As issues with the RB21 prevailed during the F1 Hungarian GP Qualifying, Max Verstappen did his best to take up a place in the top 10, finishing P8. This low result does not come as a shock to Red Bull Racing. Especially considering the three FP sessions showed the Dutchman struggling. A problem with grip of the car caused a complete loss of pace. As a result, the car kept oversteering in one corner to understeering in the other.
Nevertheless, Max Verstappen will surely try his absolute best to make up track positions on Sunday. The Red Bull driver had quite a rough season in 2025. Coming up with only 185 points at the last race before summer break, he sits at a 65-point deficit from second place in the standings. Moreover, the current world champion had issues with the RB21 throughout all sessions this weekend.
The champion’s frustrated point of view
While many wondered whether that Red Bull would figure out the RB21’s problems and fix it before qualifying, that was not the case. Verstappen complained on multiple occasions during the F1 Hungarian GP sessions that being out on track felt like “driving on ice”. Furthermore, this sentiment lasted in Qualifying, where the Dutchman was almost knocked out in Q1 and Q2.
“I mean, looking at the whole weekend, I think we are happy to be in Q3. Because I’ve been more outside of the top ten than in, so…”
Max Verstappen went on to explain the grim circumstances of his F1 Hungarian GP weekend. Irritated, the Red Bull driver pointed out the lack of grip, which caused this poor result.
“Yeah, it’s been difficult this whole weekend, no grip. Front and rear. And it was the same in qualifying, so for me it was not really a shock, I just drove to what I already felt the whole weekend.”
Additionally, no solution seemed to work for Red Bull Racing. According to the Dutchman, his team could not identify the cause of this major problem:
“No, clearly not. I mean, otherwise we would have changed it already, but somehow this weekend nothing seems to work.”
Similar problems last year at the Hungaroring
The Hungaroring holds quite a bad track record for RBR. Last year, the team also faced struggles, yet they recovered quickly. However, Verstappen does not think this aspect matters much for this year’s F1 Hungarian GP. The Dutchman talked about the clear difference between the two seasons, expanding on the drivability issue in 2025.
“But I think we still qualified very close to pole, like within a few hundredths. So I think we were a lot more competitive back then. This weekend, already, from lap one, it just felt off.
Despite all their attempts to identify the problem, nothing came to light. Consequently, Max Verstappen was quite powerless in the matter, “going around in circles”.
Unlike other times, this particular F1 Hungarian GP has Verstappen and the whole team in the dark.
“We threw the car around a lot, and nothing really gave a direction. And that, of course, is the biggest problem. Because normally when you use or you change a lot on the side of it, it will always give you positives or negatives.
“And now it’s just that nothing works. It’s like just going around in circles, and nothing gives you any kind of idea of what to do.”
Lack of hope for post-summer break
While every driver and team has some misfortune during a race weekend or two, they usually come back stronger. Yet, this does not seem to be the case for the Dutchman. Seeing as his F1 Hungarian GP looks to be a thorn in his side, Verstappen is not expecting any major improvement for the rest of the season.
“I mean, we’re not really fighting anymore in a championship battle, right? So we’re just trying to have good weekends here and there. But this has clearly been a bad one so far.”
Max Verstappen expanded om his struggles, emphasising the general lack of balance that ruined any chances of a good result.
“It’s not been a single lap or a single corner that has felt good. So the whole weekend so far has just been sliding.
“I never thought that it would be the strongest weekend for us here. But I think no one expected it [to be this bad],” added Verstappen.
Disappointing prospects for Sunday
Seeing as the Dutchman qualified in P8 for the race, Verstappen does not believe there will be much overtaking happening. With both McLaren and Ferrari being strong this weekend, the Red Bull driver was surprised to see his ex-rival, Lewis Hamilton, so low on the starting grid.
Nonetheless, Max Verstappen keeps his hopes low for the F1 Hungarian GP. However, he is expecting Hamilton to recover and the possibility of some battles.
“I mean, there may be a few cars in front of me that can maybe battle a little bit. But of course also Lewis is still a bit further down the road, which I think he shouldn’t be there, right? So he will come through a bit. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
In terms of a magical turnaround for Red Bull Racing, all Verstappen had to reply to that was “Not this weekend”.
Yet, the Dutchman refrained from calling this Grand Prix his worst weekend in the last couple of years. Throwing in a lighthearted joke about his Singapore GP experiences, Verstappen did admit that the lack of understanding is the biggest issue of the F1 Hungarian GP:
“If we knew, we would have changed things, and we would have been more competitive, right? That’s always a good thing.
“I mean, we have quite a few Singapore disasters. So, yeah, this has not been a good one.”
