Ferrari returns home with a fifth and sixth place at the Hungarian Grand Prix achieved by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Ferrari neither fought for the victory nor took the podium, but the signals given by the SF-24, especially that of Leclerc during the race, were more than encouraging compared to the last 4 summer outings.
At the end of the race, Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur spoke to Sky Sport to comment on the Reds’ race, also anticipating that, probably, after the summer break in August the team will announce the new technical organization following the recent farewell of Enrico Cardile, who moved to Aston Martin Racing.
Vasseur, Ferrari’s race was definitely better than expected after yesterday’s qualifying…
“The race went quite well. Congratulations to McLaren, who were very strong. We had a good fight with McLaren and Mercedes and I think we got the most out of this weekend. Charles got a very good start, we went well at the start and he was very strong in the first and especially the second stint on the Hards. He struggled on the Mediums in the last stint, but overall we had a good weekend. We still need to make a small step forward in performance. Last year we finished 65 seconds behind Red Bull and this year we are 20 seconds behind McLaren. It is a step forward, but there is still work to be done.”
Why did you decide to do such a short middle stint with Leclerc?
“If you’re out on the same tyre as the guy in front and you’re a bit faster, you can’t overtake. And even if you’re on the same strategy as the guy in front of us, you have a chance. We tried to undercut Max but Hamilton also came in with us. We knew we were aggressive, but we preferred to try.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
McLaren had to make a tough decision today between Piastri and Norris. What would you have done in their place?
“In their place I would have enjoyed the double! It’s a nice problem to have. I understand what happened. The team was decisive, though. I know it must not have been nice for Norris, but in the end I think it was the right decision to let Piastri go through and win. The team’s decision was to switch places at the end.”
Do you think Ferrari has any problems after the announcement of Cardile’s departure, who will go to Aston Martin?
“I can announce that after the summer break we will announce the new organization. For us it is not a drama.”
When will we see a Ferrari capable of always fighting for the podium like in the first part of the season?
“We are already back in a position to get on the podium. Today we fought with Red Bull and Mercedes. It is more difficult to stay behind McLaren but it is a matter of tenths of a second. We hope to have tracks that are more suited to our car. Things will change from track to track. Mercedes was on pole last race and won, while here, in terms of performance, they were the fourth strongest. I think things will continue like this until the end. It is important to score a lot of points when you are not at the top and today we did a good job in this sense.”
Today a very different Leclerc compared to the previous days, excellent race from him…
“Leclerc certainly didn’t have a great Friday, but today he came back in a great way with a great pace. He fought with Max and Lewis and I think he drove a great race.”
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