“I have no idea why or how all these things happen”: Max Verstappen on Red Bull focusing too much on McLaren instead of Mercedes

Max Verstappen was intrigued with Red Bull Racing's confusing strategy call which focused on McLaren and did not cover him from the Mercedes. Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, after the Hungarian GP, the Dutchman felt their strategy calls combined with the lack of pace had compromised their race.

Starting third on the grid, Max Verstappen lost out to both McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the start when he ran wide trying to secure P2. Having to return the place back, he was unable to carry the same pace through the mid stint of the race, and further lost places to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc during the final stint. The on-track battle with the Briton cost him tire life and the clash while overtaking lost him a place to Ferrari.

The McLarens had the pace advantage and were superior compared to the Red Bull throughout the weekend. Although the Red Bulls seemed competitive on the hard tire, trailing cars closely in the heat led to a drop in tire performance. Verstappen believes losing the tire advantage chasing cars due to the wrong strategy cost him a third place finish. He was yet to debrief with the strategy calls with his team, therefore was unable to understand or justify the reasons for focusing on the McLaren cars instead of covering off the Mercedes.

Asked if he understood why Red Bull chose to focus on chasing the McLarens instead of opting for a strategy to hold off the Mercedes, Verstappen said:

“I haven’t spoken to them yet, so I have no idea why or how all these things happen.”

Describing the difficult race and strategy calls, he said:

“Yeah tough of course, we didn’t have the pace to fight McLaren today but in the end, we could have still had a P3. Wrong strategy calls put me on the back foot where I had to constantly fight people and try to overtake. Didn’t work today. The track is really hot, as soon as you get close to cars, the tires overheat and basically all the advantage you have with tires is not working anymore.”

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Max Verstappen expected the Hungarian GP to be a tough one for Red Bull

Max Verstappen has been critical of Red Bull’s strategy and felt that it was difficult to manage his tires during the race. The Dutchman expected the race to be tough but said there were differences of opinion within the team when it came to execution. He felt that the McLarens were too quick and Red Bull couldn’t catch up.

Asked if their long run pace was satisfactory during the race, Verstappen said:

“No its just, I felt it coming. Today was also quite hot again. When you don’t have good balance, you have got to look after the tires.”

Asked if he was surprised with his pace on the first stint, he said:

“Looking back at it, it wouldn’t have made it in the end anyway. They were quite a bit faster."

Max Verstappen also commented on Red Bull's overall race strategy:

“Yeah I don’t know. I already said yesterday that maybe some people are not on the same wavelength. It's as severe as it is."

Max Verstappen venting his frustrations both after qualifying and the race have exposed some of the weaknesses within Red Bull camp. With McLaren throwing away three potential victories on bad strategy calls, the Dutchman and his team have just about managed to hang on to their lead. But with 11 more races left on the calendar and their car lacking pace, they will need to start executing better if they want to defend their title. An error-free weekend could have guaranteed them a podium to defend their lead in both standings.