Max on P14 after first day in Budapest: 'Today was very tough'

Published on 01 August 2025 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen ended the first free practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix in ninth, but a comeback was not in the cards for him in the second free practice, where he finished fourteenth. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the McLarens ended in P1 and P2 respectively, with Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari in third place. On the Hungaroring, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martins completed the top five.

“Today was very tough”, Max opined after the second free practice in Budapest. “Just a really low grip feeling, and not really a balance in the car. It’s even difficult to say what the exact problem is. Nothing works. So it’s something that we have to investigate overnight. So far it’s not been our weekend.”

Max further elaborated: “I’m sure that we can do better, but today was quite bad. We need to really understand first where it is – what is causing us such big problems with the car.”

On the incident with the cleaning cloth, which caused Max to be summoned to the stewards, he also shared his thoughts: “It was lying between my feet, so I drove off line and got rid of it. I think the stewards understand that.”

After missing the first session due to back issues, Alonso returns to the action in the second free practice in great form. Ahead of the session, the conditions are promising, with 27 degrees air temperature and a track temperature of 40 degrees.

Even though the lights at the end of the pitlane turned green, it takes a moment for all the cars to take to the track. Max and both McLarens wait a couple of minutes before joining the fray. After six minutes, Max is the last to go on track on a set of medium tyres. In the meantime, George Russell has advanced to the top of the timesheets, ahead of Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda.

The first time Max sets puts him on P13, a full second slower than Norris on P1. The Dutchman immediately drives into to the pits for a short stop. When he returns to the track, he manages to improve his laptime and climbs into P8, putting him at nine-tenths distance to the front of the field.

When engineer Gianpiero Lambiase checks in for an update, the Oracle Red Bull Racing-driver attempted to explain: “It’s front and rear, mate. It’s just like driving on ice.” It’s not long before Max heads into the pits to make some necessary adjustments to his RB21.

Halfway through the session Max makes a track appearance once more, this time on a set of soft tyres. In that moment Piastri is on P1, ahead of Lance Stroll on P2, and Isack Hadjar on P3. The first flying lap on his new set promotes Max to P8, this time with more than a second’s gap to Norris in P1, a disappointing result. Again, Max returns the car to it's garage. Even Tsunoda is three-tenths faster than Max – a first for the two of them.

With just nineteen minutes to go, Max attempts another set of laps, this time on the medium tyre. Now only a handful of drivers are still on track. Those hoping for an improved lap time will have to continue waiting – Max tries out long runs, to prepare for his race on Sunday. “I don’t know what’s going on. It’s just undriveable. I can’t get any balance”, is what Max reports back to the team over the radio. To add insult to injury, Max is summoned to the stewards after the session for throwing a cleaning cloth out of the car.

The weekend resumes tomorrow with third free practice at 12:30 European Summer Time.

Contest Hungarian GP: win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing 2025 cap!

Results second free practice Hungary: