Verstappen blames lack of grip, Perez hugely disappointed after shock Q3 exit

Championship runaway leader Max Verstappen was left disappointed after Red Bull was unable to beat the McLarens in the closely-matched qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. On the other side of the garage, Sergio Perez endured a shock exit in Q1.

Running his heavily-upgraded RB20, Verstappen appeared to be strong all through the weekend, but he was beaten fair and square by the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the end.

The Dutchman will need to line up third on the grid for today's Mogyoród F1 round, but he still has every chance to win given his race simulation runs performed during the practice sessions.

“I was a bit frustrated we ended up with P3 today, but showing emotion shows I really care about our performance and doing well. The long runs we did in the practice session today have been okay; we have been working throughout the weekend to find the right balance within the car but we still have work to do and need to be realistic.

"When the session had a red flag in Q3, we had used a new set of tyres already so there was no point in going out again as we wouldn’t have improved on our lap time.

"I was hoping for a bit more from qualifying but we can assess and see what we can do to get the best out of the car a bit better and improve the pace. Today we ultimately didn’t optimise our performance: we will work with the Team to see what we can do ahead of tomorrow and make sure we have a better race day.

"I’m glad Checo is okay and it was a shame he crashed as he was having a decent weekend up until that point. It should be a bit warmer tomorrow as well and we see what the race brings."

His team-mate Sergio Perez endured drama in qualifying. The Mexican was displaying a very encouraging performance all through the weekend, and seemed to be in the mix of Verstappen, the McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari rivals.

But, instead of fighting for the top places, Perez took too much kerb in the wet in Q1, spinning off into the barriers for a second straight Q1 elimination – not the result he was after with the pressure firmly ramping up.

“This is a difficult one to digest, track conditions were tricky, but the track was getting better as the runs progressed and unfortunately on the entry I clipped the curb and became a passenger.

"I know I let my Team down once again and the most important thing is to recover quickly from today. You run out of words to say but you have to stick with the positives, I am trying my best to get out of this difficult moment, there are things I can control and things I cannot.

"Today I messed up but tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity. The positive thing is the pace has been there this weekend, we were the fastest in the long run on Friday.

"It hurts more because the weekend had been so strong up until now and I am more determined than ever to get back to where we belong as a Team," added Perez.

Expanding on Red Bull's performance in the tricky qualifying of the Hungarian Grand Prix, team boss Christian Horner insisted that it will be difficult for Verstappen to win the race given the history of the track.

"A mixed bag in qualifying today. It was very close, the McLaren’s were very quick, so congratulations to them for their one/two. Max did very well and is a good position for tomorrow.

'There hasn’t been a winner off pole here since 2020 with Lewis so its all to play for. A great shame to lose Checo in that first qualifying session but third on the grid is ok for tomorrow’s race. It will be an interesting one.”