Red Bull in trouble in Hungary, Verstappen speaks of a « mystery »

It’s been a complicated weekend for Red Bull in Hungary so far. The four-time world champion Max Verstappen will start only eighth this Sunday, after his worst qualifying session of the season. The reason: an unruly car that’s difficult to balance, far from the usual standards of the Austrian team.

We didn’t seem to find the solution. We tried a lot of things as a team and unfortunately nothing really improved our balance, acknowledged the Dutchman. It’s really difficult to explain how, suddenly, this weekend, we have so many difficulties with the car. There’s simply no grip at the front, no grip at the rear, difficult to find a balance. It’s a bit of a mystery for now. All weekend, we were off the pace.

The Red Bull driver admits to having tried everything, in vain: « It was not a great weekend and nothing really worked from start to finish. […] We didn’t have a good pace today and tomorrow it will be difficult to overtake the cars in front, but you never know what can happen. »

Tsunoda eliminated in Q1

On his side, Yuki Tsunoda did not do better than 16th place. Eliminated in Q1, he nonetheless limited the gap to just one-tenth compared to his teammate during the first timed laps. The Japanese driver points to a lack of preparation in free practice and mediocre feelings at the wheel:

« I think that, overall, this weekend, we had difficulties as a team. […] [The car] is sliding everywhere. I think that’s about it. The grip we should normally have isn’t there and there’s probably something we’re completely missing.

Despite everything, the driver said he was satisfied with his own performance: « Personally, I can be quite satisfied with my performance in qualifying. I stayed close to Max all weekend and that’s a positive point for me. I didn’t make any mistakes in the session and only missed Q2 by a few thousandths of a second. We’ll see tomorrow, it’s not easy to overtake here but anything can happen with the changing conditions announced. »

Note that <a href=/f1/news/37283-why-yuki-tsunoda-will-start-from-the-pit-lane-for-the-hungarian-grand-prix.html target="_blank" title=Why Yuki Tsunoda will start from the pit lane for the Hungarian Grand Prix?

The Japanese driver, however, will start from the pit lane after changes to the elements of his car's engine.

Mekies: « Not the car our drivers wanted »

The team director, Laurent Mekies, did not hide his concern yesterday after these weak performances but wants to remain constructive:

« We haven’t had an ideal weekend so far and struggled to get the car into the right window, including in qualifying. Grip has been a problem since the start of free practice. […] We tried a lot of things on both cars, with Yuki and Max, and it’s fair to say we didn’t give our drivers the car they wanted. Did we find the solution? No, but we now have a lot of data to understand what’s wrong. […] Max qualified in Q3 quite impressively despite our difficulties, and his position probably reflects the reality of our level this weekend. »