Unhappy Verstappen believes Red Bull has "a lot of work to do to match Mercedes"
Unhappy Verstappen believes Red Bull has "a lot of work to do to match Mercedes"
Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Alex Albon were both left bemoaning the feel of their car following a troubled day of practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
In dry conditions in FP1 at the Hungaroring, Verstappen finished 1.5secs adrift of pacesetter Lewis Hamilton, with the Dutch driver's best lap set on the soft-compound tyre compared to the hard on the Mercedes for the six-time Formula 1 champion.
Albon, meanwhile, was a further three-tenths of a second adrift in 13th position, with his time again on the soft Pirellis.
Come FP2, and with the team needing to further evaluate the RB16, their work was undermined by the wet weather that dominated, leaving Verstappen to set only one timed lap right at the end of the session, while Albon completed just three installation laps.
Assessing the day overall, Verstappen said: "Not so good. Plenty to look into.
"A little bit of a shame it was raining in the second practice otherwise we could have had a look, but yeah, a lot of work to do to match Mercedes.
"[I'm] Not so happy, but luckily we have a night to look at it and make some changes and try to do better tomorrow."
Verstappen cited the fact his car was lacking "balance overall", while Albon was again frustrated by a lack of predictability.
"The weather has hurt us a little bit, just trying to understand the car a bit better," said Albon.
"Obviously FP1 wasn't ideal, and we couldn't really try anything for FP2. We'll have to look at the data a bit more in detail tonight and see what we can come up with tomorrow."
As to why he feels he car is so tricky, he replied: "Just more predictability than anything else. It's not one corner, and it's not a big margin in a specific place. It's just bits everywhere.
"The car is not quite what we want, and we just have to do some work to find out what's going on. In race two [Styrian GP] we made a big improvement, and then coming here it just hasn't followed through as nice as we expected."
Before you go...
F1 reports two positive Covid-19 cases; individuals not with a team, racing continues
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Horner outlines Ricciardo target to save F1 dream as major Newey announcement made - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
Mercedes reveal shock RED livery to celebrate historic milestone
- Yesterday 22:57
Ricciardo makes five-race admission in bid to survive F1 axe
- Yesterday 21:57
Red Bull is 'burning' after Horner and Marko display
- Yesterday 20:57
Red Bull announce strong statement over Newey departure claims
- Yesterday 19:57
Verstappen 'to meet Mercedes over SHOCK 2025 move as Red Bull exit clause revealed'
- Yesterday 18:57
Related news
Ricciardo makes five-race admission in bid to survive F1 axe
Red Bull is 'burning' after Horner and Marko display
Verstappen 'to meet Mercedes over SHOCK 2025 move as Red Bull exit clause revealed'
Verstappen takes F1 swipe at Hamilton and rivals with ruthless remark
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860