Second at the finish in Hungary, Max Verstappen revealed that his Red Bull was damaged during the race, making his podium even more unexpected.
Read more Lewis Hamilton’s race took a turn after Verstappen: «Everything went wrong»
Max Verstappen left the Hungarian Grand Prix with a second place, but also with many questions about the performance of his RB22.
Throughout the weekend, the four-time world champion complained about a car that was difficult to balance, a finding that was confirmed during the race despite his excellent result.
“I was experiencing exactly the same problems as the day before. The car had a lot of oversteer and the tires were also degrading very quickly at certain times.”
Despite these difficulties, the Dutchman managed to limit the damage thanks to an excellent start.
The overtake on Hamilton changed his race
After losing a position during the pit stop phase, Verstappen quickly regained the advantage over Lewis Hamilton thanks to a sharp attack at the first corner.
According to the Red Bull driver, this maneuver was decisive for the rest of his Grand Prix.
“Gaining positions at the start allowed us to succeed in our first stint. We then suffered the undercut, but the overtake on Lewis made my second stint much easier.”
This overtake allowed him to stay in touch with the leaders before the final part of the race.
A strategic gamble that paid off
For his last stint, Red Bull chose to fit soft tires, a choice that did not inspire much confidence in Verstappen.
Read more Toto Wolff gets angry and attacks rival engineers: «Teletubbies on the pit wall»
The Dutchman feared he would not be able to reach the finish with this compound.
“When the team told me I was going to finish the race on soft tires, I thought it was going to be a very long stint.”
Against all odds, the strategy proved successful. Taking advantage notably of Lewis Hamilton’s stop under Virtual Safety Car, Verstappen recovered second place, which he kept until the checkered flag.
“In the end, it worked. I still don’t really understand how we managed to finish second.”
A discovery after the finish
Verstappen finally revealed that he discovered an additional problem once he got out of his car.
The Red Bull driver noticed that his car had suffered damage during the race, without knowing exactly when it had occurred.
“When getting out of the car, I noticed it was damaged, without really knowing why. It clearly didn’t make things easier for us.”
Given the difficulties encountered throughout the weekend, Verstappen believes that this second place far exceeds Red Bull’s expectations.
“I consider that we achieved a result better than what we could have hoped for. Collectively, the team did a very good job considering all the difficulties encountered.”
Read more Lewis Hamilton blames Ferrari: «This decision cost us the podium»