F1 champion Max Verstappen 'lost Red Bull trust' claims Martin Brundle

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen 'lost Red Bull trust' claims Martin Brundle

Max Verstaappen will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from sixth

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 25 July 2026 20:58

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Max Verstappen 'does not trust' his Red Bull F1 car, according to broadcasting legend Martin Brundle.

Verstappen could only qualify down in sixth for the Hungarian Grand Prix after spinning on his final flying lap in Q3, and having struggled all weekend long at the Hungaroring.

The four-time world champion has been more positive in recent weeks about his Red Bull team and his RB22, having managed to qualify up in second for the Belgian GP last weekend, before finishing third in the race.

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But after his qualifying performance this weekend, the Dutchman launched into a scathing assessment of his weekend as a whole, once again lamenting his RB22.

Verstappen's team-mate Isack Hadjar was also dismayed at how bad the car had been throughout the weekend, as he qualified down in eighth.

"My whole weekend has been bad, but in general, the car thing was really bad," Verstappen told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying. "Also, for whatever reason, again, we're picking up aerodynamic losses, and yeah, for me the car on entry is everywhere. It's completely sideways everywhere.

"So you cannot rely at all on the rear when you try to balance it out with the front, You start understeering.

"Now in qualifying from FP3 already, we started having issues that yeah were a bit out of our out of our control.

"First we need to understand our problems because we have so many unexplainable issues that arise all the time. We need to fix that first before you even start thinking about having just a normal qualifying race or whatever."

Brundle reflects on Verstappen's frustrations

Verstappen's future at Red Bull is uncertain beyond the end of this season, with the 28-year-old not having been happy with his team's form after the 2026 regulations reset.

Red Bull seemingly have a very strong power unit - the best according to the FIA ADUO ruling - but the chassis is not optimal, and has prevented Verstappen from being able to push his hardest and weave the magic that we saw from him in 2025.

Red Bull have been developing upgrades to try and give Verstappen a car capable of challenging for race wins, something that may well help to keep the four-time champion at the team in 2027.

Now, Brundle has said that Verstappen's unhappiness after Hungarian GP qualifying was the most unhappy he had seen him for a number of weeks.

"He's not happy at all, is he?," Brundle commented live on air after watching Verstappen's interview. "Inconsistency and everything, you know. And clearly, he doesn't trust the car.

"He doesn't know what it's going to do next, and it's very hard to navigate your way through that on an all-out qualifying lap. So that's as unhappy as I've heard Max for a while, actually."

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