‘They Are Stronger in Race Than..’: Max Verstappen Doesn’t See Much Hope From Hungary After McLaren’s Dominant Showdown

Red Bull brought a plethora of upgrades to the Hungarian GP weekend. With McLaren steadily reducing their lead in both championships, the Austrian team were hoping for a major step forward in performance from this upgrade package. However, the package didn’t seem to work as both McLaren cars qualified on the front row. Now, Max Verstappen has come out with the harsh verdict of being slower than McLaren in the race as well.

“We’d hope so but I don’t know at the moment. They’ve been, from my feeling, even stronger in the race than qualifying” said Verstappen, while speaking with Lawrence Barretto, as heard on BBC’s F1: Chequered Flag podcast. He added, “So, I tried to set up the car a bit towards the race but I don’t know if it’s going to be enough”.

Hungaroring is a tough track to overtake on given the tight & twisty nature of the circuit. Verstappen will start the Grand Prix in P3 behind Norris and Piastri as he missed out on pole by half a tenth. Although McLaren has been the better car for some time now, Verstappen’s skill and persistence has helped him fend off their danger.

However, it feels the water is over Verstappen’s head now, who despite trying his best wasn’t able to better Norris’ banker lap in Q3. The frustration was evident as the Dutchman punched his steering wheel after the lap. When asked about the same, Verstappen confirmed that it was out of frustration of not being the fastest. 

The massive upgrade package was reported to be focused on adding downforce and helping with the slow-speed corners. However, Verstappen’s struggles suggest that the package is either not working or isn’t optimized.

Verstappen slams Red Bull for dreadful Hungarian GP pace despite big upgrades

Verstappen has been winning races in a Red Bull car that is no longer the fastest. The Dutchman warned the team last month that his pushing beyond the limit consistently will have consequences if they don’t improve their pace.

Sergio Perez crashed in Q1 trying to push the car and get a lap time good enough to secure a spot in Q2. Verstappen also had a huge slide coming out of the final corner on his final Q3 lap. The RB20 doesn’t seem like a car handling smoothly for the drivers.

Amid all this, Verstappen voiced his concern about the upgrades. According to Telegraaf.nl, he said, “I think maybe some people need to wake up a bit. It’s not all very bad, but if you want to be World Champion it has to be better than this”.

McLaren is only 78 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship. If the RB20’s struggles continue along with Perez’s dismal form, it’s difficult to see the Milton Keynes outfit winning the championship.