Max Verstappen explains that the 0.196s margin at the Baku finish line between him and George Russell can be somewhat deceptive.

At the Baku City Circuit, the remarks made by Russell after qualifying materialized: the Mercedes racer had forecasted on Friday that, despite starting from eighth position, Verstappen would be the primary contender for victory, and that turned out to be accurate in an exhilarating conclusion through the streets of Baku.

Verstappen was a mere 0.196 seconds away from clinching his first win of the 2026 Formula 1 season at the finish line, although he emphasized afterward that the true margin was somewhat larger.

"Of course, it appeared close at the line, but I think that was more due to George experiencing a bit of boost lag in Turn 15 with the yellow flag," Verstappen stated.

"If you examine the final stint, it was consistently about one second, so that’s likely where we would have ended up."

This is a perspective that Russell himself corroborates. After easing off for Valtteri Bottas’ crash, the Mercedes power unit didn’t immediately provide the acceleration he anticipated.

"When the yellow flag was deployed, I eased off the throttle, and when I resumed, I had no turbo, so I lost power," the Mercedes driver explained. "Max nearly caught me at the line. That would have been quite unfortunate, but overall, it’s been an amazing weekend."

Verstappen also holds the belief that the result of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix would have remained unchanged had he started from the front row.

On Friday, the four-time world champion concluded that Red Bull had "done a fantastic job messing up" its best opportunity for a victory this year due to the engine issue, but 24 hours later, Verstappen thinks the concluding phases of the race would have unfolded similarly.

"I mean, that’s what transpired yesterday. You encounter a problem, and that leads to starting from P8. But I believe that even if I had started second, given George's pace, it would have been quite difficult to overtake," the Dutchman conceded.

"So perhaps I could have stayed closer to him during that first stint, of course. But then you pit, you’re in second, and we likely would have executed a similar race, just pushing each other."