Ferrari’s race had unexpected highs and strategic lows, with Leclerc close to podium and Sainz faltering at the start.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a somewhat unexpected result given his car’s lack of pace. Nonetheless, the Ferrari driver was pleased to have performed better than anticipated against two of the other top teams.
“It was a more positive race than I expected, especially with our pace compared to Red Bull. Against McLaren, it was as expected; they were too quick. But we were fast alongside Red Bull and Mercedes,” Leclerc remarked.
“In the final stint, we opted to pit to do the opposite of what Max was doing, but that turned out to be a poor decision, and we paid for that strategy as I stayed with Lewis and wore down the tyres. However, this fourth place is a positive result for the team. Now we must focus on finding the missing performance.”
The Monegasque does not see an immediate turnaround for the Scuderia: “Not in the coming weeks as we have a three-week break, and not immediately after. But I hope as soon as possible, definitely something before the end of the year, and I hope it will help us close the gap with McLaren.”
Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, explains how his poor start compromised his race, finishing in sixth place: “The race was tough for me today. The start wasn’t good and here, in Hungary, that’s crucial. It jeopardised the first two stints as I had to overtake cars to finish sixth.”
“From there, the race was rather solitary. In the last stint, I was able to push a bit more after extending the hard tyre, but overall, as we saw yesterday, we lacked pace compared to the leading cars this weekend.”
The Spaniard is now looking forward to a completely different challenge: “Belgium is a totally different circuit and we need to think about the approach we want to take with the car to try and finish the first half of the season with a strong result for the team.”
- You may also like>Alpine F1’s Hungarian GP Ends in Disarray
- Following us on>Facebook and>Twitter
Leclerc Narrowly Misses Podium Sainz Stumbles Leclerc Narrowly Misses Podium Sainz Stumbles
