46 thousandths, a blow to the steering wheel and a lot of frustration. The Hungarian qualifications of Max Verstappen and Red Bull hide a deeper meaning than the rankings can indicate, with those almost 5 hundredths that divide the Dutchman from the first position, in which Oscar Piastri also inserted himself in the other McLaren.
On the eve of the weekend, in fact, Verstappen himself had defined the Hungarian Grand Prix as a crucial stage for the world championship, perhaps not so much in terms of pure classification, but because it would indicate the way for the rest of the championship. Red Bull, in fact, had shown up with the most important package of technical innovations brought up to this point of the season, also including completely revised sidepods in many of its aspects.
There was therefore great curiosity to understand what the potential of this updated RB20 could be, especially considering that in recent months McLaren has made considerable progress, arriving at having a car capable of easily competing for victory on any type of track and in any weather conditions.
The cars of the top three qualifiers Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, pole man Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Speaking after qualifying, the three-time world champion did not hide his frustration, as he admitted he expected more from the updates. While it is true that the Budapest track is more suited to the characteristics of the MCL38 than the RB20, highlighting in particular the great strides made by McLaren in improving some of the car’s critical points, including the precision of the front end in long corners, Verstappen highlighted some critical aspects of the Red Bull that do not seem to have been fully resolved.
“We have brought some updates, but it is still not enough, so I am frustrated. I was hoping to do more with these updates. In the past races, whether it is a track with fast or slow corners, whether it is hot or cold, we have been beaten in terms of pure pace,” explained the Hasselt driver speaking after qualifying.
“On Thursday I called this weekend crucial, so I’m frustrated, I expected more. The updates work, our new features have always worked, but they’re just not the step forward we were hoping for.”
Basically, there are two problems: on the one hand, the lack of pure performance, but on the other, the feeling of always having to be on the limit, because over the course of the season it has become increasingly difficult to find the ideal balance, due to some problems both related to the complexity of the RB20 and the setups that came out of the simulator. In the first races of the season, as explained by Verstappen, the Red Bull seemed to be a simpler car to set up than the RB19, but as the championship went on, the limits emerged, especially in terms of balance.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
On several occasions the team was forced to throw away the preparation work done in the factory and have to start the search for the setup directly on the track, effectively wasting part of Friday. The Dutchman, in fact, hoped not only that this package could guarantee better performance, but also that it would make it easier to find the ideal balance during the weekend, so as to be able to work on the details from FP1 instead of having to take a step back to understand how to make the RB20 more comfortable and less on the limit.
“This year I feel like I’m more on the limit than last year. My laps were good,” underlined Verstappen, who on Thursday had mentioned how this aspect was also penalising Perez, who is struggling with a complex moment due to this difficulty in managing the RB20 at the limit.
“Our car is difficult to drive. The McLaren is on the whole front row, so you know that car is really fast. It’s difficult for us to find a good balance with the car. It’s very easy to go over the limit and lose a lot of time straight away.”
“We tried a lot of things this weekend. Of course, it will be much warmer in the race and you can learn more from the updates, but I don’t think it will make a big difference compared to McLaren in terms of absolute speed.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
When asked if everyone on the team was as frustrated as he was about the situation, Max stressed that someone on the team should take note of the situation and start doing things differently to shake things up.
“Not everyone, I think. They know I don’t make excuses, I’m always very realistic about these things. Maybe not everyone in the team is on the same page. I think maybe some people need to wake up a little bit now. There’s no need to go into detail about who that is.”
“I’m thinking about the world championship. It’s not like I’m going back to my camper and telling myself that everything is fine. No, I’m frustrated and I’m not happy with how things are going at the moment. I know that 12 races can be very long.”
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