Verstappen calls Red Bull car undriveable after Hungarian GP qualifying spin
NXTbets Pro | Published On: July 25, 2026
Verstappen struggles
Max Verstappen qualified sixth for the Hungarian Grand Prix and left little doubt about how difficult the RB22 felt. He spun at the final corner on his last Q3 lap, and the mistake ended his chance to improve the time that put him on the third row. Verstappen called the session “completely hopeless” and “really tough,” a blunt assessment that matched the picture he described afterward. He said the car got worse lap after lap during qualifying, and he pointed to the machine degrading rather than normal tire wear. By the end of the run, he said the car had become more oversteery and was undriveable. That left him fighting the balance instead of pushing for a better starting spot. Verstappen said Red Bull could see something wrong in the data, but the team never found the exact cause. He also said the issue was aerodynamic and left the car out of balance, which made the problem feel larger than a simple setup miss. The result was a rough Saturday for a driver who usually expects more in qualifying, and it left Red Bull with more questions than answers heading into race day.
Red Bull balance
Pierre Waché described the same underlying problem from the team side, saying Red Bull was still struggling with the RB22’s balance. That fits the broader picture from qualifying, where both drivers reported cars that were hard to place and harder to trust. Waché said low grip and the Hungaroring’s bumps were upsetting the car, a combination that exposed the weakness in the package. The track rewards stability and precision, and Red Bull did not find enough of either. Verstappen’s comments pointed to a car that changed under him as the session went on, while Waché’s read suggested the circuit itself made the balance problem harder to hide. The team had data that showed something was wrong, but the details never became clear enough to fix on the spot. That left Red Bull managing symptoms instead of solving the source. The Hungarian Grand Prix weekend has already put a spotlight on the RB22’s limits, and the qualifying struggle added another layer to that concern. The car’s behavior on a low-grip track with bumps exposed the edge of the setup window, and Red Bull could not keep the platform stable when it mattered most.
Hadjar response
Isack Hadjar also came away from qualifying with a clear sense that the Red Bull package was far from comfortable. He qualified eighth for Red Bull and said the car lacked balance and was very hard to drive. His view reinforced the idea that the team’s problems were not confined to one garage or one lap. Hadjar went further and called the Hungaroring one of Red Bull’s worst tracks so far this season, a harsh assessment that matched the tone from Verstappen and Waché. That kind of feedback from both drivers matters because it points to a structural issue rather than a one-off mishap. When the same balance complaints show up across the lineup, the team has a larger setup and performance problem to solve. Hadjar’s result was better than Verstappen’s on the sheet, but the gap did not hide the difficulty. He still had to wrestle with a car that did not give him enough support through the lap. Red Bull left qualifying with mixed positions and a common complaint from both sides of the garage, and the message was plain. The RB22 did not give either driver the balance needed to attack the Hungaroring with confidence.
