"Probably ran out of talent!" - Max Verstappen recollects his crash at Baku in 2021, feels it cost Red Bull the constructors' championship

F1 is heading to Azerbaijan for the eighth round of the 2022 season at a track where championship leader Max Verstappen has some unpleasant memories from last season. The Dutchman had a top-two finish in every race of the season thus far until he heartbreakingly suffered his first retirement of the year after crashing his Red Bull in Baku.

In a post-race press conference at the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen reflected on his weekend in Azerbaijan last year, admitting that it was possibly the race that cost the team the constructors' title in the end. He said:

“About Baku, yeah, last year was unlucky, simple as that. We had it all in control, it would have been a…I don’t know what happened. Probably ran out of talent! Yeah, it looked like all in control and also for the team it would have been amazing result and you know these kind of things actually might have cost us at the end also potential World Championship for the teams, right, so it was a very painful one, but that happens. That’s racing, it’s still a mechanical sport but you don’t really think about it. It’s different cars, different tyres and we go again.”

With both Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen on top of their game, Red Bull are currently leading the championship standings with a 36-point gap to Ferrari in second.

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Max Verstappen's former team-mate says they "thrived off" their rivalry

Current McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo raced alongside Max Verstappen for over two years at Red Bull. The Australian recently revealed that while their rivalry was certainly "heated," it never lacked respect.

Speaking to Maxim about his time with the reigning world champion as a teammate at Red Bull, Ricciardo said:

“[Max Verstappen] is the longest teammate I’ve had in Formula 1. We had a rivalry, but I think we always respected each other. I think we pushed each other for better or worse, whether it was a heated rivalry or a respectful intensity we got the best out of each other. We both thrived off it. There was a bit of a lid on our relationship as team-mates, but when I then moved on from Red Bull and I felt like because we weren’t directly competing with each other we were able to actually form a better relationship. We were just a little more easier to get along with.”

Meanwhile, Ricciardo is now in his second season with McLaren and has consistently been outperformed by his teammate Lando Norris.