Hungarian GP: last-minute Ferrari twin podium in strategy-driven race

After a somewhat disappointing qualifying, expectations for today were high in the Ferrari paddock. Everybody knew those 70 laps would not be easy, starting P3 (Raikkonen) and P4 (title contender Vettel) in a tight and twisty track such as the Hungaroring. In a strategy-driven and highly technical race the Prancing Horse ended up doing good, but not great. Still, it’s a predominantly Ferrari-red podium, with Hamilton crossing the finish line first followed by Sebastian and Kimi. Let’s start from the beginning.

The balancing act of the first few laps

In the very sunny and hot Budapest, tyre degradation is not irrelevant: the #5 opts for Soft tyres in the hopes of prolonging his stint, while the #7 goes with Ultrasofts. When the lights go out at the Hungaroring, the first row goes for a clean start and both the Silver Arrows retain their positions, while Kimi is passed by Sebastian. Slightly behind, Verstappen easily overtakes Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly, snatching P5.

The first DNF takes everyone by surprise, being Charles Leclerc: his Sauber, sporting the Specification 3 of the Ferrari engine, has a technical issue and he is unable to carry on. Shortly after, another unexpected (and frustrating) DNF changes the course of the race: Max Verstappen suffers a power loss and regretfully has to retire.

Pit stop strategies

As expected, the race is rather uneventful in terms of overtaking, the only notable exception being Daniel Ricciardo: the Aussie never lets his fans and his praisers down and is able to get from P13 to P4, scoring the fastest lap in the process (1:20.013). An otherwise boring race is however heated by carefully calculated tyre management and pit stop strategies. Ferrari goes for a differentiated strategy, with two stops for the Finn and just one for the German, but both of them are poorly timed: not only the pit takes more than 4 seconds for both of them, but Vettel’s stop puts him right in the middle of a line of lapped cars, badly influencing his lap times. Despite these difficulties, fresher tyres allow both drivers to overtake Valtteri Bottas (on heavily degraded tyres) in Lap 66.

What happened to Valtteri Bottas?

The other Finn on the grid managed to hold back Sebastian Vettel for more than 20 laps, but this Sunday certainly wasn’t the peak of his career. Losing more than one second to his teammate for most of the race, many believed that his incredibly slow pace was just a team strategy to hold the German back and to ruin his tyres in their moment of peak performance. The almost consecutive collisions with Vettel and Ricciardo in the last few laps certainly didn’t help his cause: first he tried to keep his position when Sebastian had already shut the door and closed the corner, damaging his own front wing, then he destroyed Ricciardo’s floor by running him out of track, still eventually losing P4 to him in Lap 69 and getting a 10-second time penalty by race control. His post-race interview was filled with regret.

“[Being called a] wingman hurts. I don’t see any positives from this race, I’ll have to talk to the team after today”.

We’re entering the summer break with Hamilton on top of the Drivers’ Standing and Mercedes on top of the Constructors’ Standings. The Prancing Horse, however, is breathing on their neck. This championship is far from over.

Testing at the Hungaroring!

After the succesful Hungarian GP last weekend for Ferrari the Hungaroring this time hosted the inseason test. Ferrari had a succesful test with 98 laps on the first day, 100 laps on the second and topping both days on the timingscreens.

Day 1
On the first day of testing Ferrari junior driver Charles Leclerc took driving duties of the SF-70h. The driver is seen as one of the biggest talents in the racingworld and he proved that on his day of testing. He topped the session and with 98 laps on the clock it certainly wasn’t a bad day of testing for him.

His reaction afterwards: “Driving a Ferrari is never a normal experience, it’s a great honour. I have been accorded and I thank Ferrari with all my heart for this opportunity. I am pleased with the work I did and I hope the team is too. It was the first time that I’ve driven a Formula 1 car with the wider tyres and this level of aerodynamic downforce and it was an incredible feeling. To set the fastest time is nice, but, in testing, its importance is only relative. I can now go on holiday in a happy mood, before concentrating on the second part of the F2 season. For the moment, Formula 1 is just a dream. I still have work to do and I know that: one step at a time.”

Day 2
On the second day of testing Vettel drove for the first two hours of the day before handing over the car to Raikkonen. Vettel drove 40 laps and set the fastest time of the day. The Scuderia were testing a new diffuser and some other things you couldn’t see on the car. They were focussing on Spa and the last races of the season. It was difficult to test for Monza with the Italian track being a low downforce circuit and the Hungaroring being the absolute opposite. Raikkonen drove 60 laps and posted the third quickest time of the day.

Vettel afterwards: “It was a good opportunity to try a couple of things and get a feeling from the car. Obviously, in such a brief test you are not expecting to turn the world upside down, but it will be useful for the next races and for a better understanding of the car. I think this year we’ve been strong pretty much everywhere, of course there have been races in which we did not perform at our best but the purpose of all the work we do is to be in a good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve picked up momentum with the win in Hungary, now it’s up to us to keep it going, but I am confident that we have the right people and are going in the right direction.”

Raikkonen’s reaction: “We had a very good result, as a team, here in Hungary, but we always try to improve further. Today was a normal testing day, but obviously here you have more time and tires available than you have during a race weekend, so we try to get the best out of it. In the last few races, my feeling with the car has improved consistently, which shows that the new things we’ve brought have helped me drive better and better. Also, I am happy that I could help Charles Leclerc prepare for his test, but then it’s fair to say that all the team supported him.”

Hungarian GP: Perfect weekend for Ferrari!

The best possible result for Scuderia Ferrari as the team takes its second 1-2 finish of the year. Sebastian Vettel starts his summer break on top of the World Championship. Plenty of drama behind the red leaders.

The Scuderia reserved the front row of the grid on saturday, giving the team a perfect place to start the race. It was a pleasure to see so many Ferrari fans around the Hungaroring, a small and tight track, bathing in the hot sunlight on raceday.

The race
Both Kimi and Seb took a great launch and quickly disappeared into the distance. Grosjean and Hulkenberg touched in the first corner and Verstappen made a mistake in turn 2. Unfortunately his team mate Ricciardo was on the outside and received a hit to his side, damaging the suspension and forcing him to retire. This caused a short safety car. Verstappen got a 10 second penalty and pushed on to finish 5th.

Back to green flag and the Ferraris stayed out in front, but Vettel was struggling with a steering problem. He still managed to push very fast lap times, but told us afterwards that it was really hard.

An interesting moment between Hulkenberg and Magnussen: the Hulk was much faster and placed an overtake on the outside of turn 2, Kmag then pushed him off the track. When Hulkenberg confronted him about his unsporty driving after the race, he replied “Suck my balls mate”. Magnussen received only 5 seconds penalty. Fernando Alonso was a lot faster than usual, finishing P6 and taking home the fastest lap of the race!

In the final laps, Hamilton tried to overtake Räikkönen but did not succeed. Ferrari on top, Mercedes following in 3rd and 4th. Vettel can enjoy the summer break leading the championship by 14 points over Hamilton.

Next up: the mythical Spa Francorchamps!