Max Verstappen’s mid-season review: Red Bull Racing star speaks his mind

The race at the Hungaroring was no walk in the park for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman had his hands full with his car even in qualifying. He set the sixth-fastest lap time, but was allowed to start from fourth on the grid because both Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes high-flyer Kimi Antonelli were penalised.

Verstappen did what he almost always does: he seized his chance to get the most out of the race. And this time, that meant second place. He crossed the finish line just under 15 seconds behind world champion Lando Norris. Afterwards, he made it clear that he’d also struggled with his RB22 during the race.

“It was exactly the same set of issues as in qualifying. You’re not allowed to make any changes to the car after qualifying, so I knew it would be tough, and it was very tough. To be honest, I think that was one of the toughest races this year in terms of the feel of the car and the balance. I had to adjust it corner by corner. So standing on the podium is an incredible result for us,” said the 28-year-old.

Max Verstappen reveals: This is Red Bull Racing’s priority

The season review from the driver with 131 Grand Prix podium finishes is similar: “The season so far has been tough; overall, it’s been very tough. We’ve had a few good moments, some nice highlights, but overall it’s been difficult. We need to try and deliver a more consistent performance and have smoother race weekends. And we need to find more performance – it’s as simple as that, really. We also need to make sure we sort out the issues we’re having with the current package.”

“We need to get a handle on that; sometimes we lose performance over the course of a race weekend, or even just from the start to the finish of a race. That’s a priority for us. And as for the engine: of course I’d prefer it if we could step it up a gear under the ADUO rules. But – I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see how things pan out after the summer break,” the 71-time Grand Prix winner added a little later.

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And regarding his impressive overtaking manoeuvre on Lewis Hamilton at the first corner, the driver currently sixth in the World Championship said dryly: “I knew it was my only chance to get past him, because the Ferrari lads had good pace. So when the opportunity arose, I took a chance and yes, that was a good manoeuvre.”