Verstappen: Qualifying flattered us and we “need more”

Red Bull accelerated their development programme to bring their latest upgrade package three weeks earlier than planned in reaction to the threat posed by McLaren.

But after being beaten by both MCL38s, today Max Verstappen admitted the team need to do more to close the gap.

“For sure they work, but we’re still not first, right?” was Verstappen’s verdict on the team’s latest upgrade for its RB20.

“So we need more. It’s as simple as that.”

Verstappen lapped 1.3 seconds quicker than he managed at the same track a year ago, which is a greater improvement than most teams managed. However McLaren have found more, and Verstappen said he was at his limit trying to wring the most from his car.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“Looking back at my qualifying, I was very happy with the laps, but balance-wise everything is really on the edge,” he said in the FIA press conference after qualifying. “I’m pushing as hard as I can.

“Then, of course, you have little moments here and there. I feel like I probably pushed harder than I did last year, but it’s just not coming anymore to have these great lap times.

“I guess it just means that we are a bit slower. So we have work to do. Simple as that.”

He ended qualifying less than five-hundredths of a second slower than both McLaren drivers, who claimed the front row of the grid. However Verstappen pointed out he had the benefit of being able to complete both his flying laps on new soft tyres in Q3, which the McLaren drivers were unable to do because of Yuki Tsunoda’s crash, and therefore the true gap between them is likely even larger.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“The gap looks small but I also got two laps in with two sets of tyres where Lando, of course, only had one,” he told the official F1 channel. “So I don’t think it is a realistic gap also, if he would have had another set of tyres.”

Red Bull’s latest upgrade is intended to suit high-downforce circuits like the Hungaroring. However it was unable to beat the McLaren, which has been consistently competitive across a range of circuits.

Verstappen said it will be difficult for Red Bull to make significant gains with its car over the second half of the year. “We are pushing as hard as we can, but clearly at the moment it’s still not how we want it to be,” he said.

“We’ll continue to do so, we’ll try to find more performance. But I’m also well aware that that’s not very easy to find suddenly throughout the season, with things already just planned, and just the way the car is.

“We’ll see. There are many races, there are a lot of things that can happen in qualifying with conditions, stuff like that. So we just need to stay focused and do the best we can every single time and optimise our performances.”

The team which locked out the front row of the grid at Silverstone two weeks ago, Mercedes, weren’t in the hunt at the Hungaroring. It would have been in a stronger position had George Russell not slipped up in Q1 and dropped out, though it remains to be seen whether they would have beaten Ferrari. Neither was on the level of the top two teams, however.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

There was some encouragement for Aston Martin which brought a significant upgrade package to Hungary and were the fifth-quickest team in qualifying. Sauber also appear to have benefited from their upgrade, while Alpine’s poor showing was exacerbated by their Q1 blunder which saw both drivers drop out as they failed to set times as the track dried.

Sector times and ultimate laps

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

This year’s pole position time was 1.3 seconds faster than last year, but still the best part of two seconds slower than the all-time record for this configuration.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2024 Hungarian Grand Prix

Browse all 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix articles