“I'm not angry or anything” - Max Verstappen not blaming badly timed pitstop for his defeat at Azerbaijan

Red Bull made a rare error in strategic judgment during Max Verstappen's race in Azerbaijan. When the AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries was stopped on the track's edge, Red Bull decided that it would be wise to pull Max Verstappen in behind a virtual safety car.

The actual safety car was then dispatched onto the track, allowing the rest of the field to make an even more free and cheap pit stop. As a result, Verstappen dropped to third place. Anyone in his shoes would be fuming about such a costly decision by the team. But Max Verstappen claims otherwise.

"I'm not angry or anything, but it is, of course, a pity. Moreover, I have also won races, precisely because a safety car came, at that moment it worked out well for me. But don't forget that there is a lot of pressure on everyone and that I had just indicated that my tires were starting to wear out."

At the Sprint Shootout Round, Charles Leclerc emerged victorious. Sergio Perez won the first place finish in the Sprint Round. After a difficult street race in Azerbaijan, Max Verstappen led the grid for quite a bit of the Main Race, but it was his Red Bull teammate Checo Perez who ultimately won.

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Christian Horner talks about Max Verstappen's pit stop's bad timing

Christian Horner

The timing of the pit stop that caused Max Verstappen to lose the lead in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been addressed by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

Shortly before Red Bull called Verstappen into the pits, AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries crashed into the inside wall at Turn 5 and continued on to Turn 6.

De Vries' AlphaTauri was damaged by the barrier's tap, rendering it impossible for him to continue. As a result, a safety car was brought in to allow the marshals to remove the AlphaTauri.

"The unfortunate thing was the safety car, with 20/20 hindsight you'd have left him out there another lap, at the time from what we could see, we decided to pit Max because he was starting to struggle a little bit with the rear tyres on his car, and Checo was obviously right up behind him."

He then continued:

"So we decided, from a strategy point of view, it was the optimum time to take the stop... It looked like he (De Vries) would select reverse and carry on. We never expected that to go to a safety car."

Perez's performance was praised by Horner as well. The team principal noted that the driver displayed remarkable speed before the safety car came in, after overtaking Leclerc for second and closing up on Verstappen for the lead.