F1 News: Max Verstappen admits he told Red Bull to 'p*** off' after Azerbaijan Grand Prix shambles

Verstappen and Mekies in Baku — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen admits he told Red Bull to 'p*** off' after Azerbaijan Grand Prix shambles

Tell them what you really think, Max

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Friday 25 September 2026 21:44

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Max Verstappen has opened up on his frustrations during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had looked strong in practice, even topping the timing boards in FP3, but will start down in eighth for Saturday's race after a nightmare qualifying session.

After looking a good bet for a third consecutive podium finish with his pace in practice, Verstappen revealed post-qualifying that his engine wasn't running properly in the session that really mattered – putting him half a second down on his team-mate on the straights alone.

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Things went from bad to worse in Q3, where the final grid positions are decided, with his battery failing to properly charge or deploy, leading to him to tell his team to 'p*** off' when they told him to push, admitting to Viaplay that he was 'completely done with it for a moment'.

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Verstappen: Engine issues a real downer

"The whole of qualifying the engine wasn’t running," he said after the session. We made one adjustment to the car, and that wasn’t entirely positive either. But yeah, it just didn’t run. Compared to my teammate I was already half a second down on the straights."

He continued: "And then in Q3 you want to go for that middle run. Suddenly the battery wasn’t full. It doesn’t charge, it doesn’t run. Then they tell me to push with a half-charged battery. I said, ‘Yeah, p*** off’. I was really completely done with it for a moment."

That battery charging issue midway through Q3 had a knock-on effect on the rest of his session, with his tyres cooling out of their optimum window, much to the Dutchman's chagrin.

"After that lap I had to abort because the battery was only half full, the tires cooled down too much," he explained. "You can’t push because it doesn’t run. So you don’t get enough temperature into the tires. Even on that final lap you don’t have the right grip."

Verstappen and his team hope to avoid an enforced engine change for Saturday's race, but he admitted: "We have to look at whether it can be solved with this engine. But it’s a real downer when you’re in such a good place all weekend. Then you end up throwing it away like this."