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Hungarian GP: Explaining Ferrari’s latest mistake and Charles Leclerc’s shrinking Formula 1 title dream



In a way, the Hungarian GP perfectly encapsulates the seasons of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen and a failed title challenge for Ferrari.

Leclerc and Ferrari threw more points in a completely avoidable way, while Verstappen and Red Bull stood ready to slam.

Currently 80 points behind Verstappen in the race to the championship, Hungary is the latest fatal blow to Leclerc’s championship ambitions. Given his performance and his car this season, that deficit is hard to believe.

What happened? Who is to blame? Is there a way back? As Ferrari begins their latest investigation, it’s time to start one of the…

What is Ferrari’s latest Leclerc ‘disaster’?

Leclerc looked to have nailed the nail for a morale-boosting and much-needed race win on Sunday, having gone from third on the grid to a half-point race lead after overtaking George Russell in a wonderful way. While Verstappen – after starting in 10th – continued to fall further back, Leclerc soon took a comfortable five-second lead and Ferrari held all the cards.

However, the race got off to a tactical start – with Red Bull seemingly getting Ferrari to make a mistake.

Anthony Davidson is at SkyPad to analyze Charles Leclerc's strategic woes that led to his completion of P6 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Anthony Davidson is at SkyPad to analyze Charles Leclerc’s strategic woes that led to his completion of P6 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Anthony Davidson is at SkyPad to analyze Charles Leclerc’s strategic woes that led to his completion of P6 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Verstappen, having used soft and medium tires so far, pitted the remaining 32 laps at more medium distances, while Red Bull appeared to be trying to take out Russell and Leclerc’s teammate. Carlos Sainz.

Instead of responding with a pit stop of their own with Sainz – whose tires were older than Leclerc’s – Ferrari decided to lead the race. To make the decision more bizarre, since Leclerc has so far only used medium tires and this tire will not last until the end of the race, hard compounds are not recommended.

Leclerc’s pace immediately demonstrates why teams are reluctant to use hard players. Leclerc was a duck in front of Verstappen, who passed him twice – before and after a spin – to effectively take the lead.

Too unhappy with his tyres, Leclerc would then re-pit from second place, sending him down to sixth, where he would finish.

“The last part of the race was a disaster for me,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 afterwards. “That’s where I lost the race.”

Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari's decision to put him on hard tires was a disaster

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Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari’s decision to put him on hard tires was a disaster

Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari’s decision to put him on hard tires was a disaster

How did Ferrari explain it?

Ferrari has largely tried to divert attention by insisting their car wasn’t fast enough to win the race, but they were forced to explain the decisions that led to their fastest driver reaching the finish line. Friday.

Mattia Binotto said that while Ferrari is aware of other cars struggling on hard tyres, the team did their own calculations that after 11 laps, the hardware would actually compound the fastest.

Mattia Binotto was quick to defend Ferrari's strategy at the Hungarian GP and was unhappy with the car

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Mattia Binotto was quick to defend Ferrari’s strategy at the Hungarian GP and was unhappy with the car

Mattia Binotto was quick to defend Ferrari’s strategy at the Hungarian GP and was unhappy with the car

So in a perfect scenario, Ferrari covered Verstappen’s tackle, and Leclerc should have been quick enough to protect the Dutchman.

But in reality, no one – including Leclerc himself – was completely shocked to see the hard tires fail.

“I think it was because the car wasn’t performing as we expected,” Binotto said afterward, again trying to focus on vehicle issues rather than strategy.

But he added that he has complete confidence in his team.

“What happened, at least it will take a few hours, a few days to analyze.”

How many points have they lost to Leclerc this season?

Throwing away winning positions has been the story of Ferrari’s season and there is a very good argument that they cost him more than a century to Verstappen through a lack of trust and strategy.

Spanish GP: Leclerc relaxed from the lead before Ferrari suffered an engine failure.
Loss: -25. Leclerc looked certain to win this race, but to no avail.

