Dear Readers,
Fred Vasseur knew it after practice: “We’re not looking for the best Friday, we’re looking for the best Sunday.” But the Easter Bunny – I know it’s late July – must have hidden the best Sunday very well. At least Ferrari didn’t find it.
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The Scuderia really showed us a masterclass in Budapest – how to completely mess up a promising weekend.
Never before were the chances for a Ferrari success as good as at the Hungaroring. For the first time, the Reds were truly considered favorites for victory and underlined this claim on Friday.
The competition was literally blown away in practice: McLaren, Mercedes & Co. were each half a second slower in the first and second practice sessions. Although Antonelli showed the better long run, in Hungary, you first have to get past your opponent.
Anyone who had bet on a Ferrari victory to their friends on Friday evening would probably have only received a tired smile and the ironic remark: “Man, you’re brave.”
But somehow everything changed from Saturday. Charles Leclerc had already warned on Friday that he didn’t expect to have such a big lead in qualifying, but pole went to someone else: the eventual race winner Lando Norris.
But: No reason to get excited yet. Ferrari had a good qualifying with second and third places, and besides, a gap of 0.012 seconds is really not the end of the world.
Where was Sebastian Vettel when you needed him?
Lewis Hamilton also seemed to think he was already on pole: he mistakenly parked next to the sign with the 1 after the session.
In my mind’s eye, I already saw Sebastian Vettel, like in Canada 2019, taking the sign away from Hamilton’s car and putting it aside. Unfortunately, someone else took over the job…
But Hamilton was not allowed to start the race from pole or second place on Sunday. Because the seven-time world champion had clearly impeded Oscar Piastri in Q3 and received a three-place grid penalty.
Vasseur took responsibility for this on behalf of Ferrari, as the team had not informed Hamilton in time that a driver was on a fast lap behind him. Instead of starting position two, he only got starting position five.
But: No reason to get excited yet. After all, the entire Sunday was still ahead – and Ferrari usually starts better than the competition anyway.
Always stopped in traffic – madness!
But the first ominous voices were already heard before the start. As the only top team, Ferrari opted for soft tires in the first stint – and with both drivers. In our editorial office, we were already joking: If Ferrari is the only top team to do something different from everyone else, then you know it’s wrong.
“Due to the difficult qualifying yesterday, I had unfortunately already used up all new mediums and softs, so I only had used tires left for the race,” Leclerc explained after the race. “But for the start, I really wanted to use the advantage of the soft compound – and honestly, we thought the soft was a good tire for us.”
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However, they didn’t win the start despite soft tires; instead, Leclerc fell from second to fifth place. “And we paid the price for that in the race,” he lamented.
Ferrari also showed little strategic diversity later on and managed to consistently bring its drivers back onto the track in dense traffic. In all three of Hamilton’s pit stops, the Briton landed directly behind another car. You have to manage that first!
Nevertheless, Ferrari seemed to be right for once and brought Hamilton past Max Verstappen during the first stop – only for the Briton to be caught off guard again by the furious and courageous ex-world champion in Turn 1.
Silverstone reloaded …
But the good decision was undone by the last pit stop. Ferrari made the mistake of pitting its drivers under the virtual safety car.
Already in Silverstone, Hamilton had lost second place due to such a decision – and only two races later, the Scuderia did exactly the same. They should have seen that overtaking was difficult on Sunday anyway – unless you drive through a bunch of Formula 1B cars like George Russell or your name is Max Verstappen.
F1: Hungarian Grand Prix (Budapest) 2026
Perhaps the team was afraid that Hamilton would be caught off guard by the Dutchman again, but he was on 14-lap old softs. And even he stayed out on those tires.
Second place was gone, just like third place against Kimi Antonelli, who had already pitted for tires shortly before the VSC. To make matters worse, Hamilton also received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
For him, it’s already the third race in a row with a penalty. And don’t forget: Hamilton also received a penalty on Saturday. Once again, pure chaos at Ferrari.
Rather an underdog than a favorite?
Somehow, the role of favorite doesn’t seem to suit the Reds. In Barcelona and Silverstone, they celebrated surprising underdog victories, but as soon as they are favorites for victory, they find as many ways as possible to mess up the weekend.
“That wasn’t a good Sunday,” Vasseur also had to admit. “When you’re in first and second place on Friday, you naturally expect significantly more than fourth and fifth place.”
His analysis: “We simply made too many mistakes today.” I think we should leave it at that…
Perhaps as a Ferrari fan, one should simply hope that they don’t make the biggest step over the summer break, but rather secretly and quietly annoy the favorites again and snatch a victory here and there.
That role suited Ferrari better somehow.
P.S.: What does “Mamma mia” mean in Hungarian? (Gemini says: “Anyám borogass!” – literally: “Mother, give me compresses!”)
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That sounds like the perfect closing remark before the summer break!
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