Verstappen describes struggling with Red Bull setup in Hungary qualifying

Max Verstappen says he underperformed in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite only missing out on pole position by three thousandths of a second to polesitter Lewis Hamilton.

Max Verstappen during qualifying in Hungary. (Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool)

The two-time world champion says he struggled with finding balance in the midst of setup changes and upgrades in Hungary.

"We have not performed the way we should be performing all weekend, it has been really difficult to get the most out of the car,” said Verstappen after the session.

“I was struggling with putting the balance together, front to rear. We tried a lot of different things in terms of set-up but it didn't really work. When you are struggling in qualifying you can only try one or two things and then when you really push you fall out of the window again.”

“My second lap in Q3 I tried to push a bit more and the car wasn't there.”

Max Verstappen qualified second for the Hungarian Grand Prix behind Lewis Hamilton. (Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool)

Red Bull’s challengers have been much closer on pace in qualifying across recent rounds, but the team continues to dominate the season through awesome pace in race conditions, a sentiment echoed by Verstappen and team boss Christian Horner.

“Max didn't seem too comfortable with his set up, he wasn't able to find his sweet spot, you could see he was fighting the car slightly,” said Horner.

“I don't think he was getting what he wanted from the car in quali as he seemed more comfortable in the long runs we did earlier today so we will be looking into it this evening.”

“I think our upgrades worked but that didn't really show,” said Verstappen.

“The balance I had in qualifying won't necessarily be a bad thing for tomorrow.”

“Everything in the race is a lot calmer and more stable, whereas in qualifying you really push it to the limit on the balance and can feel more issues. Our long run looks competitive so that is positive. It is still going to be tough to get in front but if we are better on tyres then I predict a good race.”

“Nothing is lost, we have a good race car and it will be a good battle with them tomorrow."

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