Red Bull cuts Verstappen media as car criticism erupts

Red Bull sharply reduced Max Verstappen’s media appearances after qualifying in Hungary as the Dutchman renewed his fierce criticism of the unpredictable 2026 car.

Verstappen described the car over the radio as "broken aerodynamically" before qualifying P6.

"We don’t have tyre degradation, we have car degradation," he said afterwards.

"If you have a balance problem, that’s one thing, but if it changes from lap to lap, it’s very complicated."

The four-time world champion said the car had become almost impossible to trust. "We have to fix this before the race, because the car is undriveable, as you could see in the last corner."

"I turned in and it was like the back of the car didn’t even exist," Verstappen added. "It’s really crazy."

"We’ve already had quite a few problems but it feels like it’s a different problem every time, and that makes it harder to keep it under control."

Verstappen normally speaks to Dutch reporters for more than five minutes after qualifying, but his session was ended by his Red Bull minder after only two minutes.

His international media appearance lasted approximately 90 seconds.

Red Bull attributed the shortened sessions to a scheduled team meeting, although teammate Isack Hadjar continued speaking to reporters at length despite supposedly being required at the same meeting.

The unusual intervention comes amid continuing uncertainty about Verstappen’s future.

Ralf Schumacher suggested Verstappen’s aggressive driving may also be contributing to the repeated incidents.

"I have to be honest, especially because Max always pushes the limits, that for some reason it might also be down to him," the Sky Deutschland pundit said.

"Perhaps it’s his driving style, that he simply demands too much from the car. With Hadjar, it happens almost less, you have to say."

"It always happens with Max. Perhaps it’s because he simply has to accept that the car doesn’t have as much downforce as last year."

"Maybe that’s all it is."

Away from the immediate car crisis, Verstappen confirmed he helped convince Tom Hart to remain at Red Bull to eventually succeed Gianpiero Lambiase as his race engineer.

"I felt a bit from Tom that he really wanted to stay, but in a different role," Verstappen told Viaplay.

"Around Miami, we kind of started the conversation - what do you think if we do this or that idea? In that case, I noticed that he was excited about this."

"Now we just have to look when the right time is to involve Tom a bit more."

Hart had been due to join Williams as Alex Albon’s race engineer.

"I think Tom is a great guy and an excellent engineer," Albon confirmed, "but we certainly have alternatives too."

"Tom was of course a name that I immediately thought, if Tom can come, then that would be great. But in the end, it didn’t go through."