Max Verstappen grilled on Red Bull’s eye-catching RB19 upgrades

Max Verstappen was coy over Red Bull’s upgrade package for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix in Thursday’s FIA press conference in Budapest.

With the all-conquering RB19 car, Red Bull have won all 10 races in 2023 to date with Verstappen, the reigning two-time World Champion, claiming his sixth victory in a row at the recent British GP.

Verstappen’s latest triumph saw Red Bull equal McLaren’s 1988 record of winning 11 races in succession, with the team aiming to go one better in Hungary on Sunday.

Max Verstappen cagey on Red Bull’s Hungary upgrade

Red Bull are set to debut a revised sidepod package – said to be worth as much as 0.2 seconds per lap – at the Hungaroring, but Verstappen refused to give anything away when the conversation turned to the upgrade in the press conference.

“They look good,” Verstappen said when asked by host Tom Clarkson. “Normally makes the car a bit faster, but it also looks nice, so…”

Asked to identify the specific area where the updates will improve the RB19, he replied: “In the corners. Mainly.”

Pressed on whether the opposition should be worried given Red Bull’s unstoppable form already this year, he said: “I mean, everyone of course naturally always tries to improve the car, right? So that’s also what we are trying to do.”

Verstappen was also rather unforthcoming on the possibility of breaking McLaren’s long-standing record in Hungary, insisting he is treating the Budapest event like any other race.

Asked what could prevent Red Bull from taking a 12th straight win – stretching back to the 2022 season finale in Abu Dhabi – Verstappen said: “I don’t know.

“I’m honestly not really thinking about that, I’m just here to have a good weekend and of course I try to win.

“I’m not going into this weekend thinking we can win 12 races in a row. If we win that means of course we break that record, but it’s more important that we win.”

PlanetF1.com recommends

F1 2023: Head-to-head qualifying and race stats between team-mates

Ranked: The top 10 most successful Adrian Newey Formula 1 car designs

Verstappen was also strangely guarded over the upgrades in the build-up to the Hungarian GP weekend, stating: “We have a couple of upgrades this weekend, hopefully they will do what we expect them to do so we can find extra performance for the upcoming races.”

The 25-year-old’s caginess comes after Jaime Alguersuari, the former Toro Rosso driver, described design guru Adrian Newey as the key to Red Bull’s success, claiming “it’s incredible that this brilliant man is still making such perfect cars.”

He added: “Red Bull is the best team in the history of Formula 1 because they do not make mistakes and there are no cracks in their structure and approaches.”

Read next: First look: Red Bull’s new sidepods ‘worth 0.2s’ uncovered in Hungary