With a surprisingly struggling Red Bull, Ferrari has a colossal opportunity to reduce the gap in the two world rankings. Between Maranello’s intentions and a potential double win at the Hungaroring circuit, however, there is George Russell, who took an amazing and unexpected pole position, the first of his Formula 1 career. Ferrari must therefore look to one more opponent: it can be very tough, considering the winding nature of the Hungaroring track and the British driver’s defensive qualities.
Sporting director Laurent Mekies therefore analyzed the Hungarian Saturday.
“It is right to start by congratulating George and Mercedes. His first pole position surprised everyone. We have been seeing for some races already that it is becoming a three-way challenge, and the pole position of a Mercedes had to happen sooner or later. It arrived on a somewhat strange day, with the rain this morning and the track constantly evolving. We are still not happy with where we are. I think what we will see tomorrow will be something different. If it is better or worse, we will find out together. But the weekend is starting again, with this track ‘reset’, due to the colder conditions and rain. It is important for us to be up front. We will have to understand well at a strategic level how to integrate George into our equation for tomorrow” – these are the words of the Frenchman in his post-qualifying Sky Sport F1 interview:
“Russell can go very fast tomorrow. Tomorrow we expect cold conditions like today, so he will certainly be fighting with us for the win. Then Red Bull will come back strong tomorrow, let’s not delude ourselves. We have seen today that it is difficult for everyone. Problems can happen to any team. We see that the qualifying sessions and the races are complex. We are all at the limit” – the Ferrari Sporting director added.
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The Hungaroring event will be the last Grand Prix before the introduction of the new FIA technical directive aimed at solving the porpoising problem. The official ratification by the world council should arrive next Tuesday, and Laurent Mekies has launched a dig at Mercedes: “We must not play with the safety card. There are too important moments in our sport where we need this card. Let’s remember the halo recently or think of some accidents. No team must use this card for any other purpose. There is governance, we sit around a table. Maybe porpoising will end with the next technical directive, but if something remains to be done, we discuss it together and take another step” – Laurent Mekies concluded.
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