Max Verstappen says the general lack of balance that has impacted his Red Bull RB19 since the start of his Hungarian Grand Prix weekend carried over into qualifying on Saturday.
The Dutchman led the first round of hot laps in the Q3 shootout but failed to improve on his second run in the segment while Hamilton fired a stunner that edged the Red Bull charger by just 0.003 seconds!
For Verstappen it was the end of a string of consecutive poles that stretched all the way back to Monaco, and the two-time world champion felt he owed the shortfall to that his car's lack of balance.
"I have been struggling the whole weekend to find a good balance," he explained. "Every session has been up and down.
"Today also in qualifying it was really difficult in Q1/Q2 to just feel confident, to really attack corners.
"I thought my first run in Q3 was quite good. But then the second run again, no feeling.
"I tried to push a little bit more, but you lose the rear, or lose the front. We are still second, but I think we should be ahead with the car we have normally. But so far I think we haven't been on it."
Red Bull introduced in Hungary an upgrade package that included revisions to the RB19's sidepods and floor.
Verstappen believes the changes had a positive impact overall but admitted to not being able to optimize his car's set-up.
"I think the update works, but I think we just didn't really put everything together set-up wise," he said.
"I think today we have been all over the shop and not exactly where we want it to be."
Looking forward to race day, the 43-time Grand Prix winner reckoned that the hot conditions forecasted for Sunday will weigh on rear tyre degradation, but the Dutchman was confident that he will be able to get the job done.
"It's going to be quite hot and normally rear tyres are going to be difficult, but I think for the race everything settles down a bit more," he explained.
"I would have just hoped to have a little bit more of a fun balance in qualifying to really attack it."
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
