Ferrari has faced a troubling season following a less-than-ideal performance this year. Charles Leclerc started with pole position, only to fall back in the order after a poor start to the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hope was high when Lewis Hamilton joined the legendary team from Italy, only to find that the iconic British driver needed time to resettle in the Ferrari hot seat. Ferrari has not been able to reproduce the results that catapulted them into F1 icon status, thanks to drivers like Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikonnen.
Both Ferrari drivers struggled to compete at the Hungarian Grand Prix
Qualifying went well for Ferrari ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Leclerc finished the session with pole position. That led Ferrari fans to believe that this race might produce a positive result, or even a win. Ferrari is yet to win a race this season and is falling behind the likes of McLaren and Mercedes, who both finished on the podium in Hungary. So the dreams of a Ferrari championship are very far off indeed.
Ferrari feared Charles Leclerc might not finish Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix after the Monegasque, who started on pole position, suffered a dramatic loss of performance after his second pitstop. Leclerc pitted from the lead on lap 40 of 70 and ended up fourth, with teammate Lewis Hamilton 12th in a race won by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Team boss Fred Vasseur told reporters that the situation had been “quite strange” after being in control for the first 40 laps.
“The last stint was a disaster, very difficult to drive, and the balance was not there. Honestly, we don’t know exactly what’s happened so far,” he said. We have to investigate if there’s something broken on the chassis side or whatever. At one stage, I thought that we would never finish the race.” – Ferrari Team boss Fred Vasseur
It all started so well for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari in Hungary
Leclerc had taken Ferrari’s first proper pole of the Formula One season on Saturday, apart from Hamilton’s sprint pole in Shanghai in March, and led cleanly away from the start at a circuit where overtaking is difficult. Norris switched from a two-stop strategy to a one-stop, despite McLaren’s initial reservations about the tyres lasting, after dropping to fifth on lap one and needing to do something different to teammate Oscar Piastri.
Championship leader Piastri had failed to get past Leclerc on strategy but was able to take second and close the gap to Norris after the Ferrari lost speed.
“We had to try and do something to beat Leclerc because it wasn’t obvious that we just had enough pace to blow past him and go and win that way,” said Piastri of a failed attempt to get ahead with an earlier first pitstop. The Australian is becoming the favorite to take the driver’s championship this year for McLaren.
“I don’t know what happened to Charles in the second half of the race, but clearly something happened because he looked quite quick for the first half.” – Oscar Piastri
Can Ferrari turn their fortunes around once the summer break ends
As the Formula 1 world enters the summer break, the drivers’ standings are looking like a McLaren fan’s dream, or a Ferrari fan’s nightmare. Oscar Piastri leads the way, with his teammate, Lando Norris, in second place. Ferrari, on the other hand, is far behind the pace and is struggling to find any joy this season. With the Formula 1 world coming to grips with the ousting of Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, the season enters its second half. Can Leclerc and Hamilton make a U-turn and deliver Ferrari their first win this year?
Coaches Database/Reuters
