(Motorsport-Total.com) – Dear readers,
Fred Vasseur already knew after practice: “We’re not looking for the best Friday, we’re looking for the best Sunday.” But the Easter Bunny – I know it’s the end of July – must have hidden the best Sunday very well. At least Ferrari didn’t find it.
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The Scuderia really showed us a masterclass in Budapest – namely, how to completely mess up a promising weekend.
Never before had the chances for a Ferrari success been as good in the run-up as at the Hungaroring. For the first time, the Reds were truly considered favorites for victory and underlined this claim on Friday.
The competition was truly blown away in practice: McLaren, Mercedes & Co. were each given half a second in the first and second practice sessions. Although Antonelli showed the better long run, in Hungary you first have to get past your opponent.
Anyone who had bet on a Ferrari victory in front of their friends on Friday evening would probably have only received a tired smile and the ironic remark: “Man, you’re brave.”
But somehow everything changed from Saturday. Charles Leclerc had already warned on Friday that he didn’t expect to have such a big lead in qualifying either, but pole went to someone else: the later race winner Lando Norris.
But: No reason to get excited yet. Ferrari put in a good qualifying with second and third places, and besides, a gap of 0.012 seconds is really not the end of the world.
Where was Sebastian Vettel when you needed him?
Lewis Hamilton also seemed to think he was already on pole: he mistakenly parked next to the sign with the 1 after the session.
In my mind’s eye, I already saw Sebastian Vettel – similar to Canada 2019 – taking the sign in front of Hamilton’s car and putting it aside. Unfortunately, someone else took over the job then…
However, Hamilton was not allowed to start the race on Sunday from either pole or second place. This is because the seven-time world champion had clearly impeded Oscar Piastri in Q3 and received a three-place grid penalty.
Vasseur took responsibility for this on behalf of Ferrari, as the team had not informed Hamilton in time that there was a driver on a fast lap behind him. Instead of starting position two, there was thus only starting position five.
But: No reason to get excited yet. After all, the whole Sunday was still ahead – and Ferrari usually starts better than the competition anyway.
Always stopped in traffic – Madness!
But the first grumbles were already heard before the start. As the only top team, Ferrari opted for soft tires in the first stint – and for both drivers. In our editorial office, it was already joked: If Ferrari is the only top team to do something different from everyone else, then you know it’s wrong.
“Due to the difficult qualifying yesterday, I had unfortunately already used up all new mediums and softs, so I only had used tires left for the race,” Leclerc explained after the race. “For the start, however, I really wanted to use the advantage of the soft compound – and honestly, we also considered the soft to be a good tire for us.”
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However, the start was not won despite soft tires; instead, Leclerc fell from second to fifth place. “And we paid the price for that in the race,” he laments.
Ferrari also showed little strategic variety later on and managed to consistently bring its drivers back onto the track directly into heavy traffic. In all three of Hamilton’s pit stops, the Briton landed directly behind another car. You have to manage that first!
Nevertheless, Ferrari seemed to be right for once and brought Hamilton past Max Verstappen during the first stop – only for the Briton to be caught off guard again by the furious and courageous ex-world champion in Turn 1.
Silverstone reloaded …
However, the good decision was undone by the last pit stop. Ferrari made the mistake of bringing its drivers into the pits under the virtual safety car.
Hamilton had already lost second place in Silverstone due to such a decision – and just two races later, the exact same thing happened to the Scuderia. One should have seen that overtaking on Sunday was difficult anyway – unless you drive like George Russell through a bunch of Formula 1B cars or your name is Max Verstappen.
Perhaps the team was afraid that Hamilton would be caught off guard by the Dutchman again, but he was on 14-lap old softs. And even he stayed out on those tires.
Second place was thus gone, as was third place against Kimi Antonelli, who had already pitted for tires shortly before the VSC. To make matters worse, Hamilton also received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
For him, it is already the third race in a row with a penalty. And don’t forget: Hamilton also received a penalty on Saturday. Once again, pure chaos at Ferrari.
Rather an underdog than a favorite?
Somehow, the role of favorite doesn’t seem to suit the Reds. In Barcelona and Silverstone, they celebrated surprising underdog victories, but as soon as they are favorites for the win, they find as many ways as possible to mess up the weekend.
“That was not a good Sunday,” Vasseur also has to admit. “When you are in first and second place on Friday, you naturally expect significantly more than fourth and fifth place.”
His analysis: “We simply made too many mistakes today.” I think we should leave it at that…
Perhaps as a Ferrari fan, one should simply hope that they don’t make the biggest step over the summer break, but rather secretly and quietly annoy the favorites again and snatch a victory here and there.
That role suited Ferrari better somehow.
P.S.: What does “Mamma mia” actually mean in Hungarian? (Gemini says: “Anyám borogass!” – literally: “Mother, make me compresses!”)
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That sounds like the perfect closing remark before the summer break!
Yours
Norman Fischer