As we had anticipated this morning, if on Friday we had some hope that Ferrari could be in the mix for a podium battle, as the weekend progressed, we became convinced that it would be anything but an easy weekend for the Prancing Horse. Unfortunately, the Maranello team does not have just one problem; they have many, and putting everything together becomes incredibly complex.
Ferrari faces several challenges
In addition to the track characteristics, the team must also consider the temperatures. The SF-23 struggles in hot weather. The promising performances on Friday were influenced by cooler conditions. While the first practice session (FP1) saw rain, in the second practice session (PL2), they tested the race pace with the asphalt temperature reaching about 32°C. The lap times were not impressive, but it seemed they could compete with Mercedes and McLaren. However, on Saturday, the track temperature rose to almost 50°C, and things changed significantly (it may sound trivial, but in terms of tire management, a difference of 5°C in track temperature makes a huge difference, let alone 15°C).
Furthermore, McLaren showed significant progress thanks to the introduction of their updated car. Red Bull continues to make further progress with their upgrades despite their impressive dominance, and although Mercedes has improved a lot, they still find themselves trailing behind another team. The Silver Arrows now firmly hold the second position in the Constructors’ Championship, but they must remain vigilant. McLaren is demonstrating strength on every type of circuit, so they should be approached with caution. They could put up strong performances until the end of the 2023 Formula One season.
Summary of strategies
Before analyzing the events of the Hungarian GP, let’s review the general recap, thanks to Pirelli’s images, of the strategies used by the drivers to complete the 12th race of the season in Budapest. A two-stop race was expected, and that’s what it turned out to be (there was also talk of a three-stop strategy, but the tire degradation was more moderate than predicted yesterday).
Max Verstappen won using an M-H-M strategy. The same approach was used by Lando Norris (who finished second), Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and Daniel Ricciardo. Sergio Perez (P3) and George Russell also utilized a double set of Medium tires but opted for a Hard-Medium-Medium strategy. While seven drivers chose two sets of C4 tires, an equal number went for two sets of C3: Leclerc, Alonso, Bottas, Albon, Hulkenberg, Zhou, and Magnussen completed the GP with a Medium-Hard-Hard strategy.
Only three drivers went off the typical pattern. Sainz and Stroll decided to go for a Soft-Hard-Hard strategy, while Tsunoda, the other participant on C5 tires, chose Soft-Hard-Medium, utilizing all three tire compounds. As you can see, every driver who finished the race did so with a two-stop strategy.
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Correct choice with Carlos Sainz
Although it was said that Ferrari didn’t have the pace, putting Carlos Sainz on the Soft-Hard-Hard strategy contributed to achieving the best possible result for him. The use of the Red tire compound at the start was decisive. The Spaniard had a good start, and thanks to Zhou’s incident at the beginning, he managed to climb from 11th to 6th position, right behind Leclerc. The first pit stop went very well, and due to the mistake at Charles Leclerc’s pit stop, he was able to overtake his teammate. Ferrari will make sure to rectify the mistake made with Charles Leclerc by putting him back in front of Carlos Sainz during the second pit stop.
The pit stop error ruins Charles Leclerc’s race
While with Carlos, they achieved the best possible result today, there is certainly some regret with the Monegasque. Saying that Charles could have fought with Lewis Hamilton is quite optimistic, but the fact is that the error made during the pit stop cost him those extra seconds that excluded him from the battle for important positions. It was known that it would be a challenging race, but that doesn’t mean such errors can be allowed. On the contrary, it’s not enough to deal with the existing problems; they must also handle additional burdens. Furthermore, exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane cost Charles an additional position against George Russell.
Red Bull is a demonstration of how an F1 team should be
Today, compliments must also go to Red Bull, which probably set a new record for the fastest pit stop, replacing Sergio Perez’s tires in 1.9 seconds (the old record was 1.98 seconds). Official data is awaited. The Austrian team is the exact demonstration of how a Formula 1 team should be. Despite their dominance, they continue to bring updates and demonstrate insatiable and flawless performance in every aspect, such as pit stops. There’s only one way to catch up to them and think of competing against them: never settle and don’t shy away from any challenges.
If we were to point out a team capable of such a feat at this moment, we would say McLaren. The team from Woking seems to have adopted the right mindset. The road ahead is long, but with method and dedication, all goals can be achieved. As for Ferrari? The mentality of wanting everything immediately has never worked, especially considering where it has led them.
Tire data
Looking at the race and analyzing the tire data, some interesting things stand out. The tire degradation proved to be quite moderate, allowing Ricciardo to make an impressive 40 laps with the Medium C4 tires. An impressive number compared to Alex Albon’s 38 laps on the Hard tire. It’s true that Daniel Ricciardo finished outside the top-10, but it’s also worth mentioning that he was one of the ‘victims’ of the major contact caused at the beginning of the race by Alfa Romeo’s driver, Zhou Guanyu. Therefore, the 13th place is not so bad, especially considering that he managed to beat his teammate Tsunoda in his return weekend in F1. This result will certainly give him a boost for the upcoming races.
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