Max Verstappen finished ninth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, marking the second-worst streak of results since he started racing for Red Bull. Verstappen complained about the lack of grip, but the team reassured him, saying the problem will not recur because it is limited to the Hungaroring circuit.
Red Bull is currently facing its worst moment in several years. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was unable to finish higher than ninth place, even being beaten by the Red Bull-affiliated Racing Point driver Liam Lawson, who was recently demoted from the Milton Keynes team.
The RB21 — or more precisely, the RB21 car number 1 — never showed any real competitiveness at the Hungaroring, revealing itself as only the fifth-strongest car on the track if we consider that Sauber delivered more consistent performances between qualifying and the race.
This represents a step backward at a crucial point in the season, especially since the team had introduced important updates to the car over recent races that unfortunately did not perform as expected. From being the clear second-best team, the RB21 has now become the consistent fourth force, regularly surpassed by both Ferrari and Mercedes.
What is particularly worrying for Max Verstappen is that he has recorded his second-worst streak of results since 2017, namely four consecutive finishes off the podium (a retirement in Austria, fifth place at Silverstone, fourth place at Spa-Francorchamps, and ninth in Hungary). The only worse streak happened eight years ago, lasting 12 consecutive races (starting from the Bahrain Grand Prix in April and ending with the victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix in early October). That was Verstappen’s second year as a Red Bull full-time driver.
“Simply put, this weekend we were always very, too slow,” Max Verstappen said at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“I think the problem in the race was a combination of factors, starting with strategy and ending with the tires. I didn’t feel comfortable with the tires. I had no grip and was sliding everywhere. Then I got stuck in a lot of traffic.”
“I even had the problem with new tires. We had zero grip in the slow corners. Every time everyone else was pulling away in those types of corners, I couldn’t follow them. I couldn’t attack anyone. This made everything very difficult.”
Regarding tires, Helmut Marko gave his opinion on what happened in Budapest: “It was one of the most complicated weekends. Throughout the entire event, we were unable to keep the tires within the right operating window. Max managed to do it for a few laps and had the pace of the best, but then all of that disappeared.”
“Certainly, the situation was partly due to the characteristics of the track, but we think we have already understood what went wrong.”
Marko also believes that a one-stop strategy would have been better to help Max recover positions: “I think one stop would have been the best, the fastest option. As we saw, it is very difficult to overtake on this track, but I think in the end it wouldn’t have made a huge difference. Maybe we could have finished sixth or seventh.”
Laurent Mekies shares the same view. The Red Bull team principal said that, in his opinion, the problems experienced at the Hungaroring will remain isolated to Budapest: “I also think it’s a problem limited to this track. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the car has a narrow operating window. Even though we were outside the window, I am confident because this weekend we did several tests, including during the race, and I believe this is a problem that will not recur on other circuits.”
Although the team reassured Max Verstappen by attributing the tire issues solely to the Hungaroring, Verstappen himself was not so optimistic about the future: “It’s a little too easy to say that [what Marko said]. But we will check.” This internal disagreement seems to be yet another crack in a team structure that was dominant until the middle of last season but now appears as a giant with feet of clay. Max Verstappen will continue at Milton Keynes in 2026, but to keep him, Red Bull will have to do much, much more.
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