Bad day for Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar as Red Bulls flop badly in Hungary Qualifying

Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were left visibly dejected after a disappointing qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix.  Like many experts, the team believed the high-downforce characteristics of the circuit would suit the Red Bull RB22. Instead, Verstappen qualified P6, while Hadjar ended the session P8.

Predicting the pecking order in Formula 1’s new era is becoming increasingly difficult. Performance can fluctuate dramatically between circuits, sessions and even cars within the same team.

Red Bull appeared unable to understand why its performance deteriorated on Saturday. Verstappen suggested the problems were beyond the team’s control, having emerged during final practice.

The Dutchman was unable to mount a challenge for pole position. His demeanour after qualifying reflected Red Bull’s frustration and confusion.

Verstappen explained: “The whole weekend has been tricky for us so far. Unfortunately, from FP3 onwards, we started having problems that were out of our control and quite unexpected. We have a lot to look at overnight, and really understand what caused these problems."

"We saw aerodynamic losses, which is especially difficult in Qualifying, and we were struggling with degradation as well as the rear  The car was oversteering a lot and each lap it wasn’t improving. Hopefully we can fix our problems ahead of the race and see what we can improve starting from P6 tomorrow," added the four time F1 World Champion.

Hadjar was only 0.131s slower than his teammate, to take P8, but with similar issues. The Frenchman echoed the sentiments: “This weekend has been a challenging one so far. We hoped we would have made a step forward going into Qualifying compared to yesterday. We just couldn’t deliver this time around.

"The balance of the car has been the main issue here. It’s been tricky for us to find the sweet spot, and that makes putting a strong lap together difficult. There’s always tomorrow, but overtaking at this track is not easy. I’m starting near Max, so we can work together, and with a strong strategy, hopefully we can make up a few places," added Hadjar.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies admitted the team had spent much of the weekend attempting to provide both drivers with a more predictable car: “It was a tricky qualifying session for both Max and Isack, and in the end we just didn’t have the pace to match Ferrari and McLaren today."

Mekies continued: “We have been battling since yesterday to give our drivers a well-balanced car, but we haven’t really been able to extract the sort of performance that would allow us to challenge for the top positions in Qualifying.”

Mekies explained what a tightly packed leading group meant:  “This is where we are, and you can see that it varies quite a bit from weekend to weekend,” he explained. “It’s also a reflection of how tight things are among the top teams. If you fail to get everything absolutely right, it’s very easy to slip back.”

Red Bull must now determine whether its race pace is more competitive than its qualifying performance suggested. Mekies concluded: “The race will be long, and we expect to have to deal with tyre degradation and very high temperatures. Let’s see what sort of race pace we have, how the conditions play into it and whether we can be in the fight for a podium again.”