Verstappen left bewildered by Hungarian GP P2: 'I don't understand how we are second'

Verstappen became involved in a thrilling battle with old rival Lewis Hamilton for P3 as the action in Budapest got underway, performing an overtake of the year contender on the Briton after having been undercut, well on the way to his fourth podium finish of the year.

The four-time world champion, fitted with soft tyres to get him to the finish, ended up P2 following Oscar Piastri's Lap 47 DNF with a gearbox issue. Ferrari opted to pit Hamilton onto fresher tyres with 13 laps to go, with the Briton failing to get past Kimi Antonelli and after the Dutchman, and then receiving a five-second penalty for pit lane speeding.

Reflecting on his race, Verstappen told media, including GPblog: "I was still struggling with the same things as yesterday, the car was just extremely oversteery, just degging quite hard at one point as well. But I do think that in the start moving forward, was of course making our first stint possible.

Verstappen has frequently complained about his RB22 throughout the season, again calling Red Bull's challenger "undriveable" during the Hungarian GP weekend. That is why the Dutchman is so surprised at his P2 "overperformance" in Budapest, but he also revealed that he discovered damage to his car post-race.

He continued: "So, yeah, overall, I still don't really understand how we are second. But I think as a team, we performed strongly. So, yeah, I see it as a bit of like overperformance to what we expected. So I guess that's, of course, a good thing, considering how everything felt.

Verstappen's comments over his issues carried over from Qualifying were then raised with the Dutchman, asked whether he was any happier with his RB22 on Sunday.

"No, it's exactly the same," Verstappen replied bluntly. "There's nothing that you can change anyway after Qualifying. So I knew that it was going to be tough and it was very tough, honestly.