The Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc started the Hungarian race from positions 2 and 3. In the end, it was only enough for places 4 and 6. Team boss Mattia Binotto had to explain himself afterwards.
The wrong strategy and botched pit stops were fatal for the Ferrari drivers in the race at the Hungaroring: Although Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had a good starting position for the 13th showdown of the season with grid positions 2 and 3, the Spaniard and Monegasque had to fight each other be content with places 4 and 6 in the end.
It wasn’t just the botched pit stops that cost a lot of time that were to blame. But also the wrong strategic decisions. For example, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari was fitted with the hard tire at the second stop, which didn’t work very well – which was to be expected.
After just 15 laps, the World Championship runner-up was called back to the pits to correct the mistake. This raised eyebrows among Scuderia’s observers and competitors. Team boss Mattia Binotto explained afterwards: “Of course the result is not satisfactory. In general, we didn’t show a good performance.”
“The car wasn’t as quick as it was on Friday, and the strategy and pit stops weren’t ideal either,” admitted the engineer. And he promised: “The analysis of all aspects of this race is our top priority in the coming days.”
“It will take at least a few hours, if not days, before we have analyzed everything in detail,” he sighed in an interview with “Sky Sports F1″. And the Italian emphasized: “We certainly expected a better performance, no matter what tire compound we used, the car didn’t work as we had imagined. The weather conditions probably played a role as it was much cooler than on Friday. We’ll definitely find out what caused it.”
“It’s a shame we didn’t get a better result,” Leclerc sighed. And unlike Binotto, he explained: “The car felt good and we had a good pace on the indirect tyres. But unfortunately the hard tires didn’t work. We have to see what we can do better now.”
Hungarian GP, Hungaroring
01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:39:36,533 h
02. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +7,834 sec
03. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +12,337
04. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, +14,579
05. Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +15,688
06. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +16,047
07. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +1:18,300 min
08. Fernando Alonso (L), Alpine, +1 Runde
09. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +1 Runde
10. Sebastian Vettel (D), Aston Martin, +1 lap
11. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +1 Runde
12. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, +1 Runde
13. Guanyu Zhou (RC), Alfa Romeo, +1 Runde
14. Mick Schumacher (D), Haas, +1 lap
15. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren, +1 lap
16. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +1 Round
17. Alexander Albon (T), Williams, +1 Runde
18. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, +1 Runde
19. Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, +2 Runden
Out
Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, Motor
Championship status (after 13 of 22 races)
driver
01. Verstappen 258 points
02. Leclerc 178
03. Pérez 173
04. Russell 158
05. Sainz 156
06. Hamilton 146
07. Norris 76
08. Ocon 58
09. Bottas 46
10. Alonso 41
11. Magnussen 22
12. Ricciardo 19
13. Gasly 16
14. Vettel 16
15. Schumacher 12
16. Tsunoda 11
17. Zhou 5
18. Stroll 4
19. Albon 3
20. Latif 0
21. Nico Hülkenberg (D) 0
Constructors’ Cup
01. Red Bull Racing 431 Punkte
02. Ferrari 334
03. Mercedes 304
04. Alpine 99
05. McLaren 95
06. Alfa Romeo 51
07. Haas 34
08. AlphaTauri 27
09. Aston Martin 20
10. Williams 3