Max Verstappen’s unheard final radio message highlights Red Bull’s problems perfectly at the Hungarian Grand Prix

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For only the third time this season, Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen did not finish in the top six of a Formula 1 race.

The Hungarian Grand Prix proved to be yet another tricky circuit for Red Bull.

Heading into Sunday’s race, Max Verstappen admitted he was lucky to even reach the top 10 in qualifying, with the margins between each driver being so small, and his car not performing to his liking.

Yuki Tsunoda once again failed to progress out of Q1 in qualifying, although on this occasion, his best time was within two-tenths of Verstappen, highlighting the problems Red Bull were facing.

A pit lane start at a track notorious for being difficult to overtake at meant that Tsunoda extended his point-less run to seven race weekends.

Verstappen has impressed new team principal Laurent Mekies in the weeks they’ve worked together, but had his work cut out at the Hungaroring.

Red Bull initially tried a very ambitious one-stop strategy after Verstappen got stuck behind Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

They eventually had to abandon that plan, but by the time he switched tyres again, he was only able to recover to ninth, with Liam Lawson the leading Red Bull-backed driver at the chequered flag for the first time in his career.

Verstappen’s pre-race comments were a ‘rude awakening’ for Red Bull, and his comments as he crossed the line would have had Laurent Mekies and Helmut Marko paying close attention as well.

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Max Verstappen receives apology from Red Bull after disappointing Hungarian Grand Prix

Reporting on the race, journalist Erik van Haren said: “Norris narrowly beats Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, his fifth victory of the season.

“Piastri goes into the summer break as World Championship leader with a 9-point lead.

“Verstappen fails to finish and ends up in ninth place. ‘Painful for everyone,’ he says.”

Listening to Verstappen’s radio at the end of the race, his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said: “Ok, thank you, Max. Fail 84, please, mate. Very nice.”

Verstappen: “Yeah, not much to say, right? It’s just painful for everyone.”

“Sorry, Max, we didn’t give you the car you deserved, but thanks for trying as hard as you did. We’ll move forward,” was the reply Verstappen received on the radio.

“Yeah, we’ll have a look at what we can do and then we’ll come again after the break,” concluded the four-time world champion.

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Max Verstappen celebrates 200 Red Bull Racing Formula 1 races at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Only two drivers in the history of Formula 1 have completed more than 10 seasons with a single team.

Lewis Hamilton completed 12 campaigns with Mercedes before joining Ferrari this winter, following in the footsteps of Michael Schumacher, who spent 11 seasons with the Scuderia.

Due to the constantly growing F1 calendar, Verstappen has already leapfrogged how many Grand Prix Schumacher started for Ferrari after competing in his 200th race for the team on Sunday.

Verstappen still needs to spend 47 more races with Red Bull to beat Hamilton’s Mercedes record (246), but it’s yet to be seen whether he’ll manage that feat.

If Verstappen sees out his contract until the end of 2028, then he’ll easily be the new record holder.

However, Mercedes are still interested in signing Verstappen, even if the Dutchman has confirmed he’ll remain where he is next season.

Next season’s regulation changes are going to be pivotal to the driver market, and Red Bull will know that they can’t afford a repeat of the lack of competitiveness on show on Sunday if they want Verstappen to commit his F1 career to the team.