After a Friday in which Ferrari was quite competitive in the dry, their hopes seemed to be lowered a bit due to the high rain forecast for both FP3 and qualifying for the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
However, that was not the case. In Free Practice 3, the drivers were able to test the track in the wet, but before qualifying it stopped raining and the track dried up completely, putting the Maranello team back as the big favorite for pole position.
In Q1 Carlos Sainz finished third after using a single set of soft tyres, already in Q3 the Spaniard made a first attempt on used tires and was slower than Charles Leclerc by a few thousandths. On the second timed lap, they both improved but were unable to finish ahead of Max Verstappen.
In the final and final round of Q3, Sainz took pole position from his first lap to the checkered flag, at which point George Russell surprised everyone with a totally unexpected time of 1m17.377s , which was 0.044 seconds faster . faster than the Spanish Ferrari driver’s time.
As soon as he got out of his car, the Madrid driver recognized that the sensations were very positive news, but that they were surprised by the pace of their rivals in one lap.
“The sensations have been good, but perhaps it has been a little more difficult than we expected after dominating yesterday’s session. In the team, perhaps we expected an easier qualifier”.
“Both the Mercedes and the McLaren have been closer than we expected. Red Bull I don’t know what I could have done, really, but it was clear that in Q3 I found a little more, I was going very fast and that’s why it gives me more anger not to have done the pole, because I think I had the pace to do it”, he added.
Despite having lost pole at the last breath, Sainz believes he had the pace for something else and hopes to show it tomorrow in the race, although he acknowledges that the Mercedes are always very competitive in the long run, so overtaking Russell quickly could be key .
“I am confident because without having done a particularly good lap I am second today, and I could have done much better, but that gives me confidence that tomorrow I can go fast in the race and when the wheels and temperatures stabilize, I think we will go rapid”.
“The Mercedes are unknown, in the race they always go quite fast, we are not going to fool ourselves, but I think that so far, this weekend, we have had a better pace. So hopefully we can go on the attack tomorrow and win the race” , concluded the Spanish Ferrari driver.
