Max Verstappen claims “nothing works” for Red Bull at tough Hungarian GP

Max Verstappen has lamented the regression Red Bull has taken compared to last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix as he qualified only eighth for Sunday’s Formula 1 contest – claiming “nothing works”.

The reigning, four-time world champion qualified third at the Hungaroring last year, but has been far from the frontrunners this weekend and was three tenths off polesitter Charles Leclerc in Q3.

His poor qualifying wasn’t a surprise either, as Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in Q1 and Verstappen did not finish a practice session above ninth in Budapest.

“We were a lot more competitive back then,” said Verstappen. “This weekend, already from lap one, it just felt off. We threw the car around a lot, nothing really gave a direction.

“That is the biggest problem. Normally, when you change a lot on the side of it, it will always give you positives or negatives. Now, nothing works. It’s like going around in circles. Nothing gives you any kind of idea of what to do.”

Then, when asked if Red Bull had identified how to fix the problem, Verstappen replied: “No, clearly not. Otherwise we would have changed it already. Somehow, this weekend, nothing seems to work.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

It is for that reason Verstappen was content with reaching Q3, adding to a disappointing season for the reigning champion, who is third in the standings and 81 points off leader Oscar Piastri.

“Looking at the whole weekend, I think we are happy to be in Q3,” said the Dutchman. “Because I’ve been more outside of the top 10 than in.

“It’s been difficult this whole weekend. No grip, front and rear. It was the same in qualifying. For me, it was not really a shock. I just drove to what I already feel the whole weekend.”

Although 2025 has not been Verstappen’s most successful season, he has still been in the fight at times, and enjoyed moments like beating the title-contending McLaren drivers to a sprint win last weekend in Belgium.

So his Hungarian GP qualifying result left Verstappen surprised by how much Red Bull has struggled this weekend, with Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Sauber all beating him.

“No, not like this,” said Verstappen, when asked if he expected these struggles. “I never thought that it would be the strongest weekend for us here. But I think no one expected it.

“We’re not fighting anymore in a championship battle. You just try to have good weekends here and there. This has clearly been a bad one so far.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

But when discussing what he can achieve in Sunday’s race, Verstappen pointed out he wasn’t the only driver out of position, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton down in 12th on the grid.

“There are a few cars in front of me that I can maybe battle with a little bit,” said Verstappen, who will share row four with Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

“But also Lewis is still a bit further down the road, I think he shouldn’t be there. So he will come through a bit. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”