)
Red Bull strategists shocked their Formula 1 rivals, and even their own team, with a daring long-stint soft tire decision that helped Verstappen secure a podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Even Max wasn't convinced he could make it to the end on soft slicks, but the team's calculations proved correct.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur admitted his team was surprised by Verstappen's 29-lap soft tire stint, which secured Red Bull second place at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Team director Laurent Mekies praised his squad for the "spicy" strategic call.
Verstappen secured second place in Budapest despite enduring another difficult weekend with the Red Bull car. Meanwhile, both Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, missed the podium in favor of Kimi Antonelli, failing to capitalize on the speed of their SF-26 cars.
When Ferrari's decision for Leclerc and Hamilton to start the race on soft tires didn't give them an advantage at the start, it seemed the team had put themselves in a difficult position. Hamilton pitted after just 13 laps to switch to hard tires, with which Ferrari proved not particularly fast, and Leclerc followed three laps later.
Hamilton's stop triggered a reaction from Verstappen, who couldn't avoid having his strategy compromised, but a brilliant overtake into Turn 1 restored the Red Bull driver's position. However, the poor pace on hard tires forced the seven-time world champion to pit again after only 17 laps, setting up a three-stop strategy, with Leclerc doing the same on lap 36. Crucially, both Ferrari cars were fitted with a new set of hard tires, so it was a big surprise when Verstappen's second stop on lap 41 of 70 saw him switch to used soft tires.
Ferrari's surprise was shared by the Dutchman himself. "Is there any evidence around me that these soft tires will last?" he asked his race engineer.
When Oscar Piastri's McLaren stopped on track, triggering a virtual safety car on lap 56, Ferrari made the relatively easy decision to call Hamilton in for a new set of soft tires, conceding a position to Verstappen, who was also expected to pit.
Red Bull, however, kept him out on track, setting him up for a monumental 29-lap stint on soft tires, which Verstappen executed flawlessly to snatch second place – a result far exceeding Red Bull's wildest expectations after a challenging weekend with the RB22.
"In the pit, the team put soft tires on me, which initially I thought: 'This is going to be a long stint to the end,' but we managed it," a bewildered Verstappen said. "I was just wondering: 'How the hell did I end up here?' I was shocked, in fact, I'm still shocked."
Ultimately, Hamilton also fell behind Antonelli and missed the podium, with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane dropping him to fifth behind Leclerc.
The Red Bull director praised his team of strategists for the bold decision to keep Verstappen out on track.
"Today the guys made some pretty spicy strategic calls, including that one during the virtual safety car," Mekies said. "But not just that, if you look at the earlier move not to cover Lewis when he pitted early. And as always, they are always right. So, congratulations to the team on the pit wall, as well as the entire team back at our base."
"Overall, the race execution here was very, very strong. At the beginning of the year, we struggled with our starts. Now we are managing to have decent starts, strong pit stops, and as always, very strong strategy. So I'm certainly very happy with the way the team has been working in the last few races, as it's returning to the standard it's known for."
On the other hand, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur admitted that the team had not anticipated Verstappen's almost half-race stint on soft tires.
"It's true that at the end of the race, I think everyone was surprised because Max did about 37 laps on soft tires," he said. "We expected their life to be perhaps half as long. With the hard tires, it was much more difficult, but you discover that too late. We were trying to undercut his strategy, and at one point it was working, you anticipate the pit stop and you can't react. It was surprising, but I think it was surprising for everyone."
Vasseur stated that the decision to pit both his drivers during the virtual safety car, triggered by Piastri, was influenced by how well Verstappen's soft tires were holding up, but this realization came too late to beat the Dutchman.
"20 laps before the end, we realized that the soft tires weren't so bad, seeing Max's stint," the Frenchman explained. "We decided to switch to softs because we had the oldest hard tires on track."
"When you have a poor start like ours, you then try to 'undercut,' you change tires very early and you have to make decisions before the others. I think if I had to do it again, I would still do the same – try to push with the softs."
Ultimately, Ferrari's weekend could have looked very different with a cleaner qualifying performance and better race day execution, having failed to capitalize on their fast car to at least secure a podium finish.
Vasseur, however, admitted that Norris was in a league of his own aboard his McLaren.
"What's clear is that Lando was very, very fast, much more so than Oscar. When he was alone, he just flew," he said. "We were probably faster than Oscar. But it's hard to know your pace when you don't have clear air in front of you. I don't know if we could have won or not, but I think if we had put Charles in second place at Turn 2, it would have been a different race for us."
&format=webp)
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)
&format=webp)
&format=webp)