Max Verstappen punched his Red Bull steering wheel in frustration after qualifying third behind the McLarens for the Hungarian Grand Prix – with F1’s world champion describing his car as “still not fast enough” despite a fresh round of upgrades this weekend.
In a Hungaroring qualifying hour complicated by rain and two red flags, Verstappen was denied a place on Sunday’s front row by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri with the McLaren drivers putting their in-form team in control of at least the start of the 70-lap race on a circuit where overtaking is difficult.
Verstappen still came within a whisker of the front row – he finished just 0.024s behind second-placed Piastri and 0.046s adrift of pole-sitter Norris – on a weekend so far dominated by the rapid McLarens and on-board footage from the end of the Dutchman’s final Q3 lap showed the championship leader slapping his steering wheel with his hand.
Asked after qualifying what had led him to do that, a characteristically frank Verstappen told Sky Sports: “I’m frustrated just because we are not fast enough, and it has been for a while like that.
“This weekend we brought quite a few upgrades to the car and we’re still not fast enough. So, yeah, if I’m not showing emotions anymore than I don’t care about myself, – so I do care a lot.
“So just frustrating. I felt like I tried everything I could to try and get pole, I know it’s very important around here also and for the championship, and we just lacked pace again.”
Since threatening to continue their dominance of F1 from last season at the start of this year with four wins in the opening five races, Red Bull have seen their rivals consistently close down their long-held pace advantage and, on the evidence of Saturday at the Hungaroring with McLaren, wipe it out completely.
That turnaround has occurred despite Red Bull continuing to bring regular upgrades to their RB20, including a relatively significant package of updates this weekend at the Hungaroring.
“I was hoping for more performance, but it is what it is,” said Verstappen when asked about this latest upgrade.
“Maybe we didn’t optimise it, I don’t know, but we’ll see in the coming races.”
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen added: “For sure they work but they’re still not first, right? So we need more, it’s as simple as that.
“Looking back at my qualifying I was very happy with the laps but balance-wise everything seems to be on the edge.
“I’m pushing as hard as I can and then of course you have little moments here and there. I feel like I probably push harder than last year but it’s just not coming anymore to have these great lap times. So I guess it just means we are a bit slower, so we have work to do. As simple as that.”
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule
Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime