20/07/2024
NEWS STORY
In a thrilling Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session, Scuderia Ferrari HP qualified fourth and sixth with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc respectively, in particularly tricky track conditions.
The result is nothing special, but the weather conditions were very different to those seen in Friday's free practice, making the management of each part of the session particularly complicated.
At the start, the track was damp as it was drizzling slightly, but not enough to require Intermediate tyres, while the track temperature was around half that seen on Friday. All the drivers went out on Soft tyres and Carlos got to the next phase without any difficulty. Charles struggled a bit, but was never at risk. In Q2, the Spaniard again immediately set a competitive time to get to the next phase, while Leclerc needed a second set of new Softs, which meant Carlos had two sets of new ones for Q3, while Charles had just the one, which he fitted immediately as the radar picture reckoned the rain was going to return in the final minutes. He then set a good time of 1'15"905, putting him provisionally fourth, and Carlos posted a 1'16"204. Along with several other drivers, Sainz improved on his second run as the track evolved, getting down to a 1'15"696, claiming fourth place on the grid, while Leclerc dropped to sixth and went out on used tyres, but he was unable to put in a timed lap as the session was red flagged following Yuki Tsunoda's crash. At the restart none of the drivers improved, partly because the rain was falling again at the Hungaroring, so the grid positions remained unchanged.
The aim is now to bring home as many points as possible from tomorrow's race, as aiming for the podium might be difficult given the pace of the McLaren duo and Max Verstappen. However, some of the usual rivals are starting further back and so we will need to grasp any opportunity that presents itself. An acceptable result will depend on a clean start followed by a perfect execution of strategy and pit stops will be vital as will tyre management, with temperatures for the 70 lap race due to be on the rise again.
Carlos Sainz: We had a good qualifying overall, with very solid laps every time I was on track, pushing our car to the limit. We've improved a bit this weekend, but looking at the timesheet I think today's P4 was the best result we could achieve.
Tomorrow we need to be extremely focused the entire race because there could be opportunities and we need to make sure we are there to take them. Let's race!
Charles Leclerc: P6 is not a result I am happy with. My lap in Q3 was not the cleanest, but after the red flag, we knew it would be really hard to improve and we gave it a shot anyway. I think it was the best we could do today.
Overall, we have to work on regaining the pace we had at the start of the season. Tomorrow, we will push to maximise our team points and we will see where that leads us.
Fred Vasseur - Team Principal: Today's result reflects the situation in terms of the hierarchy among the teams. McLaren were quick in all conditions and they deserve to be on the front row, while we need to focus on ourselves. During free practice the track temperature was almost 60 degrees and then for qualifying, we had a light shower at the start and it was much cooler, and this made the session more difficult to manage, even if the conditions are the same for everyone.
Of course, it would be better to start near the front, but from P4 and P6 we can still score good points and aim for the podium, as we think we have a competitive race pace. It's not as difficult as it used to be to overtake here, especially with the second DRS zone so we must see what we can do tomorrow in what will be a tyre management race, as it is expected to be warm again. It's clear we still need to push on our car development to catch up with those who are in front but meanwhile we have to maximise the points haul in tomorrow's race.
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Hungaroring here.