Max Verstappen described his second-place finish at the 2026 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix (GP) as an “overperformance” after struggling with the same car issues that affected Red Bull throughout the weekend.
Verstappen started the 70-lap race from fourth on the grid but made an impressive getaway to move into third, before later making a decisive overtake on Lewis Hamilton during the opening stint.
However, he continued to struggle with the balance of his Red Bull, with the Dutchman revealing that the car remained “extremely oversteery” and was suffering from significant tyre degradation.
“Yeah, I was still struggling with the same things as yesterday, so the car was just extremely oversteery, just degging quite hard at one point as well,” Verstappen explained in the post-race press conference.
“But I do think that, you know, at the start, moving forward was, of course, making our first stint possible. Then, of course, we got undercut, but then I made the move on Lewis, which I think made my second stint a little bit more straightforward.
“Then the team also put me onto the Softs, which initially I was like, ‘that’s going to be a long run to the end,’ but we made it work.”
P2 exceeding Red Bull’s expectations at the 2026 Hungarian GP
Despite finishing second in the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP behind race winner Lando Norris, Verstappen admitted that the result had exceeded Red Bull’s expectations given the difficulties he had faced throughout the weekend.
“So, yeah, overall, I still don’t really understand how we are second, but I think as a team we performed strongly,” he continued.
“So, yeah, I see it as a bit of an overperformance compared to what we expected, so I guess that’s, of course, a good thing considering how everything felt.
“I also saw, when I jumped out of the car again, there was damage on the car for whatever reason. So, yeah, it was not made easy for us.”
One of Verstappen’s hardest races of 2026 so far
Verstappen was then asked whether he felt more comfortable with the car during the race compared to Saturday’s Qualifying session.
However, the Red Bull driver admitted that the issues had remained unchanged, with the nature of the Hungaroring race making the challenge even more difficult.
“No. It was exactly the same. There’s nothing that you can change anyway after qualifying, so I knew that it was going to be tough, and it was very tough,” he said.
“Honestly, I think it was one of the hardest races of this year in terms of how I felt in the car, how I had to manage the balance as well, corner to corner. So, to be on the podium, I think, was an incredible result for us.”
Key overtake on Hamilton for P3
One of the key moments of Verstappen’s race came when he made a move on Hamilton to reclaim third position during the opening pit stop phase.
The Dutchman explained that he knew the opportunity was unlikely to come around again, forcing him to commit when the chance presented itself.
“Yeah, I mean, I knew that that was my only opportunity as well, because they were not too bad in terms of pace,” Verstappen said.
“So, when I saw the opportunity arise, I went for it and, yeah, it was a good move.”
The podium marked Verstappen’s third top-three finish in the last four races, as the Red Bull driver reflected on a difficult opening half of the 2026 season heading into the summer break.
“Tough. In general, it’s been very tough,” Verstappen said when asked to sum up the first half of the season.
“Some good moments, some bright, shining moments, I guess, but overall, tough. So, I think we need to try and be more solid, a bit more all-round, to have more straightforward weekends. Plus, we need to find more performance.
“I mean, it’s as simple as that at the end of the day. Then, besides finding more performance, just not having the issues as well with the current package, let’s say, that we have.”
