The Monegasque driver started the race of the 2022 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix on medium tyres, and in the first part he remained in third position, behind George Russell, who was leading after fending off attacks from the other Ferrari, and Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc managed to pass his teammate at the time of the stops, when he made an overcut , in addition to being able to approach the Briton from Mercedes to take the first position of the test at the Hungaroring circuit shortly after. However, when the Maranello team called the Monaco team for their second pitlane stoppage, they decided to mount a game of toughs , which proved key as they were unable to find the correct operating window.
That led to Leclerc succumbing to Max Verstappen twice as the Dutchman, who came from 10th to win his 28th Formula 1 race, passed the Monegasque before spinning off a few laps later.
Ferrari’s strategy prevented its driver from going from the sixth final position after a stop fifteen laps from the end, for which the team’s boss, Mattia Binotto , was forced to come out to explain what had happened.
The Swiss revealed that the simulations from the Maranello outfit said that although the hardies would be difficult to warm up at the start, they expected them to be better towards the end of the stint.
“When we rode the hard one, our simulations said it might have taken a couple of laps to warm up,” he said. “It would have been slower than the middle for about 10 laps, and then it would have been quicker at the end, as it was a 30-lap run.
“We were trying to protect the position with Max [Verstappen], so it would have been too long to do it with the softs. In the beginning of the stint it would have been difficult, but later we would have reversed the situation,” Binotto explained.
Charles Leclerc said after the race that he wanted to stick with the mediums as long as possible, just so he didn’t have to ride the hards. At his third stop he opted for the softs but was unable to catch up with the cars ahead.
Sixth position means he is now 80 points behind Max Verstappen in the overall drivers’ standings with nine rounds to go in the year.
Several on the grid struggled with hard tires due to the unusually cold conditions during the Hungarian round, including Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, as the Alpines lost significant time in the early part of their stints.
Asked if Ferrari had been aware of the Enstone cars’ difficulties with the hardies before considering stopping to protect themselves from Verstappen, Binotto replied: “Yes, we discussed it, so it’s not like [the strategy] was written. in stone”.
“We have taken into account all the factors, we have discussed it to know what was the best, and that is the choice we have made, but it was not the right one,” he said, although he stressed that the biggest problem for the Italians was the lack of pace as they had good speed on Friday and impressed on long runs.
“It is important to say that we believe the car did not perform as expected,” he said. “We didn’t have the speed we expected seeing free practice in race conditions, but today was different, much colder.”
“But overall today’s pace wasn’t enough, and whatever tires we used, I don’t think we went as well as we wanted,” said the Maranello-based team’s chief executive.
