Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing RB19. 23.07.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest, Hungary, Race Day
Max Verstappen believes the poor balance he encountered in his car throughout qualifying actually helped him as he stormed to victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
From second on the grid, Verstappen immediately pounced to claim the lead into Turn 1 and proceeded to record an emphatic victory by 33.7s over Lando Norris.
The reigning World Champion says he was satisfied to complete a strong getaway from the line, having lost out to Norris at the start during the previous round at Silverstone.
“Yeah, finally we had a really good start, so very happy with that, we’ve been working on that quite a bit to try really get the good bite,” he revealed.
“I think as soon as I released the clutch, immediately I felt like I had good bite, no wheelspin like in Silverstone. Good run, then I knew of course I had the inside and that was going to be my corner in Turn 1. We braked quite late but then yeah, did my thing through Turn 2 as well, and from then onwards, I could just build up the pace slowly.”
Despite not featuring at the top of the timesheets throughout practice, it was widely expected that Verstappen would notch a sixth pole position on the bounce once qualifying arrived.
However, the Dutchman was unable to improve on his final flying run in Q3 and subsequently lost out to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who edged him out by only 0.003s.
Verstappen commented afterwards that the handling of his RB19 was “all over the shop” – but admits that those issues transpired to aid his crushing victory on Sunday.
“We tried a few different things with the car in terms of set-up in qualifying, which probably worked very well for today,” he acknowledged.
“But I mean, we tried so many things throughout the whole weekend, and it never worked on one lap. So it might have also been that we just didn’t make our tyres work well over one lap.
“Because you know, in the race, everything heats up and it runs hotter for a long period of time. So yeah, you need probably very different balance for that and basically yesterday it was understeering a lot today it’s warmer, ambient and track, so probably it all came to me anyway. And that’s why I probably had such a nice balance today.”
Max Verstappen (NLD), Red Bull Racing 23.07.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest, Hungary, Race Day.
Verstappen’s second trip to the top step of the podium at the Hungaroring was his seventh win in succession and also delivered Red Bull’s 12th consecutive victory, setting a new all-time F1 record for the most consecutive wins by a constructor.
“For the team, 12 wins in a row is just incredible,” he said. “What we’ve been going through the last three years is just unbelievable, and hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time, and also just to work with the whole team, it’s always very enjoyable.
“It’s always good to look into… like yesterday, for example, to keep pushing, always wanting to do better – but then a day like today, is just perfect.”
While Red Bull’s advantage over the rest appears greater than ever, Verstappen believes that the Austrian outfit’s latest achievement shouldn’t be taken for granted.
“I think people probably forget how tough it is to win 12 in a row,” he conveyed.
“Even when you have the fastest car. It’s easy to make mistakes – or have an off weekend – but I think so far, of course, there were weekends when the gap was probably a bit smaller than we would have liked, but then also we had a few weekends where we also surprised ourselves and had a really good race, for example.
“So, yeah, I hope that we can just keep that momentum going, keep on trying to learn from the car, from the upgrades we’re bringing to the car, towards the end of the season, and also going into next year.”
Keyword: Verstappen: Qualifying balance troubles aided Hungary race pace