With Red Bull unable to resolve their balance issues, Max Verstappen struggled with his RB21, managing to finish only ninth at the F1 Hungarian GP. Although this result does not reflect his own capabilities, the Dutchman gave it his all, performing a few bold overtakes. Nevertheless, his last race before summer break was not something to write home about.
These past couple of races have not treated Verstappen so kindly, and the F1 Hungarian GP was no exception. In terms of his position in the championship, the Red Bull driver sits third with 187 points. However, there seems to be more pressure from behind, with George Russell at a 15-point deficit from Verstappen following his podium on Sunday. Seeing as a recovery so far into the season looks unlikely, the Dutchman will try his best to fend off the Brit.
Frustrations hit their peak in Hungary
Coming into the F1 Hungarian GP weekend, it was clear that Verstappen was unhappy with the RB21’s performance. Nevertheless, the team tried their best to figure out a solution before Sunday. That fix did not come, however, and the Dutchman made his complaints loud. He explained that there were problems with the drivability throughout the Hungaroring event, no matter what direction they took:
“I don’t know, I think that’s not our biggest problem. The whole weekend, we were just really slow. We just struggled a lot for grip in low speed, medium speed. That was also the problem in the race. Whatever we would have done, staying out long, doing what we did, I think we would have been struggling anyway.”
When asked to give an answer after the race for what the problem was, Verstappen simply replied: “We always have ideas, but I cannot, of course, disclose that.”
According to Red Bull Racing, this problem might have been a one-off for the F1 Hungarian GP. Yet, their world champion was not as quick to make the same statement. “I don’t know, yet. It’s a bit easy to say that, but we’ll have a look,” confessed the Dutchman.
No bad blood with Hamilton after race incident
A lot of action took place near the front of the pack. As the strong battle between Norris, Piastri and Leclerc claimed the spotlight, the midfield had two drivers who are not used to being there. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had a close call during a battle in Turn 4.
During his discussion in the print media pen, the Red Bull driver revealed he was quite puzzled by the call to the Stewards’ office:
“The thing is that nothing happened. We didn’t even touch. That’s the thing. For me, it’s a bit difficult to understand why we had the investigation after the race.”
Additionally, Verstappen shared some details on the F1 Hungarian GP incident with Hamilton, as well as what events took place in the post-race hearing. He believed the Briton did not care about the manoeuvre, seeing as Hamilton did not even show up there himself.
“Lewis was not there, but we explained our sides of the story. I don’t think Lewis actually felt a lot for it. Because if he really felt something for it, then of course he’s there in the Stewards’ room.
“I think both of us didn’t have the best of weekends anyway. That’s just one little thing. The more important thing is that we have to look at our performance, which was not good.”
The importance of the Stewards’ meeting
Before he discussed whether that summoning was actually helpful, the Dutchman gave his perspective on the moment between him and Hamilton that warranted the meeting. Furthermore, Verstappen went on to highlight that no contact happened between the #1 and #44 cars during the F1 Hungarian GP.
“Nothing. I went for a move up the inside, because it’s a fast corner. But with downforce, you’re a bit more under control anyway. I think he realised very late that I was up the inside there. He turned out of it a little bit and then, of course, went off the track. That was it. We didn’t touch. Nothing happened.”
As for the meetings themselves, Max Verstappen avoided giving out a definitive ‘yes or no’ answer. Instead, he pointed out the confusing aspect of the issue, especially since there was no damage done to either car.
“I don’t know. I think the problem is that we have so many rules, of course. It’s always a complicated matter. It’s not always super clear with things. Always a bit weird that you have to go to the stewards for something that you didn’t have even a contact or whatever.”
Race strategy and hardships
Unable to fix the problems during those FP sessions, both Verstappen and Tsunoda had to rely on strategy to save their F1 Hungarian GP. While his teammate had an even worse outcome, finishing P17, the Dutchman was up ahead. However, this meant he had to deal with a lot more traffic.
Verstappen was stuck behind Liam Lawson, whose Racing Bulls’ car performed very well. The Red Bull driver never got close to passing.
“This weekend, we just didn’t have a fast car. That’s the problem,” was Max Verstappen’s explanation for the unusual difficulties in overtaking the Kiwi.
The tyre strategy during the F1 Hungarian GP also posed some confusion in terms of the high degradation of Verstappen’s RB21. Red Bull Racing decided to pit their #1 driver early, outside the projected pit window. To clarify this decision, the Dutchman explained that the team tried their hand at both an undercut and some added grip:
“I think a combination of the two, because I didn’t feel good on the tyres anyway, and the grip was just sliding around a lot. I got stuck in too much traffic. The problem was that even with newer tyres, I just didn’t have the low-speed grip.
“Everyone was just pulling away from me in all the low-speed corners, and I couldn’t really attack anything. It just made everything really difficult.”
