Team Principal and Managing Director of Scuderia Ferrari, Mattia Binotto, admitted that the Italian outfit was unable to match their Friday pace in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, as the team lose crucial points to Oracle Red Bull Racing at a race they very much should have won.
Having started on the Medium tyres and fitting another set at their first pitstop, Ferrari’s biggest mistake was not extending Charles Leclerc‘s stint instead of reacting to the Max Verstappen‘s undercut. While Leclerc was able to pass George Russell for the lead in the second stint, the Monégasque was forced onto the Hard tyre in the third stint, which was hard to warm up as a result of the low track temperature. The Soft tyre was unable to make it to the end of the race, so this strategy call was a huge blunder as the Red Bull cars charged through the pack.
Ferrari performed a better strategy with Carlos Sainz Jr., keeping him out longer on his second set of tyres, meaning he could switch to the Soft compound for the last stint. However, the Italian outfit still pitted the Spaniard a little too early, as graining and a later-pitting Lewis Hamilton would out-perform them on an identical strategy. Overall, it was a day to forget for the Scuderia, who will be heading into the summer break with two disappointing races in a row.
“Today’s result is unsatisfactory,” said Binotto after the race. “In general, we did not perform well, with the car unable to reproduce Friday’s pace and in terms of how we managed the strategy and pit stops.
“Analysing every aspect of this race is our top priority over the coming days, in order to prepare as well as possible for the remaining Grands Prix.“
Ferrari is now ninety-seven points behind Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, while Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team have closed the gap to be just thirty points behind. The team certainly need to make some changes over the summer if they want to continue fighting for the title, especially after handing Verstappen two wins in a row.
