Charles Leclerc was able to take the lead of the 2022 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix midway through the race. After retaining the third position at the start, he overcut Carlos Sainz on the occasion of the first pit stop and then with the same medium tyres he overtook George Russell with a true masterpiece outside in Turn-1. At that point, as in Monaco, Ferrari made a strategic error which sent the Monegasque driver outside the podium and even the top five. Just as it looked like rain was coming, Verstappen, fourth behind Russell and Sainz, entered the pits to attempt a double undercut with a second stop.
The Dutch driver started with the soft compound, then mounted the medium, thus performing the undercut on Hamilton, and then with the second undercut the Red Bull even put the Dutchman in a position to attack Charles Leclerc. In fact, Ferrari, instead of responding with Carlos Sainz, decided to stop Charles Leclerc to defend the lead and therefore the victory of the race. At that point it seemed too early for the Ferrari pit wall to mount the soft, and after two stints with the medium tire the solution remained the hard tire.
Charles Leclerc, however, struggled a lot with that compound, which had already proven not to be competitive with the Alpine cars previously. Max Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc for the first time, then even made a mistake with a 360 ° spin, keeping the second position and then overtaking Charles again. The Monegasque immediately said over the team radio that the hard tires were bad and Ferrari then called him back to the pits to fit the soft compound. In doing so, Charles Leclerc finished the race in sixth position also behind Sergio Perez, who started eleventh.
The strategies hypothesized by Pirelli did not even include the medium-medium-hard solution chosen by Ferrari to defend the lead and not jeopardize the conclusion of the race for Charles Leclerc. Which, without blame, has again seen the events compromise not only the victory, but also the podium. On the other hand, Red Bull, with the advantage in the standings and ready to take any risk, allowed Verstappen – even with his spin – to conquer the eighth win of the season out of 13 races staged. Below are the Pirelli strategies recommended for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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Charles Leclerc stopped on lap 40 for the second time out of 70 laps scheduled, 30 laps were too many for the soft compound. But, simply, Ferrari should not have responded to the Red Bull gamble by lengthening the stint (Charles Leclerc had a very fresh tire compared to his rivals, having stopped later) and making a comeback in the final with the soft compound.
