Max Verstappen saw few bright spots on Sunday after his poor weekend in Hungary. The Dutchman started eighth and finished ninth. The race was won by Lando Norris.
“There’s not much to make of it,” said the 27-year-old Verstappen in the Hungaroring paddock. From the Red Bull driver’s attitude, who had just visited the stewards, it could be seen that he wanted to leave the circuit as soon as possible. “It was terrible, but it has been all weekend. So in that respect, I’m not surprised.”
Verstappen never had a chance for a good result. In his first stint, he was stuck behind Gabriel Bortoleto, causing Red Bull to bring him in earlier than planned. As a result, Verstappen got stuck in traffic and lost a lot of time.
“Maybe it would have been better to continue longer in hindsight, but it was also difficult to estimate how long the tires would last. If you’re doing so badly all weekend, you don’t have good information either.”
Even on new tires, Verstappen had difficulty. “I couldn’t attack the corners, the car was sliding all over the place. It was worthless. Whatever we tried, nothing worked.”
To his annoyance, Verstappen also had to report to the stewards because of an incident with Lewis Hamilton. “Anyway, I think it’s a shame that I still have to go there after the race, just judge that during the Grand Prix,” said Verstappen.
“And besides, there was actually no incident at all. I put my nose next to Lewis’ car. We didn’t touch each other. He was startled by that and shot off the track. Whether I finish ninth, tenth or eleventh really doesn’t matter to me.”
The good news for Verstappen is that he can now go on vacation for a few weeks. “I was already looking forward to that anyway, regardless of the result of this weekend. This result does not come as a surprise, given the problems we have had all year.”
Verstappen was also able to put his poor result into perspective at the end of his international press talk. “I have also experienced a lot of good results in the past four years. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes badly.”