Sebastian Vettel claims the twisty layout at the Hungaroring is responsible for Red Bull's pace at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

On Saturday, Max Verstappen finally claimed his first Formula 1 pole at the 93rd attempt as he beat the two Mercedes in qualifying in Budapest.

By contrast, the German was left down in fifth place for Ferrari as the lack of downforce on the SF90H saw him finish half a second behind the Dutchman.

“It’s down to downforce,” Vettel said simply to Sky Sports. “I don’t think they’ve found anything, they were quick already the weeks before coming here.

“Obviously they have a bit of a disadvantage on the engine side, but coming here, the engine is not important, so we knew they’d be strong and we knew Mercedes would be strong, but obviously we can’t be happy sitting further back and not being able to intervene in that fight."

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Earlier in the weekend, however, Lewis Hamilton suggested F1 could see a return to the days when Red Bull led the way through having more downforce.

That, he said, was thanks to the change to the Honda engine, and after giving the Japanese supplier their first pole in 13 years, team boss Christian Horner praised the progress being made.

“All credit to Honda, we couldn’t do this without them it’s great for them and a great team effort," he told Sky Sports.

"Everyone at Milton Keynes is doing a great job and that allows us to get on the front row here.

“Progress [with the car] is being made in all areas, the power unit and chassis are working well.”

As for Vettel, unable then to compete on pure pace with their rivals, the four-time champion is hoping a lack of dry running makes strategy a bigger factor on Sunday.

“Hopefully the tyres can melt, and we end up with more stops than one, otherwise it will be difficult," he concluded.