Max Verstappen does not know if Oracle Red Bull Racing will be as strong as they have been this season at the Hungaroring this weekend, although the Dutchman hopes to be in a position to fight for the win on Sunday afternoon.
Verstappen arrives in Hungary on the back of winning last weekends French Grand Prix to further extend his advantage at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to sixty-three points over Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who crashed out of the event.
Traditionally, the Hungaroring has not been the strongest of venues for Red Bull, and with the weather forecast for the weekend looking unsettled, Verstappen is hoping to maximise his result on Sunday come rain or shine.
“Hungary is a special track; I really enjoy driving here as it’s a bit like driving on a go kart track, it has a very technical second sector which I like,” said Verstappen. “It will be interesting to see how the weather impacts us across the weekend.
“It’s difficult to say how I think we will perform this weekend, it’s not our strongest track but of course, I want a good result and we will try everything we can to win it as a Team.
“I’m looking forward to the summer break and hopefully the Team can get time to recover so we can make a strong start to the second half of the season.”
“We will push hard and try to deliver a stronger result” – Sergio Pérez
Team-mate Sergio Pérez admitted the French Grand Prix weekend did not go the way he would have wanted as he struggled to find the pace needed to fight at the front of the field.
The Mexican lost out on the podium places late in the race when George Russell passed him on the restart following a virtual safety car, but Pérez said the pace of the car was not strong and he was not comfortable behind the wheel.
Despite this, he hopes to fight back strongly this weekend in Hungary and return to the podium in the final race before the mid-season break.
“It was a frustrating weekend for me in France, I didn’t feel like I had the pace I wanted and wasn’t fully comfortable with the car,” said Pérez. “We are working hard as a Team to try and see what went wrong for us.
“It was a shame we lost the podium, the VSC came at the worst possible time for us in the race and the issues with it impacted me at the restart.
“For now we will push hard and try to deliver a stronger result in the final race before the summer break and get back to the level we have been at consistently this season.”
