Max Verstappen made a mistake on the first lap of Q3 and, before his final attempt, suffered from an engine problem in his RB18. Taurine boss Christian Horner said the team "tried everything", but was relieved that the issue happened in qualifying and not in the race
Red Bull had a qualifying session to forget on Saturday. In Hungaroring, Sergio Pérez was eliminated in Q2 - while Max Verstappen encountered problems in the final part of qualifying. As a result, the Mexican driver will start 11th in the Hungarian GP, and the reigning world champion 10th.
According to Red Bull boss Christian Horner, the Dutchman had a real chance to take pole position in Hungary. However, a driver's own mistake on the first fast lap attempt and a problem with the Taurine power unit on the second ended any hopes Verstappen had.
"Very frustrating to lose 'Czech' in Q2. He faced traffic at turn 2, and today Max was much more comfortable with the balance of the car. I think we had a chance for pole, but a crash at turn 2 on the first lap (of Q3) immediately put us at a disadvantage. We were confident of recovering and having another chance (for pole), but unfortunately an engine problem happened on Max's exit lap. We tried resetting the sensors, we tried everything, but it was not to be," Horner analyzed.
"It's going to be a tough race with the 10th and 11th places. Congratulations to George, who did a very good lap. Max didn't have a representative lap. In theory, he could be at least fourth today, with a chance for pole-position. At least (the problem) happened today and not tomorrow," concluded the Red Bull boss.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. On Sunday, the race is scheduled to start at 10:00 am [GMT-3].