The weekend of the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix seemed to be the perfect one for Ferrari to hit the table and start to close the gap on Max Verstappen and Red Bull in both championships. This was the case during free practice and qualifying, where the Maranello team managed to take the top positions and, despite losing pole position after an incredible lap by George Russell, they were the favorites to win.
The one with the most options after beating his teammate on Saturday was Carlos Sainz, who started from second place in the last round before the summer break. The man from Madrid had a good start at the Hungaroring circuit, but the Brit from Mercedes was able to cover all the gaps to keep the lead.
The Spaniard from Ferrari remained in that position until the time of the stops, when Russell entered to fit a set of medium tires, which opened the possibility of an alternative strategy for Sainz. Instead, those in red made a very bad save when he had the option to lead, something that was key, because he lost his second place in favor of Leclerc, who made an overcut .
Halfway through the race, Verstappen, Russell and the Monegasque himself got into a nice duel that ended with the Madrid native leading momentarily, since he had one more stop left, which sent him to fifth position.
However, the soft tire allowed him to climb back to third, a position he left in the hands of the Mercedes when their compounds degraded. What promised as an almost assured victory for the Prancing Horse , remained in a fourth and a sixth place that sent almost all the options to fight for the world championship in the second half of the year.
Upon getting off the F1-75, Sainz was disappointed: “Today, perhaps, the strategy was the least important, there was simply no pace, with any compound, in any condition. It is clear that the change in conditions compared to Friday has badly affected”.
“We have suffered a lot with all the tires and the balance of the car,” the Spaniard acknowledged before the DAZN F1 microphones. “It cost us a lot because there was no rhythm with any of the tires in the whole race.”
In free practice, Ferrari became the favorite, something that did not suit him after seeing the development of the race due to a key factor: “It seemed that half a second per lap that we put into Red Bull on Friday with very hot, with today’s cold, it has changed”.
“Today they gave us a good margin per lap that we have to understand. Mercedes has also gone faster, there is not much to say,” said the Madrid native, who also acknowledged that the failure in the pit stops did not play in his favor.
“The first pitstop cost us, like the second, a time in the race, which is something that needs to be analysed, but, apart from that, there was no rhythm today,” explained Sainz. “The start was good for the medium tyre, and I was close to passing George [Russell] at Turn 1, but then going on the medium and him on the soft, it’s not like I had more degradation. .
“Then, when we both had the mediums, we weren’t doing badly, but we weren’t doing as well as we expected. There was no rhythm, although I think with a quick stop I could have overcut to get ahead of him, which would have been a race. totally different”, said the Spaniard from Ferrari, who has seen how George Russell has overtaken him in the drivers’ standings and falls to fifth place overall.
