knowledge before this year to try and solve his issues but despite bringing new parts to Baku, they don’t appear to have had the desire effect yet.

Helmut Marko said Verstappen was ‘suddenly’ faced with new issues during the race that made his life very difficult.

Marko doesn’t believe Red Bull will be competitive again until Austin, but it’s hard to know what advantage Verstappen will still have over Norris at that stage.