Title race pressure ‘ramping up’, Max to stay at Red Bull + Fred’s Ferrari deal – 2025 Hungarian GP Preview with Valtteri Bottas

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1:42Welcome everyone to F1 Nation's preview of the Hungarian Grand Prix. I'm Tom Clarkson and I've been speaking to Valtteri Bottas to get his thoughts on who will be quick around the Hungaro ring this weekend. Will McLaren continue where they left off at Spa last weekend, or will someone else muscle in on victory? Now, after we'd finished recording the show, Max Verstappen confirmed that he'll be staying at Red Bull for 2026 after a lot of speculation around his future and rumours of a move to Mercedes. Here's what Max said on Media Day here in Hungary. The thing is always that people are waffling so much throughout the whole season, while the only one that actually can or should speak is not speaking.

2:29That's me. And I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around. Some people just like to stare at the pot, some people just like to create drama. But for me it's always been quite clear. And also for next year, I'm discussing with the team already the plans, the things that we want to change for next year. So that means that I'm also staying with the team for next year. Good to hear from Max. Good to hear that he's staying at Red Bull. Now all eyes will be on the identity of Max's teammate for 2026. Will it be Yuki Tsunoda again or will one of the young guns at Racing Bulls get the nod?

3:07OK, it's now time to hear from Valtteri. He's a man who's had a couple of podiums here in Hungary. So I started by asking him what a driver needs underneath him in order to be quick at this twisting and tortuous racetrack. You need a lot of downforce. That's number one. You need a car that doesn't overheat the tyres too much. It's normally hot. There's only one proper straight. Otherwise, it's just quite twisty. No time to rest. It's quite intense. Do you subscribe to, I think it was Nelson Piquet who coined this phrase back in the day, he said Hungary, Hungaro ring is like Monaco without the walls.

3:47Not quite, but if you compare to some tracks, yeah, like I said, it's quite twisty, there's lots of corners, lots of slow speed corners as well, like I said, it's intense and needs lots of focus, but yeah, you don't have the walls like in Monaco. If you're not driving a McLaren this weekend, is it an uphill struggle or is it a sort of racetrack where we might see a surprise result? It's quite a bit about the qualifying here. You know, it's one of the most difficult tracks to overtake, I would say. So again, Saturday is important for the teams. And we have seen quite a few surprise qualifying this year.

4:20I think that it's not always McLaren 1-2. You know, there can be a car that can split them or even be ahead of them. So I think whoever is going to qualify in the front row will have a chance for the win, no matter in which car you're on. What are these cars like on the limit? Can we discuss qualifying a little bit? It seems very easy to make a mistake. Are they on the edge more than the cars pre-2022, for example? It does feel like it's a bit more on the edge. Overall, a bit more snappy, these cars. And also the ride, because the ride is really stiff if we compare to a few years back. Sometimes if you bottom out in a high-speed corner or something, we can see people having big moments.

5:07So it's definitely not an easy car to drive on the limit and it's a bit edgy, yes. Let's break down what's going on in the top teams. if we start with McLaren, this battle, this amazing championship battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. I mean, first up, when you look at those two drivers, will the Hungaro ring suit one of them better than the other? They've been very close in terms of performance, whether it comes to golfing or the race pace. I couldn't beforehand this week, and I couldn't say who's going to be on top. We've seen actually both drivers making mistakes in golfing, I would say whoever will make least mistakes this weekend is going to be stronger.

5:51But performance-wise, honestly, I couldn't say. So it's good to watch. It's good. They have a good battle. And I think that battle will continue until the end of the year. I mean, to go back to the Monaco analogy, I know you don't necessarily agree with it. But the fact that Norris was on pole in Monaco, do you think that'll give him a boost coming into this one? given the small similarities between the two tracks? Maybe a little bit, yes. He was also definitely on the pace last weekend in Spa. So for sure he's now got good momentum. But then on the other hand, Oscar did win the race. Maybe he wasn't fastest on the single lap, but he did get the win.

6:33So he's confident as well on his ability. So again, very, very hard to predict. You've been in a championship battle before. how crucial is the summer break in terms of momentum is it important the guy who wins this one are they going to have a more relaxed three weeks off than the guy who doesn't you you definitely have a better break if you you know have the last race before the break if it goes well you know you you have the confidence yeah you've earned your mini break and it's just good vibes and positive feeling but if you have a big failure like I actually had one year I had a horrific start turn one here I went bowling if you remember and that yeah for sure the start of the break wasn't that comfortable you know it just plays on your mind yeah yeah it does but then as you have to because next race will come it will go away eventually but um yeah it's definitely nicer to start the break if you if you have the good vibes now Oscar Piastri in the press conference a little bit earlier was playing it cool we're good teammates look at what happened here last year you know Lando gave me the position in terms of pressure when you're fighting for a for a world championship we are only halfway through the season at what point does it start to ramp up I think it's already started you know I think I mean no doubt not Melbourne obviously or do you think every race actually counts?

