Despite Losing to Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen Names Azerbaijan Over His 10 Grand Prix Wins to be The Most Special Race of 2023

Sabyasachi Biswas | 03/08/2023
Despite Losing to Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen Names Azerbaijan Over His 10 Grand Prix Wins to be The Most Special Race of 2023

After dominating last season, Max Verstappen continued his supremacy in the 2023 F1 season. So far the Red Bull driver has won 10 out of 12 races. However, none of the race wins has been a race to remember for Dutchman. Instead, the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku is the most special race for him.

The Baku race was the first Sprint race weekend of the season. Verstappen, who has usually been dominant throughout the season, looked a bit off-color in the entire three days of the race. From losing out the pole position to Charles Leclerc for the race to concluding the Sprint shootout in P3, the Red Bull driver struggled more than normal.

During the Sprint race, the defending champion suffered significant sidepod damage which limited his run till P3. And during the race on Sunday, a mistimed pitstop cost him the race win. Therefore, Verstappen revealed that he learned important lessons in the race and astonishingly after that race his winning streak started.

Max Verstappen opened up on the important lesson he learned

Out of two races, Verstappen hasn’t won this season, one has been the Azerbaijan GP race. Even though he hasn’t won the race, it is still significant to the two-time world champion.

Speaking about why the Baku race is of supreme importance to him, the Red Bull star said to Viaplay Netherlands, “Because even though we didn’t win that race, we learned a lot. Maybe someone will say ‘Because it’s the only thing that isn’t better’ but during that race, I learned a lot about how to set up the car.”

Admittedly, the 25-year-old complained about the control of his car on multiple occasions. Therefore, his statement regarding the setup might have worked out for him. No wonder why the two-time world champion has gone on a rampage following the Baku City Circuit race. Whereas Sergio Perez failed to compete against him even though he had the same car.

Verstappen on a record-breaking spree

Max Verstappen began unleashing his dominance from the very next race onwards. He came from P9 in Miami to win the race and that was just the start of his supremacy with the tailor-made RB-19.

From there on till the recently concluded Belgian GP, the 25-year-old was unstoppable as Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Ferrari all failed to stop him.

Currently, the Red Bull driver is on eight back-to-back winning streak and two more wins will see him overtake Sebastian Vettel’s record. Furthermore, with the massive gap he has in the championship so far, Verstappen can easily wrap up the championship at this rate by the Qatar GP.

Post Edited By: Pritam Priyedarshi
Max Verstappen Sergio Perez

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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