05/08/2025 08:20
Max Verstappen has revealed the crucial problem Red Bull endured
during the Hungarian Grand Prix, in which he could only salvage two
points. The Hungaroring was a disaster for the Milton Keynes-based
outfit, with Verstappen having started in eighth whilst Yuki
Tsunoda began in the pit lane. A new power unit was fitted to the
Japanese driver's car after his latest Q1 exit, despite having been
just 0.163s slower than Verstappen in the first part of
qualifying. The final race before the F1 summer break was a
painful one, as Verstappen lost a position and finished in ninth.
He had looked competitive in the opening laps, but got stuck behind
Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto. An undercut at the first pit
stop was attempted by Red Bull but, ultimately, failed. It failed
for multiple reasons, not only did the four-time world champion get
stuck in traffic, he also encountered a major low speed grip issue
with his RB21. Asked if the decision to pit early was to undercut
Alonso and Bortoleto or due to tyre wear, Verstappen told select
media including RacingNews365 : "I think a combination of the two,
because I didn't feel good on the tyres anyway. "I had no grip. I
was just sliding around a lot. But then, I got stuck in too much
traffic. But the problem is 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. So, yeah, it just made everything really difficult."
Following the Hungarian struggles, Verstappen has been ruled out of
defending his drivers' title by Helmut Marko, having fallen 97
points adrift. Discussing if the focus is now on next season,
Verstappen explained: "We always want a decent finish. Of course,
the focus for everyone, I think, is already a lot on 2026. "But I
think what we need to try and achieve is have more consistent [car]
behaviours and results at the end of the day."