8:00Every race counts, but I think it's only going to ramp up in terms of the pressure for the drivers and of course for the team as well. Things are going to get more and more nervous the closer you get to the end and to the deciding point of the season. So I think it's only going to get more and more interesting to watch and it's going to get more and more interesting for them too as well. Let's bring it on to Ferrari now. First of all, actually. Can we get your thoughts on Fred Vasseur re-signing as team principal for that team? I mean, you know Fred. How reassuring for him and how reassuring for the team?

8:36I think it came to the point that there was just too much noise. You know, is he out or what's happening from my side? I think it's a really good call from the team to confirm that to the whole world. I don't know how long Fred has known himself, but I think it will just stabilise things now. Again, just focus on the work and Fred can focus on what his job is, getting Ferrari back to the front. What is Fred like to work with? What does he bring to a team? He's a great boss. He's a great leader. For me, he will bring a bit of calm to Ferrari. He can be a calming factor. He's very structured, very straightforward, also has a good sense of humor, but he can be hard on people as well.

9:21But I think for me, he is the calming factor at Ferrari and making sure that they can just really, really get on with the job and forget extra politics. If we talk about the drivers now, the Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc said today in the press conference, this is my worst track of the year. And I'd love to just analyze that a bit because he's so brilliant at Monaco. And yet he says he's always had really rubbish results here. Yeah, I don't know why. I don't know why. As a driver, sometimes you feel like you've got a track that is, you know you don't maybe like it as much as some others um sometimes you've got a track that you've just had quite a bit of bad luck but that can change you know he can have a mega weekend and then he's big fan of the track again you know so i think it's unlucky so curious to see if that's going to be the the trend still for him here or not they introduced the new rear suspension last weekend at spa they were a bit nervous about doing that publicly they said that because it was a sprint weekend but they say it was worth doing because we now go to Hungary with a better understanding than if we'd waited it's all about ride height pitch sensitivity in that car that's what the team are saying how important is that here with the slightly lower speeds than we were seeing at Spa I think it is important it's really um a track that you need that um for sure the aero load but also the mechanical grip and yeah it's all about the grip here or all about the corner speeds um yeah there's not many high speed corners but um if it's doing what they think is doing then for sure it's going to help them here here as well a lot can we talk about yeah your old teammate yeah lewis hamilton he's an eight-time winner here he's never finished outside the top six at this track unless he's not finished the race he's got an incredible record can i take you back to the days when you were looking at his data what was so impressive about hamilton around here his strength here was in the race mainly uh also golfing obviously very consistent always being able to nail the lap his strength was the last sector especially the last couple of corners as his driving style through those um last two corners the 180 degree left and then 180 degree right exactly and the tires are like roasting even on the quality lap at the end and he could still always be consistent and manage the minimum speed in the corners really well.

11:48But in the race, his strength was all about tyre temps. He could keep the tyre temperatures under control here normally better than myself. That was his strength, was the race pace he can have on this track, and that is trying to limit the rear tyre overheating. Now, most people last year did a two-stop race in the Hungarian Grand Prix. This year's Pirelli compounds seem to be a little bit more durable if you were racing would you think you'd be trying a one-stop or is it just too early to say would be nice to try but i would say good luck trying you know yuki sunoda i think was the only one who managed a one-stop last year yeah it's it's hard temperatures they're not going to be anything crazy this weekend i don't think it's going to be super hot there's even small chance of rain at the moment for for sunday so never say never i still think it's extremely difficult to do one stop and for sure to get to the flag the quickest will be two stop but then there's the issue with the track position so let's see i think it's more going to be about the weather if there's cloud cover there might be a chance but slim chance cadillac has entered formula one deepening the racing pedigree behind every v-series on the road discover a lineup that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury.

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13:37Let's bring it on to home turf now, Mercedes. It's been a bit of a tough run, it has to be said, for the team. You know, it wasn't so long ago you were winning in Canada and Kimi was on the podium. Tell us about the car. Is it misbehaving or is there one particular issue that's been holding you back? And do you think it'll be better this weekend? I thought the season started in quite a positive note and also with George, like really consistently getting podiums, consistently bringing the points, Kimi as well. And then Montreal was mega. But since then it's been challenging, I think, due to different circumstances.

14:18But on paper, I wouldn't say it's the best for the team, but not the worst either. Definitely we've seen to try and beat McLaren, you don't want any high-speed corners on the track because they're really fast in high speed. There's one or two high-speed corners here. but the weakness still has been the the tire overheating for Mercedes and I think the team is consistently improving consistently learning but there's no major updates you know for this weekend so I'm not expecting miracles I think we still have a chance especially like I said earlier it's a lot about the quality here and if we can nail the quality then there's there's a really good chance for another podium.

