Going into the Hungarian GP, Ferrari were quite confident of getting a 1-2. However, after what many saw as their worst strategic blunder so far this year, they ended up in 4th and 6th. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto and driver Charles Leclerc have given contrasting opinions about this
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0:00 - Charles Leclerc Directly Contradicts Binotto’s Explanation After Hungary Debacle
1:51 - Fast Feed
I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
Charles Leclerc Directly Contradicts Binotto’s Explanation After Hungary Debacle
Binotto, while speaking to Sky F1 defended their decision to put hard tyres on Charles Leclerc’s Car
“Whatever tyres we were using, soft, medium or hard, I think at the end the performance of our car was not as expected, and the car is not performing well”
He reiterated that the car as a whole wasn’t performing well
“Today the car was not behaving well. I think that’s the point, that [for] the first time this season, [it’s] not working as we are hoping for. We [will] try to understand the reason”
Leclerc, however, gave a totally different account on the radio immediately after the race
“Oh my god! The hards were so bad. That’s why I said I wanted to stay on the mediums for as long as possible”
He then enquired if it was the same for everyone and when the team confirmed that the hards were equally bad for all the teams that tried it, Leclerc had the following to say
“Why did we go on it? I mean, what was the reason then?”
He then reiterated his thoughts about his car’s performance on the medium tyres while speaking to Sky F1
“I don’t know yet. We need to speak with the team and understand the thoughts behind putting on the hard tyres, because I felt very strong on the mediums”
“Everything was under control, and I don’t know why we needed to go on the Hard tyres”
Leclerc signed off by reconfirming his confusion at Ferrari’s strategy call
“I said on the radio that I was very comfortable with the medium tyres and that I wanted to go as long as possible with those tyres”
“The feeling was good, but I don’t know why we took a different decision”
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For McLaren’s Lando Norris it was “tough in places [during the Hungarian GP]”
“Seventh was the best we could have done for the points today, and we were ahead of our rivals”
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso explained that they “wanted to make the one-stop strategy work on the Hard tyres”
“We didn’t have two Medium compounds to choose from for the race and instead we maximised our tyre choice for Saturday’s Qualifying”
Teammate Esteban Ocon added that they “can be happy to score points with both cars”
“I don’t think we quite maximised our potential during the race and we’ll discuss as a team what we can do to improve”
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel feels that their “race pace was competitive [in Hungary]”
“So improving our Saturday performance needs to be a focus for the second half of the year”
Teammate Lance Stroll concurred that they “seem to have better pace on Sundays than on Saturdays”
For AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly “the most important thing is that [they] use the upcoming three weeks to extract more from [their] package and finish inside the points consistently”
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen explained that their “race was compromised massively by having to pit for the black and orange flag”
“I had slight contact at the start with one of the McLaren’s, I couldn’t avoid it”
“It wasn’t that bad, so I was surprised to get the flag”
Did Ferrari’s strategy cost Leclerc the victory in Hungary?
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