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“We can’t hope to win the championship”: Charles Leclerc losing title hopes as Ferrari’s poor strategy cost’s him 25 crucial points

Tejas Venkatesh
Published

"We can't hope to win the championship": Charles Leclerc losing title hopes as Ferrari's poor strategy cost's him 25 crucial points

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had another disappointing weekend in Hungary as Ferrari slumped 1-2 finish over poor tyre strategy.

Charles Leclerc’s woes seem to not disappear as he suffered another poor result. Charles finished the 2022 Hungarian GP P6, while his teammate Carlos Sainz finished P4.

While Max Verstappen started the race P10 and yet managed to win his 8th win of the season. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed the podium finishing P2 and P3.

The Ferrari pit wall anticipated a smooth weekend in Budapest after qualifying P2 and P3 on Saturday. But 24 hrs later, the team lost potential 43 points in the race.

Ferrari was outsmarted by Red Bull and Mercedes, who pitted early. This cost the Italian team a vital track position later on in the race. Ferrari also chose to run the Hards, which weren’t ideal based on track conditions.

 

Leclerc was visibly frustrated with the bizarre strategy that cost him a podium finish. He said, “I don’t know what to say, my medium tyres were good. I had a good feeling about them. I don’t understand.”

And with the win, Verstappen gained an 80-point lead over Leclerc. Over which Leclerc sighed, “We can’t hope to win the championship if we do races like that.”

Also Read: Joel Embiid star trolls $1.3 billion F1 team for spoiling Charles Leclerc’s race

Charles Leclerc frustrated over Ferrari Strategy

Charles Leclerc was clearly frustrated with the errors of Ferrari’s strategy team. Ferrari asked the two drivers to pit later than Red Bull and Mercedes, leaving them vulnerable.

The Monegasque was annoyed towards the end of after running his set of hards. He was losing traction and pace. Even Max Verstappen managed to overtake Leclerc despite having a massive lockup and spinning 360.

Leclerc was heard saying on the radio towards the end of the race, “The hard was so bad. That’s why I said I wanted to stay on medium for as long as possible. Was this the same for everyone?”

Ferrari’s error means they are 97 points behind the leading constructor Red Bull. Mercedes are, however, catching up in the race for P2 on the table. Mercedes are trailing the Italian team by 30 points heading into F1’s summer break.

Also Read: “These tyres are sh*t” – Ferrari goes against Charles Leclerc wishes that could have won him race

About the author

Tejas Venkatesh

Tejas Venkatesh

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Tejas Venkatesh is a Motorsports writer at The SportsRush. He started watching F1 in 2007 and fell in love with the sound of the revving V8s. A technical nerd, tejas loves to nerd over the technical beauty only motorsports can achieve. He calls himself a Vettel fanboy and spent the night crying after Hockenheim 2018. Apart from F1, Tejas is an avid Chelsea Fan and loves football.

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