Max Verstappen refutes 'surprise' Red Bull verdict

Max Verstappen does not believe it is a "surprise" that he has failed to score a podium finish in the past four rounds of the F1 season

The Red Bull driver has not reached the rostrum since the Canadian Grand Prix, his longest run without a top-three finish since 2019, when he twice went three rounds without a trophy.

Having finished a lowly ninth in the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, the four-time F1 drivers' champion insisted that, given the difficulties the Milton Keynes squad is experiencing with the RB21, such a run of form is to be expected.

The situation was particularly painful at the Hungaroring, where Red Bull's usually trusty Friday night turnaround failed to salvage its weekend.

It has left the Dutchman 97 points adrift of Oscar Piastri in the drivers' championship standings, with Helmut Marko now joining the 27-year-old in conceding his title aspirations are done for the year.

"It’s not a surprise, of course, if we look at the problems that we are having," Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365.

"I think at the other end [of the spectrum], for like, four years, I’ve had really a lot of good results, also.

"So, it comes and goes, success."

What was the issue in Hungary?

Breaking down where the RB21 was struggling in Hungary, Verstappen maintained that strategy would not have alleviated any of his underperformance, in a race in which he finished lower than his eighth-place starting position.

"The whole weekend, we were just really slow," the 65-time grand prix winner explained.

"We just struggled a lot for grip and low speed, medium speed, and, yeah, that was also the problem in the race.

"Whatever we would have done, staying out long, doing what we did, I think we would have been struggling anyway."