The definitive blow on the table by Red Bull?
Red Bull have an 82 points advantage prior to the Hungarian GP
Red Bull and Max Verstappen encountered themselves with a much easier win in the French Grand Prix. The crash by Charles Leclerc at the early stages of the race played a big part on that.
His teammate, Carlos Sainz Jr, had to make his way from the back of the grid after changing some elements in the power unit that earned him a penalty. He managed to finish fifth.
This, and the fourth place from Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez resulted in an almost perfect Sunday for Red Bull, which is now 82 points ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors Championship.
After the race, there were doubts about a possible follow-up of the issue Leclerc had with the throttle in Austria. But, in the end, it was just a mistake.
A mistake that cost Ferrari important points on Sunday after a great performance on Saturday, again. With mistakes like that, reliability issues, and failing to round up the performances in qualifying in the race, it will be very difficult for Ferrari to challenge Red Bull for the title.
Do Ferrari still have something to say?
But, with ten races to go, Ferrari still have some things in their favor, and their rivals know this. Max Verstappen commented after the race that the gap is “probably bigger than it should’ve been” when talking about the performances of both cars.
And we saw this in Paul Ricard, Ferraris dominated in the first and third sectors. Something that, in the race, made it difficult for Max to overtake Charles, opting then to try an undercut just before the Monegasque hit the wall.
Another aspect to consider is their qualifying performances, which the World Champion mentioned as well: “we know that we have to find, especially over one lap, quite a bit of performance”.
Obviously, having your car in the first place on Sunday is an enormous advantage that Ferrari hasn’t exploited yet. So, this is an issue that if they don’t solve soon, they might regret afterward. But this is not the only disadvantage they have, the Italian team also showed nice tire management in the last few races.
In Austria, they took advantage of it after a bad first stint for Max. And then in France, Carlos Sainz did an impressive job with the medium tires, and he even had the possibility to take them to the chequered flag, together with a potential podium, but, as we know, it didn’t happen.
Having mentioned Carlos Sainz Jr, it is a necessity to address the importance of the ‘second drivers’. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc are clearly leading their teams, but the job of their peers will be fundamental as well.
It can happen like last year when we saw a different champion in both championships. The last time that happened was in 2008 when Lewis Hamilton won his first Drivers Championship with McLaren, but the Constructors trophy was for Ferrari. Being the tight it is, this could be the case this year as well.
Despite his engine problem in Austria, Carlos Sainz seems to have the advantage over Sergio Perez. The Mexican comes from bad weekends, like Canada or Austria where he started the weekend bad after the deleted time lap in Q2.
This, eventually, led him to have a fight with George Russell on the track that finished with him having to retire after they touched. Then, in Paul Ricard, he struggled with the new updates and despite having a good qualifying session he was always far from his teammate, and ended the race behind both Mercedes and very close to Sainz as well.
The Spaniard was fast, and with the new engine, he could be a threat in Hungary.
The Bottom Line
In order to arrive at the summer break with confidence and not with concern Ferrari needs to bounce back from France with a 1–2, as team principal, Mattia Binotto said. But these are not empty words.
This only happened in the opener in Bahrain but it's not crazy to believe that this is possible now. With Hungaroring’s low-speed corners, something that benefits them, they can transform into the team to beat this weekend. But with rain set to hit on Saturday, Red Bull might have a chance.
Nevertheless, with a sunny Sunday, things can go in the right direction for the Italians. In Red Bull, they already know this, as both Christian Horner and Max Verstappen expressed.
As for the team principal, he feels that the track “will probably play more to the Ferrari’s strengths than our strengths.” And his driver thinks the same “this is a track where they might be very strong.” Taking the pressure off or just accepting the reality? As always, we might see on Sunday.
But there is more ahead of Sunday, there will be still nine races to go and this is not over yet. Red Bull is ahead, so the key for them is to keep scoring points despite not having their best weekend, like in Silverstone or Austria. Ferrari had so many troubles, but when they have a clean weekend they clearly show they can compete for the Championship.
Hungarian Grand Prix will be a major event in the fight for the Championship. If Red Bull makes the gap even bigger it could be almost impossible for Ferrari to reach them after the break. Also because there are some tracks on the horizon that could benefit Red Bull, like Monza, for example (that would be exciting by the way, I can’t wait).
Nevertheless, the fight is still on, and this weekend will be exciting as always!
What do you think about this fight? Red Bull will come on top again or Ferrari will take advantage of the track and get closer before the Summer Break?
Thank you for reading! I will leave other stories below in case you may be interested, feel free to check them out:
