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Max Verstappen says that he and Red Bull enjoyed a strong weekend despite missing out on the race victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Fresh from his win in Germany last weekend, Verstappen started the race from pole position after claiming his career first on Saturday, beating both Mercedes'.
MORE: Hungarian GP: Late charge sees Hamilton beat Verstappen
However, Verstappen couldn't deny Lewis Hamilton in the race, despite holding off attacks from the Briton when they were running similar strategies in the opening and middle stints of the race.
Mercedes decided to pit Hamilton once more with 20 laps to go, with the fresher tyres allowing him to close up on the rear of the Red Bull, before completing the move around the outside of Turn 1.
"We just were not fast enough," Verstappen said. "I tried everything I could on that hard tyre to stay alive but unfortunately, it was not enough. But still second, and the fastest lap, a good weekend overall for us.
"Congratulations to Lewis for the win, he was pushing me very hard. I liked that. Today we didn't win but it was a good race and a good weekend for us.
"We were just lacking a bit of grip I guess. We tried the one-stop, they choose to do the two and that worked out well."
Verstappen now sits just seven points behind Valtteri Bottas in the drivers' standings, as F1 now enters its usual summer break, with factories set to shut down before the second half of the season.
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (2)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
The fact they are dissapointed speaks volumes of the growth Red Bull has had. 5 races ago they would have just been happy to handily beat Ferrari. Looking forward to more of this battles. Max and Red Bull are much more exciting contenders than crash-kid Vettel, and self-destructive race strategies from Ferrari. Although since they realized that Leclerc can't be treated as a #2 driver they've been much better
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
He did what he could. Maybe could've saved tyres better the first stint, so he could've been at fresher tyres for stint 2, but even then, I feel there was little he could do. He just had too little power and Merc' had better strategy. Get on the case, Honda!