Verstappen looking to settle unfinished business, while Bottas hopeful of a trouble-free weekend in Baku
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen is looking to settle some "unfinished business" when he returns to the streets of Baku this weekend. The Dutchman crashed out of the race due to a tyre failure last year when he was in a comfortable lead with just 5 laps to go.
"I’m looking forward to returning to Baku, we have some unfinished business there after last year," said Verstappen.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took pole on that occasion as Verstappen qualified third behind Lewis Hamilton. But the Dutchman passed Leclerc in the opening laps and over-cut Hamilton after the first round of pitstops to take the lead and establish a 1-2 for Red Bull. With just 5 laps to go, he crashed due to a tyre failure which also ended Lance Stroll's race and Sergio Perez took the victory.
"It’s a tricky track with big braking zones and a tight run off, finding the best set-up for the car will be difficult in terms of making sure we get the correct wing level.
The big debate going into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is which is the best downforce setup on the street circuit with a 2km long straight going into turn 1 and also a couple of twisty sectors. Verstappen also spoke about his team's underwhelming results in Qualifying over the last couple of races and was hopeful that he would make a return to the front row.
"It will also be interesting to see if we can make our one lap performance better for qualifying as we’ve been lacking a little," he added.
Verstappen has struggled somewhat in Qualifying this year as the Dutchman only has 1 pole position this season, which he secured at Imola. His teammate Sergio Perez has also been on pole just once this season, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualifying first on five occasions.
Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas is expecting a trouble-free weekend this time around in Baku. The former Mercedes driver experienced issues in Friday practice in Spain and Imola which limited his running time.
“It’s crucial we can have a trouble-free weekend: we have been having some good results despite some Friday issues so far, and if we were to fix these, we could really see the full potential of our package.
“Baku is a place with both good and bad memories for me, so I definitely hope to add some more of the pleasant kind this weekend,” said Bottas.
Baku has been a bitter-sweet track for the Finn, who has had victories and DNF's on this track. In 2017, he overtook Lance Stroll on the final lap to get P2, while he had to retire after running across some debris in 2018. He got redemption when took victory in 2019.
Bottas has been phenomenal since coming to Alfa Romeo from Mercedes and has already picked up 40 points this year. The Finn sits 8th in the standings, 10 points behind his former teammate Lewis Hamilton. Although the pace of the Alfa Romeo has been very good so far, Bottas thinks that there is still a lot of potential to be unlocked in the C42, which might enable them to compete at the front.
“We know we can fight towards the front when we do it and it has to be the aim here as well. This is a track that can produce some chaotic races so we will need to be ready to make the most of any opportunity. It could be a lot of fun on Sunday.”