Max Verstappen described his ninth-placed finish at the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix as a “quite tough” result to digest.
Verstappen began the race in eighth position after a tough qualifying session but lost position to Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson at the start, yet managed to quickly repass him then overtake Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in the opening three laps.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto however mounted a resiliently defensive drive to force Verstappen into an early undercut pit stop attempt on lap 18, which ultimately hindered the reigning four-time champion’s race as traffic saw his two-stop strategy end in a ninth-placed finish.
The 27-year-old post-race told the media that he is keen to understand how his car lacked performance all weekend, as he now prepares for his home race in Zandvoort, Netherlands, after the summer break.
“Unfortunately, the whole weekend wasn’t good for us and we need to understand why that was. It has been quite tough as we got stuck in between cars during the race and struggled for grip. Although the high speed was okay, the low and medium speed wasn’t good.
“There are a lot of things to understand as the car has been difficult all weekend and we couldn’t turn things around unfortunately. Like we always do, we will analyse everything and take learnings from the weekend to find more performance as we go into Zandvoort.”
Verstappen also is primarily focused on his summer break as he targets improvements upon the season’s return with consistency considered one of his main targets.
“Ultimately, this weekend hasn’t gone to our liking, but it is now summer break and I can enjoy time with family and friends and not think too much about the racing side of things. There are many more races left and we can look to do better after the break.
“We want to aim to be more consistent and always try and even though it was a disappointing result we will keep our head up.
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