F1 | Hungarian GP | Verstappen leaves the Hungaroring frustrated after Bottas ruins his car and race
Max Verstappen left the Hungaroring frustrated as the Dutchman lost the championship lead after struggling to tenth place because he was nursing a damaged car to the chequered flag.
Max Verstappen was left frustrated after a disappointing Hungarian Grand Prix, as the Dutchman struggled with floor damage after being involved in the Turn 1 collision that eliminated four cars, including Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen, who started the Hungarian Grand Prix third on the grid, initially made a good start and was up to second by Turn 1, but after Valtteri Bottas missed his breaking point and slammed into the back of Lando Norris, Verstappen was then hit by the stricken McLaren sending him tumbling down the order and damaging his floor.
With the race red-flagged, the Red Bull mechanics tried desperately to fix the damage caused by the first lap incident, but when action resumed, Verstappen found him stuck behind the Haas of Mick Schumacher and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo.
But after pitting for a fresh set of medium tyres on Lap 41, Verstappen managed to pass Ricciardo with ten laps to go to snatch a single point with 10th.
Verstappen explained after the race that the loss of downforce caused the car to be a challenge to drive, with Verstappen also furious to be taken out for the second race in succession.
“It was all out of our hands in the race and I can’t believe I got taken out for the second week running. The mechanics did what they could to get me back in the race but I was carrying a lot of damage on the car after the incident and it was super difficult to drive with, there was a lot of oversteer and understeer from the downforce loss.
However, despite a challenging race, Verstappen was thankful to come away from the weekend with a point, as he goes into the summer break two points behind Lewis Hamilton.
“Of course it’s really disappointing to only score one point but on the other hand I was incredibly lucky to continue after the crash so it was a surprise to score a point at all which is still important.”