The Hungarian Grand Prix weekend has so far proven to be a tough challenge for the Red Bull Formula 1 team.
Max Verstappen will start from eighth on the grid, while Yuki Tsunoda is lining up in P16. This underlines the ongoing struggles this weekend, with technical director Pierre Wache summarizing the situation as “nothing is working”.
Helmut Marko added that the Milton Keynes-based team currently didn’t have the answers as to why the RB21 was so uncompetitive at the Hungaroring.
Asked by Motorsport.com if he expected the weekend to be this difficult, Red Bull’s advisor replied: “No. I mean, that’s completely new. During the whole qualifying, we couldn’t find the necessary grip. We improved, but still, we really don’t know why.”
Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Thompson – Getty Images
“It was already difficult in Q1. Yuki was just one tenth behind Max and he didn’t make it. There was an improvement after that and I think Max did a really, really fantastic job to even get into Q3.”
A fundamental issue with the Red Bull car?
Verstappen himself told Dutch media on Saturday that he had tested plenty of set-up directions this weekend, to no avail. “We’ve tried a lot of different things, but at the moment nothing is working,” he regretted. “Of course, I have some ideas, but I can’t always talk about them publicly. We’ll just have to wait and analyse everything after the weekend.”
“In the end, it doesn’t hurt that much now because we’re not really fighting for anything anymore,” he clarified, referring to the fact that he’s realistically out of the title race.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella still refused to rule Verstappen out of the championship battle in Friday’s press conference, but reality is different — and Verstappen knows that: “I always try to do my best and pick up a few highlights this year, like the sprint win in Spa. But this weekend, unfortunately, nothing is working.”
While part of the struggles may relate to the high-downforce nature of the Hungaroring, Verstappen doesn’t want to use that as an excuse. “Last year we qualified third here, only four thousandths away from pole, so it wasn’t that difficult back then. I’m not blaming the track at all. There’s just something fundamentally wrong this weekend.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
No more wins this season?
Although Verstappen emphasized that the latter specifically applies to this race weekend, he doesn’t believe the season will take a positive turn for Red Bull after the summer break. When asked whether he could still win another race this year under normal conditions, Verstappen told Dutch media: “No, not the way things are going right now. That’s just the way it is. It’s clear.”
It may be a painful conclusion for Red Bull before the summer break has even started, but according to Verstappen, it’s the new reality. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I could get angry, but that won’t make the car any faster,” he pointed out.
Powerless against McLaren, Verstappen was admittedly surprised by Charles Leclerc’s pole position for Ferrari in Hungary.
“Charles has been quick all weekend, but that the McLarens could be beaten around here… I’ve been almost a second behind them all weekend, and suddenly in Q3 it was only three tenths,” the Dutchman pondered. “Very strange, but I’m not really focused on that. Everyone’s doing their own thing. I’ve got my own problems, and those are already bad enough.”
Regardless of this qualifying session, McLaren remains the benchmark in F1. Asked if the Woking team now had a more dominant car than Red Bull had at its peak in 2023, Verstappen gave an elusive answer: “That’s hard to judge if you haven’t driven both cars yourself. Let’s just leave it at that — otherwise we’ll get all these stories again, and honestly, I’m not really interested in that.”
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