After a steamy start until 2020, Ferrari had a ray of sunshine in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix as both cars made it to Q3 for the first time this season, before blocking the third row. And having scored just 19 points so far this year (compared to Mercedes’ 80s), both Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc were aiming to be “sharp” in Sunday’s race while searching for a large number of points.
Vettel had already brightened up the Ferrari garage by heading to Friday’s free practice session 2, as the team continued to evaluate the updates brought to the car for the previous Styrian Grand Prix, from which they obtained very little data thanks to the accident by Vettel and Leclerc. on lap 1. at the Red Bull Ring.
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And despite Vettel finishing dry with a total of 1,327 seconds of Lewis Hamilton’s pole time in P5, narrowly beating teammate Leclerc in P6, the German was pleased with the team’s progress.
“I think it is much better than the previous weekends,” he said. “The first time both cars were in Q3. I think we know that Austria really didn’t suit us, we wasted a lot of time on the straights, and here I think there are a lot more corners to make up for it.
“The car also felt better balanced, so I think we are much closer to the people, say around us, like Racing Point, Red Bull, even McLaren, so that’s positive. We have to make sure we continue like this, but for now, the only thing that matters is that we must prepare the race for tomorrow. “
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“He feels a little better, fifth and sixth,” Leclerc agreed after qualifying. “I think our race pace is a little stronger than our quality pace, so I hope we can score some good points for the team tomorrow.” It was a difficult session on my part, [I] He struggled a bit with driving in Q1 and Q2 but better in Q3. But happy for the team for the third row. “
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Both Mercedes and Racing Points had the pace to go into Q3 on medium tires, with Ferrari poised to be the top-ranked team to start the race on the softs. And despite being forced to admit that they did not “have the rhythm to dominate and win” currently under normal conditions, the two-time Hungarian GP winner Vettel still planned to take the opportunity to earn some decent points.
“Well, you can always wait, the question is whether your hopes are realistic,” he said. “I am here to run, we are here to run, we are here to win. At the moment, it’s not that we have the rhythm to dominate and win on our own, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
“The tires will be crucial, we are in a different strategy because we had to go to the softs to enter Q3, and we will take it from there. I think it will be an interesting race tomorrow; the climate could play a role, so we just have to make sure we’re ready and then we’ll do our job. “
Ranking highlights: 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix
