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Max Verstappen insists that sim racing on Grand Prix weekends does not impact his performance in the real car – and he denies that he has agreed to no longer race late at night.

The Dutchman, who is set to land a power unit change grid penalty in Belgium, took part in a Spa 24 Hours GT event the night before the Hungarian GP.

His eventful race to fifth place, which included some heated radio comments, led some observers to speculate that his late night had had an impact.

However Verstappen is adamant that was not the case, citing previous occasions when he stayed up late.

“I raced until 3am,” he said when asked by this writer about his Budapest sim activity. “It’s not something new. And for me, it’s something very important in my life. Now there are no other sim races coming up anyway, so no one needs to worry about that.

“Always when you don’t win the race, you will always blame it on, ‘Ah, he was staying up until 3am,’ or ‘He’s one kilo overweight.’ There’s always things to make up that you can argue about when you don’t win a race.

“But for example, in Imola, I did win the race, both of them. So for me, this is not something new. I’ve been doing this since 2015, so for me, this is not something that is any different in my preparation.

“I’ve won three World Championships, I think I know pretty well what I can and what I cannot do, and I’m always very hard on myself, what is allowed and isn’t allowed. So I think with all the experience that I have in F1 I think I know quite well what is possible.”

Verstappen denied a suggestion from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko that he had agreed not to compete into the early hours of the morning on F1 race weekends.

“We talked about it,” he noted. “I said anyway, you don’t need to worry. Like I just said there’s no other race coming up so, but no, it’s not that I have a ban or whatever.

“I also don’t need to tell them what they do in their private time during the weekends. And that’s the same for me.”

Verstappen also downplayed criticism of his colourful radio comments in Hungary, when among other things he complained about the strategy that he had been given.

“People that don’t like my language, then don’t listen in, or turn the volume down,” he said. “I am very driven to success. I think I’ve proven that already. And I always want to optimise stuff.

“Now, people can argue that you might not be so vocal on the radio, but that’s their opinion. My opinion is that it needs to be said at the time to maybe also try and force that the second pit stop would have been a bit different.

“And yeah, that’s how it goes. We are very open-minded. We’re very critical to each other as a team. And that’s been working for us very well, so I don’t expect that to change.

“That’s our approach. I think it’s important that we can be critical, because in this world that we are living now, I feel anyway, that a lot of people can’t take criticism anymore like it used to be, and I don’t want to end up like that.”

Verstappen disagrees with the principle of radio traffic being broadcast.

“In other sports people say things, but they don’t have a mic, of course, attached to their mouths,” he said. “I say what I want, but that’s our sport as well, naturally. You’re communicating a lot with the pit wall. You have, of course, the opportunity to talk.

“In other sports, maybe you swear yourself about stuff that you didn’t like, or a teammate didn’t pass you the ball. You call them whatever it is, but there is no mic. So just how our sport is, I guess.”

Yuki Tsunoda says a one-stop strategy in Hungary was “not even in our conversation” before he used it for an impressive drive to ninth place in Hungary.

The VCARB driver started 10^th after the team had to build up a brand new car following his huge crash in Q3.

He managed to make his medium tyres last for 29 laps and then used a set of hards to get to the flag as the only driver in the field to pit once.

While he inevitably lost out to the faster cars of Sergio Perez and George Russell that started behind he managed to jump the Astons of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, as well as his own team mate Daniel Ricciardo.

“One stop was not even in our conversation before the race,” he said when asked by this writer about the strategy. “So I’m very surprised that we’re able to achieve one stop and hang on until the end of the race.

“That was good, and obviously big thanks to the team that they repaired very fast and precisely overnight. Without that, I wouldn’t be here, so big credit.”

Tsunoda admitted that he didn’t know that the race would pan out so well for him.

“The start wasn’t that great, I wasn’t able to gain a position,” he said. “So I think what I did for the tyre management, also what the team decided to make, that was really decisive and really good.

“To be honest, I thought we were just waiting for a safety car. But actually, I heard that pace is actually faster than the people who pitted. So that was actually an unexpected thing. And I was very surprised.

“Inside, the feeling wasn’t that great. Obviously, it’s quite on edge pretty much everywhere. But I guess the management I did in the beginning was pretty good.

“And also I was feeling rushed, because a couple of fast cars that pitted tried to overtake me, so I lost out couple of times there. But I hung on quite well.”

He added: “It was important to be able to finish in front of all the competitors where we fighting, especially Haas. I guess they’re very fast, and they will be very fast even more in Spa, I’m expecting.”

Coming after a solid 10^th at Silverstone the timing of Tsunoda’s Budapest performance was ideal, given the current speculation over Red Bull’s plans for Sergio Perez, and how the company might juggle its drivers around.

However RBR Christian Horner is known to be lukewarm on Tsunoda as a potential candidate for the senior team.

Asked if his Hungarian drive might help his case with those who don’t see him as an RBR driver Tsunoda said: “I don’t know. Hopefully they’ll change their mind, obviously, just keep improving myself with these results.

“These things, I can control with the results and everything, and those mindsets or whatever, about their thinking, is out of my control.

“So hopefully, with my efforts with the last two tracks I’ve done, and also next track, will count a little bit, and hopefully that will make a little bit change for their mind.”

Ricciardo was anticipating an apology from his team after the flag

Daniel Ricciardo was left “angry” after his VCARB Formula 1 team gave him what he felt was a poor strategy call in Hungary – and then failed to apologise on the in-lap for getting it wrong.

The Australian started ninth on the medium tyre, and lost a couple of spots at the start to drivers on softs, and who had better initial grip.

However he was then surprised when he was called into the pits for an early first stop just on lap seven, as the gaggle of soft runners were stopping.

He then found himself on the same strategy and his immediate rivals. He eventually finished 12^th, while team mate Yuki Tsunoda used a one-stop strategy to go from 10^th on the grid to ninth at the flag, jumping both Aston Martin drivers.

“Massively,” he said when asked by this writer if he was disappointed. “Why they pitted me when they did at the beginning… We followed the soft cars in. They’ve just come in, we have a clear track, and we decide to pit behind them and put ourselves in a DRS train, and then on the same tyre, we’re all on the hard.

“I’ve had a lot of races, and I’ve had a lot of frustrating ones, but that’s up there, because we had the pace, and we basically gave Yuki the race that we had in front of us. And we both could have done that, and we didn’t.”

Ricciardo said he didn’t have an opportunity to challenge the call to pit early.

“I didn’t have time,” he said. “It’s a late call, box, box, box, and you pit in. But honestly, as soon as I’m pulling in the pits, I’m questioning it. But you can’t, you get called in Turn 13, and you have to react.

“Two cars jumped us at the start with a soft tyre. That’s fine. Let them go. They pit, and we follow them, to then just be on their strategy. We would have had clear air and a chance to, I think, from what I understand, do Yuki’s race.

“Honestly, I was expecting more. On the in-lap I was waiting for a ‘Sorry, we fucked up,’ and I didn’t get it, so that made me even more angry.”

He continued: “Cars had already pitted, so for us to then pit, I don’t understand. We had a medium, the tyre is going to go, so let’s just use it. I don’t know if by doing that, that allowed Yuki to get points, but from my understanding, we both could have done it.

“We were both quick enough. We had the pace all weekend. So unless I’m missing something? I really don’t think I am.”

Ricciardo said it was made worse by the team asking him to hold up Lance Stroll near the end on fading tyres.

“Stroll’s catching me a second lap and maybe more, and they’re saying it’s really important to keep him behind,” he said. “And what do you want me to do? You pitted me so early. I’m on older tyres.

“I’m also being expected to fight when we’re not really in a fight anymore. So that that was also frustrating. There were times where I just felt the bed was made. So yeah, frustrated.”

Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted that a mistake had been made.

“Unfortunately, we got it wrong with Daniel and pitted him too early in heavy traffic, which lost him a chance to fight for points,” said the Frenchman.

“His pace had been extremely strong all weekend long, and he demonstrated that again in the final stint of the race when he was finally able to find some free air and fight his way back. 

“We certainly share his frustration, and we will learn and come back stronger next week.”

Alonso said his “strategy didn’t help” after missing the points

Fernando Alonso was left frustrated by Aston Martin’s strategy choice in Hungary after tumbling out of the points and finishing 11^th.

Alonso started the race in seventh place, and he briefly gained a spot from Carlos Sainz at the start, before the Ferrari driver quickly repassed.

However like other soft tyre starters the Spaniard was called in for an early first stop, coming in on lap seven.

Left with two long stints to the end of the race he knew straight away that it would be a struggle, and that proved to be the case.

In the closing lap the team told him to let the faster Lance Stroll past to attack Yuki Tsunoda up ahead. Although the Canadian failed to pass the VCARB the positions were not switched back.

“The strategy I think it was not optimal,” said Alonso when asked by this writer about the early stop. “Obviously, very easy to say after the race, but at that point probably the team felt that it was the good one.

“Bit surprised when we stopped in lap seven, because we talked this morning, our car is hard on tyres normally. So if you stop in lap seven, there are 63 laps to do, with one medium and one hard. 

“So it was a challenge from that point. And yeah, we didn’t have the pace, and the strategy didn’t help.”

He added: “We spoke this morning, we have to even a little bit the stints, if not, there is a high price to pay if you do a very long stint with one set of tyres. They called me box in lap seven, on lap eight, I knew that the race was over.”

Alonso said he wasn’t too bothered about ceding the final point to Stroll, who did a longer opening stint of 14 laps on the soft tyres.

“I didn’t care too much. It was one point for the team. It doesn’t matter which car takes that point. And I think he was trying until the last corner. So, yeah, I think it was the right thing to do.”

Alonso was non-committal on the value of the latest upgrade package.

“I think we need to analyse,” he said. “But for sure, these 70 laps, there are a lot of things to learn from the car. It’s the first race, the first long distance we do with the package.

“So let’s understand all the numbers that the factory can see on data, also the tyre degradation that we had today, and see if we can learn something for Spa.”

Sergio Perez says he will “not give up” and is determined to bounce back after another he endured another disastrous qualifying session in Hungary.

The Red Bull driver crashed heavily in Q1 in tricky conditions, bringing out the red flag. At the time of the stoppage he was in ninth place, but after the resumption he was demoted to 16^th on the final grid as others improved.

The incident came after a run of frustration weekends for the Mexican that included a costly spin into the gravel in Q1 at Silverstone.

Both incidents have helped to ramp up speculation about his future after he has struggled to match the pace of team mate Max Verstappen in recent weeks.

“I’m very sorry for letting my team down,” he said. “It hurts a lot as a driver when you let your team down.

“But I will not give up. I will really give my very best to turn the situation around, and push as much as possible to get that constructors’ home.”

Asked if F1 was still fun for him Perez made it clear that he wants to continue, indicating that he wants to demonstrate his strength of character to his children.

“It’s something that mentally is really tough,” he said. “And the easiest way will be just to give up after the career I’ve had, just to say, it’s been enough. But it’s not what I want to teach my kids.

“It’s not what I want to do. To show this sort of character I think it’s important to turn things around, get back to our form, because it was not that long ago.

“It’s just the one after the other. But you’ve seen it with many other drivers, that they’ve had difficult weekends, but probably when you are Red Bull, it’s a lot more noticed. And I just want to get back, and I will get back. I will not give up.”

Perez lost control when he touched a kerb on a track made tricky by intermittent rain.

“It was quite an impact,” when asked by this writer how he was feeling. “Luckily, it’s all good, bit of pain on the leg. But other than that, all good and ready for the race.”

“I lost it. I think I clipped the kerb, and that point it was raining harder in Turn 8. So when I clipped the kerb, it was quite late in the corner, and it just sent me off completely.

“It was so hard to judge the conditions. It was running hard, but at the end, you were not losing grip. I was improving my lap. So yeah, in hindsight, when you look at it, we were safe. We didn’t need to do the lap. But you always know a lot afterwards.”

He added: “I think after qualifying, everyone knows what to do. I think at the time, with the information I had, probably there was no need, especially where we were, and the rain was picking up. But we went, and we paid the price.”

Perez admitted that the incident was even more painful as it came so soon after Silverstone.

“I think these conditions can catch out anyone out there, but unfortunately, has been me with two in a row. I’m determined to turn things around. It’s obviously quite hard to face all the media after these difficult moments. But I think when we get back to it, it will be even sweeter.

“Yesterday we had a really good day, a very promising day.  So I think we have very good information on the long runs. So hopefully tomorrow we can have some really good pace to come through the field and hopefully score some points.

“I think the feeling with the car is improving, the understanding with it as well. So we’re definitely making progress.

“And yesterday probably was the best Friday of the season. So there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but we just have to come through it. And hopefully tomorrow, that can be the day.”

Perez insisted that he had no concerns about his future despite Helmut Marko suggesting that he would be assessed over the summer break: “No, like I said before, nothing changes.

“I’m not worried. I’m fully determined to turn my season around and to focus on my performance.”

Sargeant was left frustrated despite a strong session

Logan Sargeant has alluded to a lack of respect from fellow Formula 1 drivers when trying to find a clear lap in qualifying.

The American had an eventful qualifying in Budapest, touching the barrier in Q1 after setting an impressive lap time early on but still getting through to the following session in 14^th place.

The red flag delay for Sergio Perez’s accident helped his Williams team complete repairs to the car, and Sargeant finished Q2 in 14^th, just 0.114s shy of team mate Alex Albon.

However he was left frustrated after by the amount of traffic he had to weave through on his lap, complaining to the team, “That thing’s a joke. Honestly, no one moves.”

After the session Sargeant made it clear that he felt there was more in the car.

“I think firstly really happy with my first lap, when it was spitting,” he said when asked by this writer about his session. “Not so happy with the next one.

“An exceptional job by the team to get the car turned around. And most importantly, it felt in perfect condition. I don’t know if it was exactly, but it definitely felt like it was.

“But disappointed with Q2 because I know we had more in it, and a lot more. We all know how to play the game. I had to go through about eight cars through the lap, and everyone waits a couple corners too long to get out of the way.

“I don’t personally do that, but it sets a precedent going forward. Maybe I need to start. People are going to ruin my lap, I’ll ruin theirs.”

Asked if there might be a lack of respect for him compared to other drivers he said: “It is a bit of respect. I think you see someone like Max, Lewis who have all the success, and you might treat them a little bit better.

“But I try to treat everyone the same. I’m just disappointed, because I’m disappointed for myself and everyone the team, because we’ve done a good job this weekend, we’ve had more in the car. It’s disappointing not to get everything out of it for something that’s not in mine or their control.”

Sargeant conceded that the timing of his run didn’t help.

“It’s always hard,” he said. “I mean, would there have been less traffic? That’s for sure. Would that have helped us?

“For sure, but at the same time, I’m sure the team was doing what they thought was best to give us the best chance, and I’m sure they didn’t expect people to do what they did.”

Despite his frustration Sargeant remains confident that he can have a strong race on Sunday.

“Felt good,” he said. “I think everything’s in the right direction. I think we made some changes that weren’t perfect for qualifying, but should help tomorrow, so I’m hoping that pays off.

“I just wish I could have seen what we really had in it in Q2 there. But I feel good, driving well.”

Sergio Perez has been a focus of attention in recent weeks

Sergio Perez admits that he hasn’t been performing “at my 100%” but he is adamant that he will “ride the rollercoaster” amid speculation about his future and turn his season around.

The Red Bull driver has had a difficult run in recent weeks, with accidents in Monaco and Canada and a costly spin in Q1 at Silverstone.

Team boss Christian Horner has made it clear that Perez has to raise his game as RBR comes under pressure in the constructors’ championship.

“I haven’t been performing, first of all, at my 100%,” said Perez. “With the circumstances, when you put yourself in difficult positions, I obviously take a lot of responsibility for that.

“Obviously, there has been a lot of circumstances as well, with different sort of races. So I think it’s a little bit of everything. When you are in in this vicious circle, we had a really strong Friday, but then I messed up in Silverstone in qualifying. So that was down to me.

“Then, with the strategy in Silverstone, we just throw the dice and see what happened. It didn’t work for us. But I think the main thing is that I’ve been in this business for too long, and I know that it will only matter when I finish in Abu Dhabi. So let’s ride the roller coaster, and hopefully get back on form very soon.”

Perez admitted that he’s had a difficult time of late.

“I think Imola, Monaco, they’ve all been a little bit too tricky,” he said. “In Montreal we had an issue. We’ve been having a few issues, not a straightforward weekend. Some of them has been just a lack of pace, others, circumstances.

“Not everyone is operating at 100%. Obviously, when you are at Red Bull, everything is more noticeable, but I think my main priority is to get my season back on track. I think there is a long way ahead, and it will only matter where I finish in Abu Dhabi.”

He added: “Last year when we upgraded the car it went a little bit out of my hands, I think this weekend there have been a couple of issues. We haven’t had a straightforward weekend.

“There have been different issues every weekend. So we just keep learning from every weekend. We’ve been on really good form just few races ago. So I just believe that it’s just a matter of putting everything together on the weekends to get back to the form we had early, which is the main priority.”

Speculation in the paddock has suggested that Perez faces a summer break deadline that will allow the team to assess his performance relatively to team mate Max Verstappen, and potentially make a change.

After the Silverstone race he acknowledged that the next two races were “important,” but when asked by this writer if that comment hinted at a potential deadline he denied that was the case.

“There’s nothing related to that,” he said. “Obviously, I cannot talk about my contract, but it’s nothing related to that. What I said is that the next two races are very important for me, I want to go on holiday with a good spirit.

“And I think it’s good for my side of the garage to go on a good spirit. I wasn’t talking about anything else, I’m fully focused and fully delivered, and I will be here, and I will be here again next year, and that’s nothing different. I’m just fully committed to myself.”

Regarding Hungary and Belgium he said: “It’s another two races for us that we want to get back to our top form.

“That’s the main priority for me, for the team. I was back in the factory over the week, and that is the main priority for us really, to get back to the form we had a couple of races ago. That’s really it.”

Perez had another frustrating weekend at Silverstone

Sergio Perez admits that his British GP was “just a mess” after a gamble on an early switch to intermediate tyres didn’t pay off for the Red Bull Racing driver.

He was eventually classified 17th after a run that has seen him score just a seventh place and two eighths (plus an eighth in a sprint) over the past six race weekends, putting even more of a focus on recent doubts about his future at RBR.

Perez qualified only 19^th at Silverstone following a spin in Q1, and with little to lose the team opted to give him new PU elements and a pitlane start.

On the hard tyres he had made little progress when he joined Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu in pitting for inters on lap 20 in the first rain shower.

Unfortunately the track dried quickly and Perez lost 10-12 seconds a lap, and by the time the rain returned the tyres were worn out and he had to make a stop for new inters, so he tumbled further down the order.

“We gambled a bit too early,” he said when asked by this writer about the strategy. “And we were out probably for seven laps and completely cooked the intermediate.

“And then when the rain came, there was no tyre left, and it was just a mess overall. Then we boxed again. We were in the middle of the leaders, and it was very difficult to make any progress. Just not an easy afternoon.”

Perez admitted he came close to coming back in for slicks after realising how much the track had dried.

“It was very, very close,” he said. “I think we were just with our calls a couple of laps late, it’s a lot of seconds. But I guess at the same time we had to gamble from the position we were.

“Probably we were looking for a few points or big points, so we gambled it. But there was no luck today at all.

“And it’s good that there is a bit of a break, so that we can step back a bit and regroup as a team.”

Perez said Silverstone did have its positive side ahead of that planned reset.

“I think looking back at it, we had the strongest Friday in a while,” he insisted. “So I think there’s some light out of the tunnel. At the same time, it’s a very disappointing race.

“Other than that, just making sure that we are in the ballpark with the balance, try to make the progression we need for Fridays, and then things will be a lot better.

“I think it’s a good time to have a bit of a break, and get back our form hopefully for Hungary and Belgium, two very important weekends.”

The latter comment hinted that he is under pressure to get results in the last two races before the summer break. However, he says he’s not worried by the ongoing talk about his future at Red Bull.

“I know where I am in terms of contract and that sort of thing,” he said. “But I cannot let it be a distraction.

“I need to focus on the next two weekends, which are the priority, and together with the team, as a team, to get out of this difficult period.”