Max Verstappen backtracks on ‘demotivating’ comment as he makes ‘success’ admission
Max Verstappen had a trying weekend in Hungary
Having declared after qualifying that Red Bull would not win another race this season, Max Verstappen backtracked on that, but accepts that success “comes and goes”.
Red Bull headed into the summer break on the back of a disappointing weekend at the Hungaroring as both Verstappen and his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda struggled with a lack of grip in the RB21.
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Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
It was particularly notable in qualifying with Tsunoda out in Q1 while Verstappen narrowly progressed through the sessions to make it into Q3, where he qualified in eighth place.
Speaking to the Dutch media after qualifying, he poured cold water over the idea that Red Bull could step onto the top step of the podium when F1 returns from the break.
“No, not the way things are going right now,” he said. “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.”
The 27-year-old was called out for his comment by former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins, who felt that it wasn’t fair on the Red Bull engineers.
“I don’t think any driver says we’re not going to win anything this year as a motivator to the team,” she said during the Sky broadcast.
“That’s pretty demotivating if I were an engineer. I think that would really hit you a little bit.”
24 hours later, although by no means buoyed by his result in the grand prix, Verstappen had a slightly different tune.
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The reigning World Champion finished ninth in the grand prix, taking the chequered flag as the very last driver not to be lapped by race winner Lando Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri.
He was again asked if he could add a third win to his F1 2025 tally.
“I don’t know,” he replied to the media, including PlanetF1.com.
“After a weekend like this it’s very difficult to say. But you never know, there might always be surprises or whatever.”
With just 10 races remaining and his deficit to championship leader Piastri increased to 97 points after Hungary, Verstappen is not mathematically out of the race for the Drivers’ title, but he’d need to disaster to befall McLaren to even stand a chance.
Red Bull has struggled with balance and grip with this year’s RB21 as the car has a small working window.
Even Verstappen has struggled, with the Dutchman on course to lose the title, bringing his four-year streak to its conclusion.
He, however, is pragmatic about it.
Asked if this year was worse than he had expected, he replied: “I just stay neutral and everything you know, so I don’t become overly optimistic or pessimistic or whatever you know. So I was like, ‘Well, we’ll see’.
“I mean, I hope, of course, that we could still win some races here and there. And we still did that. We still won two races.
“But it is tough.
“But at the other end, you need to acknowledge that McLaren has done a fantastic job from last year to this year also, and then, from our side, it’s been a bit more difficult.
“It’s not a surprise, of course, if you look at the problems that we are having.
“I think for like four years I’ve had really a lot of good results, right? So it comes and goes, success.”
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