“I Have a Right to Be”: Max Verstappen Justifies Anger With an Empty Threat to McLaren

While Max Verstappen is undoubtedly an excellent qualifier, he is even better on race days. In recent years whenever he hasn’t been able to take the pole position, he has yet looked quite calm before the race on Sunday. However, the Dutchman was visibly angry after securing P3 for this Sunday’s Hungarian GP and was seen hitting his steering wheel in frustration.

During the post-qualifying interviews, Verstappen was asked why he was so angry after his final lap in Q3. He revealed that he had the right to be angry because even a close-to-perfect lap is not good enough to beat the McLarens at the moment.

“Yes, I’m just not happy, and I think I have a right to be,” Verstappen replied as per F1Maximaal. “It’s just not good enough anymore. I don’t think there was much wrong with the lap, but the car is just not good enough, and too sensitive. The car is just not fast enough”.

His anger is understandable because he thought it was a perfect qualifying session for him that resulted in the starting grid position of only P3 on Sunday. And while he has been confident of his Red Bull’s race pace in the past, this time he feels like he might not have the speed to win the race.

When asked about his chances of winning the race on Sunday, he first went on to launch a threat at McLaren. Soon after, he quickly realized that he might be helpless to do anything on Sunday.

Verstappen doesn’t feel Red Bull is fast enough to win the Hungarian GP

McLaren have the upper hand over Red Bull in terms of track position for Sunday. Lando Norris is set to start from pole with his teammate Oscar Piastri beside him in P2. As for Red Bull, Sergio Perez will start all the way back from 15th, while Verstappen will be fighting the McLarens alone from P3.

When asked if he was worried that he doesn’t have his teammate to counter the McLarens, Verstappen said that it “doesn’t really bother me.” The Dutchman said that strategy means little if you have the fastest car.

“If you are faster, you will overtake them anyway. Then they can play a team game as much as they want, but that doesn’t matter,” Verstappen explained.

However, soon after the Dutchman realized that he didn’t have the fastest car even for the Grand Prix. “I don’t have the feeling that we are faster at the moment,” Verstappen added.

Verstappen admitted that McLaren was not only quicker in the qualifying trim but also in the race trim. “I don’t think we are suddenly faster in the race than in qualifying, so we’ll see,” Verstappen concluded.