Fred Vasseur already knew it after practice: “We are not looking for the best Friday, we are looking for the best Sunday.” But the Easter Bunny – I know, it’s late July – seems to have hidden the best Sunday exceedingly well. At least, Ferrari couldn’t find it.
The Scuderia truly delivered a masterclass in Budapest – namely, in how to completely blow a promising weekend.
Never before had the chances for a Ferrari success looked so good going into a weekend as at the Hungaroring. For the first time, the Scuderia was considered genuine favourites for the win, and they backed up that claim on Friday.
The competition was utterly blown away in practice: they handed McLaren, Mercedes & Co. a half-second beating in both FP1 and FP2. Although Kimi Antonelli showed the better long run, in Hungary you first have to get past your opponent.
Anyone who had bet on a Ferrari victory with their friends on Friday evening would likely have received only a weary smile and the ironic line: “Boy, aren’t you brave.”
But somehow, everything was different starting Saturday. Although Charles Leclerc had already warned on Friday that he didn’t expect to have such a huge lead in qualifying, pole went to someone else: eventual race winner Lando Norris.
But: still no reason to panic. Ferrari put in a good qualifying effort with second and third places, and besides, a gap of 0.012 seconds is hardly the end of the world.
Hungary should have been a slam-dunk for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton also seemed to think he was on pole: after the session, he mistakenly parked at the board with the #1 on it.
In my mind’s eye, I could already see Sebastian Vettel – just like Canada 2019 – taking the board away from Hamilton’s car and moving it aside. Unfortunately, someone else ended up doing the job…
However, Hamilton wasn’t allowed to start the race from second on Sunday. The seven-time World Champion had clearly impeded Oscar Piastri in Q3 and received a three-place grid penalty.
Vasseur took the blame on Ferrari’s behalf, stating the team failed to inform Hamilton in time that a driver on a hot lap was behind him. So instead of starting second, the Briton was only starting fifth.
But: still no reason to panic. After all, the whole of Sunday was still ahead – and Ferrari usually starts better than the competition anyway.
Yet the first naysayers were already heard before the start. Ferrari was the only top team that opted for the soft tyres in the first stint – and if Ferrari is the only top team doing something, you just know it’s wrong.
“With the tricky qualifying I put on new mediums and all new softs, so I only had scrubbed tyres”, Leclerc explained after the grand prix. “For the start, I wanted to get the advantage of the soft – and honestly, we thought the soft was a good tyre.”
The weekend soon fell apart for Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Despite the soft tyres, though, the start wasn’t won; instead, Leclerc dropped from second to fifth. “And we paid the price for that in the race,” he lamented.
As the race unfolded, Ferrari continued to show little strategic variety and managed to bring its drivers back onto the track right into heavy traffic, almost as if on purpose. On all three of Hamilton’s pit stops, the Briton landed directly behind another car.
Even so, Ferrari seemed to get it right for once, getting Hamilton past Max Verstappen on the first stop – only for the Briton to be caught napping again at Turn 1 by the furious and brave former world champion.
Yet that good decision was ruined by the final pit stop. That’s when Ferrari made the mistake of pitting its drivers under the virtual safety car.
Hamilton had already lost second place in Silverstone due to a decision like that – and just two races later, the exact same thing happens to the Scuderia. All while it should have been clear that overtaking was difficult on Sunday anyway – unless you’re driving through a bunch of F1.5 cars like George Russell, or you’re Verstappen.
Perhaps the team was afraid that Hamilton would be caught napping again by the Dutchman, though he was running on 14-lap-old softs. And even he stayed out on those boots.
Second place was gone, as was third place to Kimi Antonelli, who had pitted for fresh rubber just before the VSC. To make matters worse, Hamilton also copped a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
For him, it’s already the third race in a row with a penalty. And don’t forget: Hamilton had also picked up a penalty on Saturday. Once again, pure chaos at Ferrari.
Somehow, the Scuderia don’t seem suited to the role of favourites. In Barcelona and Silverstone, they were able to celebrate surprising underdog victories, but as soon as they are tipped to win, they find as many ways as possible to mess up the weekend.
“That was not a good Sunday,” Vasseur had to admit. “When you’re 1-2 on Friday, you expect much more than P4, P5.”
His analysis: “We made too many mistakes today.” I think we should leave it at that…
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