– Although Max Verstappen finished the Hungarian Grand Prix in second position, the Red Bull driver was quite shocked by this result shortly after the race. “I just thought to myself: ‘How the hell did we end up here?'” Verstappen explains in the official press conference.
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After all, Red Bull had experienced anything but a positive weekend up to that point. From the first free practice session, Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar complained about the balance of the RB22.
Thus, the four-time world champion could only qualify in sixth position, but started in fourth position due to grid penalties for Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli.
F1: Hungarian Grand Prix (Budapest) 2026
When asked if the balance problems from free practice could be resolved, Verstappen replied after the race: “No, they were exactly the same. You can’t change anything after qualifying anyway.”
“So we knew,” Verstappen said, “that it was going to be difficult. And honestly, it was very difficult. I think, in terms of how I felt in the car and how I had to manage the balance corner by corner, it was one of the most difficult races of the year.”
Nevertheless, Verstappen managed to fight for podium places from the first lap. The Red Bull driver was already in third position on lap 2 and was able to keep both Ferrari drivers behind him.
After the first pit stops, Verstappen had briefly fallen behind Lewis Hamilton, but was able to overtake the seven-time world champion a short time later with a spectacular maneuver in the first corner.
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Although championship leader Kimi Antonelli was temporarily ahead of Verstappen due to attempting a one-stop strategy, the Mercedes driver failed to make this attempt work. Consequently, the 19-year-old had to make a second pit stop, paving the way for the Red Bull driver to second place. Piastri had meanwhile retired due to gearbox problems.
“Overall, I still don’t understand how we ended up in second place,” said the four-time world champion. “But I think we performed very strongly as a team. We achieved more than we expected. So, if we think about how [the car] felt, that’s certainly positive.”
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Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies also highlights this factor after the race. The 49-year-old particularly praises the strategy department and emphasizes: “The execution of the race strategy was really, really strong today.”
For example, in the second stint, they decided not to react directly to Hamilton’s pit stop. Instead, the four-time world champion pitted a few laps later and got a set of soft tires.
Verstappen, however, did not use the virtual safety car to get new tires compared to many other drivers. However, Antonelli and Hamilton bothered each other behind him and could not benefit from their fresher tires.
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Apart from that, Verstappen emphasizes that he noticed damage to his RB22 after the race. All in all, not an easy Sunday for the Red Bulls. Hadjar finished sixth.
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