Max Verstappen was a little bit frustrated coming over the line after his final qualifying attempt this afternoon in Budapest. He qualified third, just under half a tenth behind pole-sitter Lando Norris, but he feels he is lacking some grip and pace to attack McLaren at the moment.
“I tried, the whole weekend I think we have been a little bit behind and I think that was also the case in qualifying. I tried to make it as close as possible but unfortunately just not enough. A bit difficult to pinpoint why that is.
“I would have liked a bit more grip but it’s not there at the moment,” the current championship leader adds. “But P3 is still very close. I just hope that for tomorrow of course the car is good in the race and at least that we can follow them and see what we can do there.”
The 2024 season is in big contrast with 2023, where Verstappen recorded arguably the most dominant season in the sport’s history. For the neutral viewer this is very exciting, but Verstappen insisted he also enjoys the challenge McLaren poses at the moment.
“Of course. I love competition, but I would like to be on top of the competition and at the moment I feel like we are chasing and having a few more difficult weekends. I don’t back out of a fight, but we’re just [in] a bit of a, you know, tricky situation I guess.”
The race tomorrow will be driven under different weather, as the temperature is expected to ramp up quite significantly. Verstappen however isn’t too confident he can challenge the McLaren-duo up front citing their race pace advantage over the last few races.
“The last three races I think especially McLaren has been really really good in the race, even compared to qualifying. So of course today was a lot colder than expected, I guess, with the clouds and a bit of the rain. Tomorrow is going to be quite a different day and I just hope that that will help us.”
