Verstappen comes out fighting in face of Red Bull dip

Max Verstappen has told McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri that he is up for the “fight” the two locked out the front-row at the Hungarian Grand Prix. 

As Red Bull continues to try and arrest the relative slump in performance it has endured in recent races, McLaren has emerged as the nearest competitors, although the team has not always been able to capitalise on opportunities. 

The MCL38 is widely regarded as the fastest machine in F1, with Norris and Piastri locking out the front-row with both McLarens for the first time since Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen will slot in behind the cars which have shown to have a superior race pace to the RB20 throughout practice, but the three-time world champion, who leads Norris by 84 points in the standings is up for the challenge.

“I have tried the whole weekend, but we have been a little bit behind and that was also the case in qualifying,” Verstappen explained.

“I tried to make it as close as possible, but unfortunately it was just enough and it is difficult to pinpoint why that is.

 “I love competition, but I would like to be on top of the competition and at the moment, I feel like we are chasing and having a few more difficult weekends.

“But I don’t back out of a fight but, we are just in a tricky situation.”

Verstappen’s McLaren chase

The Dutchman will share the second-row with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, with the Red Bull enjoying a significant advantage over the SF-24 in race pace, meaning his attention, provided the start is clean will be on attacking the two McLarens.

However, he is at a disability as McLaren can use both cars for strategic reasons to defeat Verstappen whose team-mate Sergio Perez will be 16th at best following a big qualifying accident.

“In the last few races, the McLaren has been really good in the race, even compared to qualifying,” Verstappen said.

“I would have liked a bit more grip, but it is not there at the moment but P3 is still very close and I just that the car is good in the race and at least we can follow [the McLarens] and see what we can do. 

“But today was a lot colder than expected with the clouds and a bit of rain, and the race will be quite different, and I just hope that helps us.”