‘Demotivating’ Max Verstappen comment under the microscope at Hungarian GP

Max Verstappen’s claim that Red Bull won’t win another race this season has been called out by Bernie Collins for being “pretty demotivating” for the Red Bull team.

Red Bull suffered a difficult weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix as both Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda complained of very low grip.

Max Verstappen declared Red Bull won’t win again in F1 2025

Verstappen slumped to his worst qualifying performance of the F1 2025 season as he narrowly progressed into Q2 by only a tenth-and-a-half of a second, before a similar margin saw him break into the pole position shoot-out.

However, he wasn’t able to challenge for pole position and qualified in eighth place, 0.356s off the pace set by surprise pole sitter, Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen cast a bleak verdict on Red Bull’s prospects, not only for the Hungary, but also the 10 races to come after the summer break.

Asked by the Dutch media in Budapest if Red Bull could win a third grand prix for the season, he replied: “No, not the way things are going right now. That’s just the way it is. It’s clear.

“There’s nothing I can do about it. I could get angry, but that won’t make the car any faster.”

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Collins, a former Aston Martin strategist, wasn’t impressed with the 27-year-old’s comment.

Although she reckons it was his way of saying he’s unhappy with the car and that Red Bull needs to improve it, she added that it’s “pretty demotivating” to the team to hear things like that.

“I don’t think any driver says we’re not going to win anything this year as a motivator to the team,” the former Aston Martin strategist told Sky F1.

“That’s pretty demotivating if I were an engineer. I think that would really hit you a little bit.

“So, I think he’s hoping that with Laurent Mekies, a very tactical guy, they can get on top of the issues that this Red Bull has had for several seasons now.

“Get the second driver working well, and next year, they’ve got this real line in the sand, a real chance to start again.

“But, they need to get on top of these fundamental issues that they’ve been having for a little while now.

“Max, I think, is just using it as a powerful way of communicating with the team, ‘I am really not happy, and something needs to change in this car to make me happy’.

“That’s what will hopefully drive the entire engineering force behind him to get a car that he can be more competitive with next year.”

Despite finishing ninth in Hungary, Verstappen remains third in the Drivers’ Championship although his advantage over George Russell is down to 15 points.

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