14:59Do you think the car will be more competitive around this kind of configuration? I think so. If we compare it to last weekend, I think we'll be more competitive. That's my guess. Can I ask you about Kimi Antonelli? You've been avuncular, like an uncle to him, it seems, this year. We've seen a lot of shots of you in the garage, working with him, advising him. As we reach the halfway point in the year, Valtteri, if you were writing his report card, What would it say? I support him a lot. I've been proud on what he's achieved already in his first year in Formula One. I don't want to be harsh on the numbers.

15:40For sure, there's been mistakes, which was always expected. And it's been the same for any rookie. That's normal. But he's always learning from mistakes. And that's the main thing. His pace has improved. But still, it depends a bit on the weekend. Sometimes it takes a bit longer for him to get up to the speed. sometimes he's there right away but that's just part of the learning process quickly giving a number i hope he agrees uh i'll probably give seven and a half out of ten out of ten um i think he would agree because he he wants to do better he wants to do every weekend better and better and he wants to be more consistently getting the maximum points possible but he's had a couple of tough weekends so that's why it's not been the perfect start but like i said almost like expected And the team is giving him time to develop and to get better.

16:33So there's no huge pressure, I would say. Is he closer to George now than he was at the start of the year? On average, yes, absolutely. It's not always visible, but how quickly he gets up to speed, that has improved a lot. His technical feedback has improved a lot. There's many, many things behind the scenes that probably not everyone will see, but he's definitely improving. I think the break will come in a good time again for him to reflect on his first ever half a year in F1. He can take all the learnings and then go again for the second half. What do you think is the hardest thing for someone like Kimi when they come into a front-running team in Formula 1?

17:12I would say the workload. You know, you come to a big team, you've got lots of events, lots of things going on apart from the driving. has he got a lot more on his plate than you had at Williams all those years ago your first year? yeah probably a bit normally the bigger the season the more stuff you do with the partners and so on and you're always under the spotlight and you're against George who's really performing well so it's not an easy spot to start but as a driver of course you say yes of course you're going to take the opportunity Yeah. And the relentlessness of the calendar, right? Yes.

17:51Does that get underestimated, the impact that has on someone who's inexperienced? I think so. You know, with experience, you definitely learn to deal with it, with all the travel, with all the jet lag and how to preserve energy when you can. You know, when you're a rookie, everything is new, everything is exciting. it's quite easy to let's say burn the candle from the both ends but again I think it's really learning all of that step by step Final one of the top teams just Red Bull on pole at Silverstone with that reduced downforce rear wing on pole at the sprint in Belgium can he do it again? Can Max Verstappen be a thorn in people's sides again here?

18:40He can You know, the qualifying is so important. And so far, every weekend, he's been really squeezing everything out of the car. It doesn't seem like an easy car to drive, but he definitely can get the most out of it. So, yeah, I think he'll be up there. You should never not count Max on the battles. It's true, isn't it? You can never discount Max. Look, is there one other driver or car that you would recommend people look out for? We've seen some surprises. What about Williams? Albon, great run to P6 last weekend. Yeah, I think Williams has done a great job this year. But again, it's been like some races are there, some not.

19:16It really depends on conditions on the track. So I really can't predict for the rest. Look at what happened in Silverstone Sauber podium. That was incredible. You know, it shows that, yeah, anything can happen. So look out for everyone. That's my advice. VB, a word on Sauber. You spent three years of your life there. It's been an extraordinary turnaround, really. Absolutely. You know, they've definitely improved this year and the upgrades they've been bringing, they've clearly added performance. And yeah, they've been actually many times on the points and even Gabriel last weekend was in top 10.

19:56So I think now they're really in the right direction with quite a few changes in the team. I'm sure it means so much to the people I can only imagine the feeling in the garage when they got the podium it's more than a win for them so yeah actually really happy for them still have many friends in the team Now VB look into that Crystal Ball what's your top 3 for the weekend? Crystal Ball says PS3 Norris In that order? Yeah Why are you so convinced? I don't know. Just got the feeling. And P3 is going to be George. He's going to have a positive weekend this weekend. So that's what my ball says. Just final one.

20:44The paddock rumours are saying you're going to be on the grid next year. What can you tell us? I hope so. That's all I can tell us. I'm working on it. And yeah, I really hope so. So thank you. You look pretty chilled out. I'm quite a chill out guy overall. so maybe that's why. VB 2.0. Yeah. So thanks to Valtteri. Great to have him on the show again. And to keep across the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, please go to F1.com or the official F1 app. And in selected countries, you can watch all the racing on F1 TV. We will, of course, be back on Monday with our review of all the action this weekend.

21:22But for now, thanks very much for listening. F1 Nation is produced by Formula One and Audioboom Studios.

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