BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Max Verstappen said he had not felt comfortable in his Red Bull at any point during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend after qualifying eighth for Sunday's race.
The defending champion struggled to find a balance in his Red Bull throughout the three practice sessions at the Hungaroring, with his final qualifying position representing his highest finishing position during any of the on-track action this weekend.
"There's not been a single lap or a single corner that I've felt good. The whole weekend so far has just been sliding," Verstappen said.
"I mean looking at the whole weekend I think we are happy to be in Q3 because I've been more outside the top 10 than in. The whole weekend I've had no grip.
"Front and rear and it was the same in qualifying. So for me, it's not really a shock, I just drove to what I already feel the whole weekend."
The long duration, medium-speed corners that make up a significant proportion of the Hungaroring have exposed some of the deficiencies of the Red Bull, but Verstappen said the performance was significant step back on last year when he qualified third at the same circuit.
"I think we still qualified very close to pole, like within a few hundredths," he said of his 2024 lap. "So I think we were a lot more competitive back then. This weekend already from lap one just felt off. We threw the car around a lot and nothing really gave the direction.
"That of course is the biggest problem because when you change a lot from the set up it will always give you positives or negatives, and ours was just nothing worked. It was just going round in circles and nothing gave you any kind of idea of what to do."
Verstappen is currently third in the championship but his chances of defending his title look increasingly slim with an 81-point gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri, who will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from second on the grid.
Asked what to expect from Sunday's race, Verstappen added: "There's a few cars ahead of me that I can maybe battle with a little bit, but of course Lewis [Hamilton in 12th] is a little bit further down the road and he shouldn't be there right. So he will come through a bit."