‘Degrading’ – Max Verstappen slams ‘not driveable’ Red Bull ‘getting worse and worse’
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has had a troubled start to 2026
Max Verstappen gave a frank assessment of his Red Bull after a late spin in qualifying hindered his efforts at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion spin at the final corner on his final Q3 lap, bringing out a yellow flag at a crucial moment in the session.
Max Verstappen: Red Bull ‘car is degrading’ after qualifying spin
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Verstappen qualified sixth for Sunday’s race but, after his spin, lost out on the chance to improve his time and challenge the pole-sitting McLaren of Lando Norris at the front of the grid.
Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media at the Hungaroring, the Red Bull driver was not best pleased after his session.
“The weekend in general has been difficult, but when instead of the tyres degrading, your car is degrading, then you have a big problem,” he said.
“The car just kept getting worse and worse, lap after lap. So the more laps I did, it was just more and more difficult to put a lap together.
“For tomorrow as well, we need to fix that because the car is not driveable like this, as you could see in the final corner. Just turning the car is like non-existent on the rear, so it’s really crazy.
“We’ve seen a few [difficult tracks], but let’s see where it’s coming from now, because I always feel like it’s always like a different problem and that’s for me then also harder to control.”
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Red Bull has reintroduced its own version of the so-called ‘Macarena’ rear wing in Hungary after an issue with airflow reattachment caused his spins in Austria and Britain.
Asked by PlanetF1.com if any of his difficulties were related to the reintroduction of a rotating rear wing, he added: “I first need to look into the data myself.
“They could see loss in aero and it kept getting worse, so that’s not good.”
As for how the car’s performance managed to worsen throughout the session, Verstappen explained how, despite track evolution, that led to a problem when putting his lap together.
“Normally it gets better with the grip being put down, but my car just kept oversteering more and more,” he said.
“I think I’m quite good at understanding when there is a problem or when I feel something is not right, and the car just became uncontrollable in some corners on entry, and the feeling that you have the car is not sticking anymore.
“I felt it before, but this again, it’s not good.”
Norris qualified on pole just 0.012s ahead of Lewis Hamilton, though the Ferrari driver was placed under investigation for allegedly impeding Oscar Piastri during Q3.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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