In Hungary, the Red Bull Racing team had the worst qualifying of the season: traffic prevented Sergio Pérez from reaching the final, and Max Verstappen, due to loss of power, could not pass the final attempt and remained tenth. For the first time this season, the reigning world champion qualified outside the top four.
Max Verstappen (10th): “I don’t know what exactly happened. I went to the track and realized that the car has no power – we could not fix it. While I was on the track, we tried everything – I was in touch with the team and hoped that the problem could be solved. It’s a pity that tomorrow we have to start tenth, because in qualifying we were competitive and showed a good pace.
Despite the fact that we have a slight advantage in points in the championship, you always want to start ahead. It is difficult to overtake and cut through the traffic on this track, so you will have to be patient in the race. Tomorrow will definitely be interesting.”
Sergio Perez (11th): “The qualification did not go as we expected. In the second part, I had to use a second set of tires due to the fact that the first lap time was removed for violating the boundaries of the track. Then the circle was returned to me, but it did not affect my session in any way. Strange situation.
When I started the next attempt, Kevin Magnussen got in the way in the second turn, because of which I lost a few tenths, which I could not win back for the rest of the circle. Unfortunately, I could not achieve more – not my best qualification.
I’m not completely satisfied with the car, but tomorrow should be better, because our racing pace is usually higher. I hope we bounce back and earn points.”
Christian Horner, team leader: “Disappointing qualification. First, Sergio got into traffic and could not reach the final, then Max had technical problems.
We felt that Max had a chance on pole, he was more satisfied with the balance of the car than yesterday, however, on the first fast lap in the final, he blocked the wheels, and in the second attempt, technical problems prevented him from showing a representative time. Unfortunately, our positions are tenth and eleventh.
We intend to bounce back and look forward to the race, but in the meantime, congratulations to George Russell on the first pole.”