Verstappen

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB16 on track during qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 18, 2020 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Frustrated Verstappen at a loss to explain Red Bull’s woes

Verstappen qualified seventh for the Hungarian Grand Prix struggling to come close to replicating his 2019 hot lap at the course that earned him pole position.

Verstappen

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB16 on track during qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 18, 2020 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has cut a frustrated figure at the Hungaroring this weekend.

Verstappen qualified seventh for the Hungarian Grand Prix struggling to come close to replicating his 2019 hot lap at the course that earned him pole position.

Verstappen at a loss

He remains committed to getting the most out of the race but hopes for improved performance from the car in the upcoming races.

“I don’t know why [the car behaves like this],” he told Sky Sports after the end of qualifying. “Clearly something is not working compared to last year when we had a really good balance on this track.

“It’s definitely not looking great,” he continued. “But I hope this is going to be our worst weekend. We’ll hopefully learn a lot from this and rectify a bit of it in the upcoming races.”

The heavy rain that marred Friday afternoon’s practice robbed Red Bull of an opportunity to rectify issues with the car and it is unclear how the machine will handle on Sunday.

“The whole week was very tricky and it’s hard to understand,” Verstappen sighed. “We just don’t have good balance throughout the corner.

“Understeer, oversteer, lack of grip. Not having a lot of top speed as well. So everything together just makes it slow.

“I don’t think it’s the set-up, because then I would be blaming my engineer which I think is not the case,” he added. “So no, it’s not set-up related.

“We tried a lot of things but it still doesn’t really work. So of course, a really disappointing qualification.”

Red Bull off the pace

The qualifying session hangs over the race for Red Bull though after Verstappen was forced to set his best time with a set of compound tires on while the cars on the front two rows of the grid have their longer-wearing medium tyres fitted.

“We’re not starting on the better tyre for the race, but it is what it is,” Verstappen shrugged. “The pace [of all teams] is all really close, so we have to wait and see.

“I’ll try to do the best I can and see where we end up, but of course it’s going to be quite tricky to overtake here anyway.”

Verstappen did not take kindly to comments from Williams driver George Russell who earlier this week suggested the Red Bull team were making Alex Albon, who qualified 13th, look like an idiot.

“George doesn’t know anything about the team so I think it’s better he just focuses on his car and his performance instead of speaking for someone else,” Verstappen snapped when asked about those comments.