Hungary qualifying, Ferrari’s disappointment
Hungary qualifying, Ferrari’s disappointment
Here are the statements, hyena of disappointment, of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and the team principal of the house of Maranello Frederic Vasseur at the end of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, in which Leclerc placed sixth and Sainz was even eliminated in Q2 although by only 2 thousandths, not going beyond 11th place.
Charles Leclerc: “I put everything together today, the last sector was less good because I lost some grip in the rear tires, so I must have lost five hundredths which was important to gain a couple of positions. Honestly though, the lap was good, we struggle with the performance of the car right now, McLaren surprised again today: we expected them to have stepped up only in the fast corners and instead they did well even on such a track. We need to work and hopefully the next updates will bring us to compete with them. The new format is the same for everyone, so it doesn’t have a negative impact. The pace didn’t seem great, but it will be a bit of a surprise tomorrow, but if we do a good job on tire management we can do well.”
Carlos Sainz: “Two thousandths is really a few, but then again over the course of the weekend I struggled a lot with the averages. Unfortunately, with this new format that forces the use of compounds, I couldn’t maximize my performance. It was windy today, and we struggle with our balance on the long corners. Our rivals are doing a better job than we are, and we have to get busy because teams like McLaren are growing a lot.”
Frederic Vasseur: “The new format does not justify our performance. We would have expected much more, but we did not work well. It’s a lesson for us all, as other teams, like Alfa Romeo, were able to maximize their package, while we didn’t find the ideal set-up. We thought we had adequate balance in qualifying, but the rise in temperatures had negative repercussions and the car proved more difficult to drive. Tomorrow it will be very difficult to overtake, but we will also see what to do based on tire degradation.”