Monaco GP: Leclerc was leading the team in one-two Ferraris before the team reacted too late to changing weather conditions, and Sergio Perez knocked him down. Leclerc will then have a pit-stop two slow stacks behind Sainz, and finish fourth.
Loss: -13. Unyielding to Red Bull’s strategy, Ferrari will win the race.

Azerbaijan GP: Leclerc took the lead, again from the pole, before his engine blew up in lap 20.
Lost points: -25. Leclerc should have used an effective one-stop strategy but he had enough speed to win.

The best action from the thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen wins from 10th on the grid

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The best action from the thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen wins from 10th on the grid

The best action from the thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen wins from 10th on the grid

Canadian GP: Leclerc received an engine penalty for previous defeats and started behind the net, though he still finished in 5th place overall.
Lost points: -15. Verstappen will win, but only against Sainz. Since Leclerc has had the edge over Sainz all season, it’s not foolish to assume that Leclerc can win this race without an engine penalty.

British GP: Once again, Leclerc was ahead of the Safety Car, which resulted in the car stopping up and down the field to get new tyres. But Ferrari – while conceding Sainz for faster acceleration – kept Leclerc sitting on the old hard tire 14 laps, leaving him defenseless against those behind.
Lost points: -13. Leclerc finished fourth but if stopped to advance, he would have definitely won. Ferrari said it was worried about the others staying and taking the lead, but Leclerc would have the pace to get through.

Hungarian GP: Ferrari certainly let Leclerc out of his vehicle, as he wanted, before switching him to the tank at the end, when he could have chased Verstappen. Winning? Sure.
Loss: -17.

POINTS LOST, TOTAL: 108.

With Verstappen having won all but two of the above races (Monaco and Silverstone) and only two DNFs to himself, Leclerc can and should probably lead this championship.

How many points did Leclerc lose himself?

It has to be said that Leclerc winning the title derailed is not entirely Ferrari’s fault. Indeed, after his collision at the French GP last week, Leclerc says he is the one who should be blamed if he fails to claim the 2022 crown.

At the Emilia Romagna GP, Leclerc was running third and chasing Sergio Perez before he sped into the bend and sped off. This left him in sixth place, costing him seven points.

Race leader Charles Leclerc crashed into the fence in Turn 11 and was disqualified from the French Grand Prix!

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Race leader Charles Leclerc crashed into the fence in Turn 11 and was disqualified from the French Grand Prix!

Race leader Charles Leclerc crashed into the fence in Turn 11 and was disqualified from the French Grand Prix!

Then came France, when another victory slipped through Leclerc’s fingers. Leclerc was firmly in control before he made the worst non-compulsory mistake of the season, slamming over the fence and out of the race. We’ll put it down like a 25 points lost.

So yes, if Leclerc loses the title by 32 points or less, he can be rightly criticized of himself.

But his error pales in comparison to his team.

Is there a way back for Leclerc in the title race?

Absolutely true to pure speed. Ferrari has had the fastest car to date this season, with more milestones than Red Bull and, as evidenced above, they should have more wins too.

But 80 points is still a big number for Verstappen, who could go into the second half of this season knowing he doesn’t really have to win the race to defend his title (Verstappen can runner-up behind Leclerc each round and still won).

Ferrari’s challenge has so far not exactly ignited confidence for what is sure to be F1’s biggest title fight.

Ted Kravitz looks back at the thrilling race at the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Ted Kravitz looks back at the thrilling race at the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix

Ted Kravitz looks back at the thrilling race at the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix

However, Red Bull remains wary.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: “It’s been a very good lead but there’s a lot of race to go.

“Things could go wrong, we had some reliability issues [on Sunday] with the clutch and that could quite easily be a DNF but luckily it’s not.

“So there are some areas where we can still improve and there’s still a lot of racing to do.”

The season continues on August 26-28, with the Belgian GP. All sessions are streamed live on Sky Sports F1.





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