Max Verstappen reveals crucial Red Bull problem after Hungarian horror

Max Verstappen has revealed the crucial problem Red Bull endured during the Hungarian Grand Prix, in which he could only salvage two points. 

The Hungaroring was a disaster for the Milton Keynes-based outfit, with Verstappen having started in eighth whilst Yuki Tsunoda began in the pit lane. 

A new power unit was fitted to the Japanese driver's car after his latest Q1 exit, despite having been just 0.163s slower than Verstappen in the first part of qualifying. 

The final race before the F1 summer break was a painful one, as Verstappen lost a position and finished in ninth. 

He had looked competitive in the opening laps, but got stuck behind Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto. An undercut at the first pit stop was attempted by Red Bull but, ultimately, failed. 

It failed for multiple reasons, not only did the four-time world champion get stuck in traffic, he also encountered a major low speed grip issue with his RB21.

Asked if the decision to pit early was to undercut Alonso and Bortoleto or due to tyre wear, Verstappen told select media including RacingNews365: "I think a combination of the two, because I didn't feel good on the tyres anyway. 

"I had no grip. I was just sliding around a lot. But then, I got stuck in too much traffic. But the problem is that even with newer tyres, I just didn't have the low speed grip. 

"Everyone was just pulling away from me in all the low speed corners, and I couldn't really attack anything. So, yeah, it just made everything really difficult."

Following the Hungarian struggles, Verstappen has been ruled out of defending his drivers' title by Helmut Marko, having fallen 97 points adrift. 

Discussing if the focus is now on next season, Verstappen explained: "We always want a decent finish. Of course, the focus for everyone, I think, is already a lot on 2026. 

"But I think what we need to try and achieve is have more consistent [car] behaviours and results at the end of the day."