Despite claiming a surprise pole at the Hungaroring, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari’s Hungarian Grand Prix weekend ended on a sour note.
The SF-25 showed pace in qualifying when Leclerc managed to slot his car into P1 on Saturday’s qualifying, ahead of the McLarens and Max Verstappen.
Strong start puts Leclerc in control
Come race day, the Monégasque was able to maintain the lead, and seemed to be on track for a podium finish were he to lose out on the win.
He lost the lead after his first pit stop, but still came out, crucially, ahead of Oscar Piastri, keeping him in the net lead of the race.
Leclerc retook the lead when Lando Norris went in for his sole pit stop of the race.
Second stop sparks a downward spiral
The Ferrari driver then dropped to P2 when he went in for his second pit stop. However, he was still ahead of Piastri, who was on the same strategy.
Unfortunately for Leclerc, though, the final stint of the race turned into a nightmare for him.
He dramatically lost pace, losing positions to both Piastri and George Russell.
Leclerc battled with Russell’s Mercedes, but was handed a five-second penalty for moving under braking as the Brit overtook him.
While the penalty made no difference in the final classification, the result was still disappointing.
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Post-race frustration
Leclerc went from a race win contender to finishing just off the podium, in P4.
While the race win looked unlikely following Norris’ one-stop strategy, which worked in his favour, Leclerc looked to be set for at the very least, a podium finish.
The Monégasque did not hold back on the team radio as he lost pace in the final stint, making his frustrations with Ferrari clear.
However, post-race, it was revealed that a sudden chassis issue was what hampered Leclerc’s pace.
Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, did not only defend Lewis Hamilton’s difficult race – a P12 finish – but also addressed Leclerc’s struggles.
“I must say that the situation was quite strange, that we were under control the first 40 laps of the race, that we are very in control the first stint, a bit more difficult the second one, but it was still manageable,” said Vasseur on the official F1 website.
“And the last stint was a disaster, very difficult to drive, that balance was not there and honestly we don’t know exactly what’s happened so far.
“It means that we have to investigate if we have something broken on the chassis side or whatever, but at one stage I thought that we will never finish the race. We can be lucky in this situation to score points of a P4.
“It’s really frustrating for us because I think we did the first pole position of the season. The first two stints went pretty well, and we lost completely the pace and the pace of the weekend on the last run.”
Leclerc reflects
Leclerc was dejected at the end of the race, a complete contrast to Saturday’s emotions.
“This is not the outcome we hoped for but there was nothing we could have done to control it considering the issue we had,” he told the media.
“I got some more insight into what was happening after getting out of the car and it turns out that we had an issue on the chassis that started just about when I began to feel a difference in how the car behaved.
“It’s frustrating, because I think we could have won today, but we will return after the summer break and give it our all to come back stronger.”
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