The three-team battle for victory has dwindled to just two: McLaren and Red Bull Racing. After qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, both of Ferrari’s drivers agree that they had expected to be on form… but weren’t.
Ongoing bouncing problems have plagued both Ferraris, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz admit that they’ve begun approaching the Hungarian GP weekend with a mindset of maximizing their own performance, not competing with the frontrunners.
Charles Leclerc: “We don’t have the performance”
Ever since the new ruleset was implemented in 2022, Ferrari’s SF-24 has continuously suffered from bouncing problems. However, the situation worsened when the Scuderia introduced a performance upgrade in Barcelona.
According to the drivers, the recent upgrade has been labeled as a “performance” enhancement rather than a handling improvement. It has undeniably contributed to the increased speed of the car. However, this upgrade has also made the driving experience more demanding, giving rival teams such as Red Bull and McLaren an edge over the Prancing Horse team.
After qualifying, Charles Leclerc confessed to the media that he was aware that we required additional effort to reach the level of McLaren and Red Bull, even before the weekend began.
“But in my opinion, the most effective course of action for this weekend would be to fully capitalize on it, and I genuinely believe we accomplished that.”
Currently, our major issue lies in our lack of performance, which hinders our ability to significantly improve.
“That is the aspect we will concentrate on in future development.”
Carlos Sainz will commence the Hungarian GP from the fourth position, while Leclerc will start from sixth. Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes managed to separate the two Ferrari drivers.
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Despite making some adjustments to the package they brought to the Hungaroring, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz mentioned to the media that they are still facing the same disadvantage as in the past three or four races. He stated that they are experiencing the exact same percentage of lap time deficit as before.
Despite the potential success of the new package, it indicates that we still have a considerable distance to go.
Sainz attributes Ferrari’s impressive performance in FP1 to the high track temperatures.
He explained that despite the initially high temperatures giving hope of closing the gap to the leaders, once things cooled down, we were still trailing Lando by three or four tenths throughout the weekend, and the same gap persisted in qualifying against every other competitor.
Sainz expressed his desire for additional time to thoroughly analyze the data on the package tweaks to determine their effectiveness. However, he warned the gathered media members that he had anticipated some reality checks today, hence his attempt to keep everyone calm yesterday.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Charles Leclerc expressed, “Our car is likely the fourth, or possibly the third, quickest on the grid. We bear a striking resemblance to Mercedes… However, it’s unfortunate that McLaren and Red Bull have surged significantly ahead of us now.”
Yet, it seems that the team’s efforts to keep up with the leading contenders have been unsuccessful. Presently, Ferrari is determined to establish a solid position within the team.
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