Charles Leclerc said before the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix that Ferrari was expecting, at best, a P4 and P5 finish with their current level of performance. And it turned out to be another disappointing weekend as they couldn’t even achieve the said result with Carlos Sainz slipping down from fourth to sixth by the end of the race.
And according to Leclerc’s latest comments, Ferrari doesn’t seem to have any solution to their current problems. Having started the race from P4 with Sainz and P6 with Leclerc, the Monagasque capitalized on the race start and moved ahead of his teammate.
And a good strategy call to undercut Verstappen in the final stint luckily paid off as the Dutchman crashed into Lewis Hamilton and lost positions. However, it was an overall disappointing weekend for Ferrari with the new under-floor upgrades not working as the team had expected.
Responding to whether the Hungarian Grand Prix can be the turning point for Ferrari this season during a post-race interview, Leclerc commented,
“I think the fact we came with specific goals was the only positive thing. Last year we had the solution in our hands to fix things quickly… The situation now is unfortunately different. It will take more to fix it and I don’t think there’s anything in the car to help us with our current problems. I’m sorry to say this but we have to wait before we see improvements.”
really hard words from charles on ferrari’s current situation.
: “if this race can be the turning point of the season? i think the fact we came with specific goals was the only positive thing. last year we had the solution in our hands to fix things quickly… the situation… pic.twitter.com/eQMBQvEn8G
— leclerc data (@leclercdata) July 21, 2024
Having started as the second-best team at the start of the season, Ferrari saw a dip in performance after introducing a major upgrade package at Barcelona. The upgrade that was meant to help the Ferrari gain more downforce ended up introducing the dreaded porpoising to the car.
Fred Vasseur believes Ferrari is moving in the right direction
While Leclerc may not believe that Ferrari has any immediate solution to their current problems, team principal Fred Vasseur believes the team is on the right track. During the post-race interviews, Vasseur highlighted how the team has done a better job this year compared to last season.
“I think we had a very strong weekend, with a good fight in the race behind them with Red Bull and Mercedes, and overall, we probably got the most out of what we could get this weekend,” Vasseur noted.
Fred Vasseur: “It went quite well. Congratulations to McLaren, nice weekend. We had a good fight with Mercedes and Red Bull. Leclerc got off to a good start and had a strong pace on the hards. #HungarianGP #Ferrari #F1 pic.twitter.com/fnTqhUFHmV
— Lucho Yoma (@LucianoYoma) July 21, 2024
The Frenchman noted how Leclerc finished only 20 seconds behind race winner Oscar Piastri compared to a 65-second deficit to race winner Verstappen last season. Vasseur then also praised Leclerc for running a strong pace in the middle stint on the hard tires that allowed them to attempt an undercut to Verstappen for the final stint, which ultimately paid off with a fourth place finish.
