The Red Bull 'trend' offering Max Verstappen Hungarian GP hope

Sebastien Buemi believes there is a chance Red Bull can be competitive at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, based on how it performed in Monaco.

The very high-downforce nature of the Hungaroring is widely expected to suit Ferrari and Mercedes, and it was one of Red Bull's weakest circuits last season.

Red Bull was also expected to struggle earlier this year at the Monaco Grand Prix; however, Max Verstappen qualified on the front row ahead of both Ferraris and showed exceptional pace.

A reliability issue forced him to retire on the opening lap, leaving a key question unanswered as to whether he could have challenged Kimi Antonelli for the win.

Nevertheless, while Red Bull is still working to understand the RB22's behaviour, its simulator driver believes there is hope the "trend" can continue this weekend.

Asked if the Hungaroring will suit the RB22, Buemi told RacingNews365 during an interview: "Not sure, we'll see. We are still discovering a little bit how the car behaves in high-downforce and low-downforce configurations. 

"I mean, if you look in hindsight, in Monaco Max qualified on the front row. Of course, he had that reliability issue, so we couldn't really see the race. 

"But in terms of pure one-lap pace, because you can call it a high-downforce track, he was very close to Antonelli in qualifying, like very, very close. So, if it follows the same trend, hopefully we are close again."

Hadjar's strong start

While Verstappen was forced into retirement at the last high-downforce circuit, Isack Hadjar secured fourth place.

The Frenchman has looked excellent for much of the season and was close to Verstappen throughout last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

Hadjar has settled into the role of Verstappen's team-mate superbly and is consistently extracting performance from the RB22.

Buemi has been highly impressed by the young driver, particularly by his understanding of the car and, crucially, its energy management.

Discussing Hadjar's strong start, Buemi explained: "Yeah, he's clever. He's a clever kid. There is so much more thought process behind the performance. 

"Of course, when you go to Budapest, energy management is secondary because you have enough energy, whereas at Spa you don't. So any bit of energy you use there, you need to use it the proper way because it gives you a lot of lap time, or it can make you lose a lot of lap time. 

"I feel like Isack is doing a good job understanding the car and extracting the most from it. Of course, it's nearly a different sport right now with these new rules. 

"So it's difficult to compare and give a fair comparison, but he's doing a great job."