In an underwhelming race weekend at the Hungarian GP, Max Verstappen started at eighth to bring the car home in ninth.
2025 has been a challenging year for Red Bull despite flashes of brilliance. The team sits fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Throughout the season so far, lead driver Max Verstappen has made complaints about the car not being up to the standard required to challenge for wins.
This weekend, he deemed the car undrivable due to balance and grip issues. In post-qualifying interviews, he went as far as to comment that he did not foresee another race win this season at the team’s current performance level.
Between personnel changes and the inability to produce a race-winning car, it is turning out to be a mixed year for the Milton Keynes-based team.
“No grip, just struggling a lot”
Speaking to media in post-race interviews, Verstappen spoke on his struggles with the car and his view on the weekend in general, saying, “Yeah, I mean, like my whole weekend, just no grip, just struggling a lot” he continued, emphasising, “Yeah, not how we want to be, but yeah, I knew it was going to be a tough, tough day.”
Fortunately or unfortunately for Verstappen and the team, they will have the opportunity over the break to go away, reassess and come back stronger. Asked about his mindset heading into the summer break, however, he did not seem very hopeful. “It’s fine”, he said. Despite this, he insisted that his and the team’s efforts to recover would continue. “I mean, yeah, it’s been a tough week, but yeah, just keep trying, keep working, keep understanding, of course, also our weaker spots and then try to improve on them.”
Just an incident?
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Verstappen spoke about the racing incident that ensued between him and Lewis Hamilton. In a battle for P11, Verstappen was challenging for the place, but a risky dive into turn 4 led Hamilton to run wide to avoid a severe crash between the two. Verstappen took the place; however, the Race Stewards placed the incident under investigation.
Verstappen commented, implying a post-race investigation was unnecessary, stating, “That’s the thing. So, for me, it’s a bit difficult to understand why we have the investigation after the race.” He went on, illustrating his and the team’s approach, saying, “We explained our side – well, Lewis is not there, but we explained our sides of the story. I don’t think Lewis actually felt a lot for it because if he really felt something for it, then of course he’s there in the stewards’ room, right?“
The final verdict and the way forward
Lewis’s absence, as well as both drivers having relatively unremarkable results, caused Verstappen to call into question the necessity for the investigation. However, the claim remains contestable, as Hamilton finished in P12, while Verstappen still managed to gain a few points in P9. Verstappen concluded by stating, “I think both of us didn’t have the best of weekends anyway, so that’s just one little thing. “The more important thing is that we have to look at our performance, which was not good.”
Ultimately, the stewards declared they would take no further action on the incident on the basis of their assessment. Both drivers have suffered a long first half of the season and will be looking to put all their woes behind them and hopefully come back stronger.
