Red Bull Search for Answers After Disaster Hungary Friday Practice

Speaking to the media, Max Verstappen explained there were few positives to take:

“Today was very tough, just really low grip feeling, not really a balance in the car.

“It’s difficult to say what is the exact problem. Nothing really works.

“This is something we have to investigate overnight, because so far it’s not been our weekend.

“I’m sure we can do better – but today was quite bad. So we need to really understand where it is, and what is causing us to have such problems with the car.

“I mean, McLaren look really on it – they’re flying. But yeah, naturally I want to be a little bit closer to P3.”

On the opposite side of the garage, Yuki Tsunoda managed to unlock slightly more performance over one lap.

The 24-year-old has been noticeable faster since receiving Red Bull’s newest floor in Spa, which should help him establish a platform for the remainder of 2025.

Still, Tsunoda admits the RB21 was not producing enough grip:

“Yeah, I think the balance is not the main issue. I think where we’re struggling is the grip we normally should feel.

“That’s where we’re lacking. But at least for our side, from FP1, a bit of a step from that – so at least some positives.

“But overall as a team, we’re struggling.”

A familiar problem for Red Bull

Red Bull’s poor correlation has been a limitation for some time.

Even before the start of 2025, the team’s stagnant development last year was largely because updates did not performing as intended.

The RB21’s small operating window is a consequence of the Austrian team failing to anticipate some of the side-effects of their modifications.

To further complicate matters, the team’s simulator is not an effective tool in preparing set-up for a race weekend.

Yuki Tsunoda commented on this immediately upon arrival at the team, revealing that the RB21 feels very different in reality compared to the sim.

Red Bull often start the weekend with a very poor set-up as a result of this, necessitating big changes after Friday Practice.

This gives Verstappen, and particularly Tsunoda, very little time to adapt to often radical changes made overnight.

Whilst this does not prevent Red Bull from being competitive, it certainly makes life difficult for a team whose 2025 campaign is being defined by volatility – both on track and away from it.