Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was “quite surprised” to finish second at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix.
After post-qualifying penalties elevated him from sixth to fourth on the grid, Verstappen jumped Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the start into third but got undercut by Lewis Hamilton at his first stop on lap 15, only for him to launch an inside lunge past Hamilton a lap later.
Verstappen proceeded to stay out until the end of lap 40 before he made his second stop which saw him gamble on the soft tyres for his final stint, which paid off when the virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed on lap 56 after Oscar Piastri suffered a gearbox failure.
The VSC prompted Hamilton amongst several driver to pit from second which allowed Verstappen to jump him and cruise to an eventual second-placed finish and his first podium at the Hungaroring since he won in 2023.
Verstappen post-race spoke of his surprise at finishing second given that he struggled with downshift issues all weekend, but felt that he managed to stick it out and nail the strategy calls.
“It was a really strong day and positive for us to finish in P2 today, although I’m quite surprised with the result given the problems we had this weekend.
“We really hung in there, made some good calls and brought it home in the second half of the race, especially with our older tyres.
“We were trying to make the best of what we had, and it was quite tough for a long period of the race, but everyone contributed to securing this podium.”
Verstappen added that he believed that his opening stint and response to being undercut were “crucial” to the result.
“I think the start and the first stop to gain the position were really crucial, keeping the others behind for a while. Then, of course, we got undercut because the others were on the Soft tyres. We managed to jump ahead of Lewis again, which I think was very critical in that stint too.”
F1 now is on a four-week break ahead of Verstappen’s final home race at the Dutch GP at Zandvoort as the event leaves the calendar following this season, but the four-time champion is targeting more consistency.
“We were still struggling with the same things we had in Qualifying and there were some bright shining moments, but we need to be a bit more solid all-round in the second half of the season. Despite this, I think we performed well today and made all the right calls.
“The Team are all looking forward to a break so we can come back rested and refreshed for the second half of the season.”