Max Verstappen was noticeably upset by the test defeat suffered by Lewis Hamilton. Has the improved car taken a step back for Red Bull for the time being?
Max Verstappen finished fifth in the series. All weekend, Red Bull felt like it wasn’t running as confident as usual, and that backfired during the qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, as two-time world champion Lewis Hamilton edged out by 0.003 seconds.
The biggest improvements since Baku were made to the RB19 this weekend, but with the first free practice ‘canceled’ in the rain and confusion over the rules for the time trial tires, it wasn’t an ideal weekend for evaluating the new features and making them work. Verstappen admitted he was unhappy with his car on Friday and Saturday, which according to rumours, should make the new package 0.2 seconds faster on paper.
“The whole weekend was adventurous. Also a timer today. Q1 and Q2 were really tough, it was hard to be confident enough to really attack the corners.”
“My first turn in the third quarter felt pretty good, but I didn’t feel it again in the second. I tried to push harder, and in this case the front and back sag.”
The defending champion didn’t even try to hide his disappointment over the defeat.
“It’s totally… I mean, it’s still second, but I think with the car we usually have, we should be up front. But this weekend, I wasn’t there yet.”
Asked if the developments were the cause of the problem, he said: “I think the development is working, but we just couldn’t put everything together in terms of settings. We didn’t get what we expected.”
Max Verstappen (Photo: XPB)Right now, the situation is reminiscent of last year’s fast weekends in Austria and Brazil, where insufficient preparation for Red Bull put them on the wrong track. They haven’t suffered defeat yet, they have a chance to win the 12th race in the series from second place, but they can’t be sure of their work.
“It depends a little bit on the temperature. It’s going to be very hot, which is usually difficult with the rear tyres. I think everything will get a little more precise in the race, but I was hoping for a little better balance in the time trial, so I can attack.” – said Verstappen, looking a little at the competition.
