Toto Wolff explains Ferrari’s strategy: “Today they had no alternatives, the mistake was made on Friday”. Toto Wolff explains Ferrari's strategy.

For the second time in two weeks, Mercedes can celebrate a double podium finish. What was normal until last year is once again becoming a habit for the Silver Arrows, after an extremely complicated first part of the 2022 Formula 1 season. Victory is still missing for Mercedes, but as Lewis Hamilton pointed out, there is no doubt that the two W13 cars are – race after race – closer to the performance of Red Bull and Scuderia Ferrari. Of course, despite the surprise pole position taken yesterday by George Russell, today both he and Lewis Hamilton needed some help to get both into the top 3. This promptly and unfortunately came in the form of yet another mismanagement of strategy by the Maranello team.

The Ferrari pit wall in fact called Charles Leclerc for a tyre while he the Monegasque driver in the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit and decided to mount the hard tires on his F1-75 car which, given the temperatures at the track, could never have been performing at a high level. Charles Leclerc thus fell further and further back, until he was even forced to make a third stop which made him pass under the checkered flag in sixth position. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, however, Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, tried to provide a different interpretation of what happened on the track today at the Hungaroring. According to the Austrian boss, in fact, the real mistake by Ferrari was made on Friday, when making the choice of tires to be unmarked.

“I think [Ferrari] had no alternative. They no longer had medium tyres” – explained Toto Wolff, referring to the strategy adopted with Charles Leclerc – “and it was too early for the soft ones. So, only the hard ones [remained]. The mistake was made on Friday and it was not to bring a new medium”. Analyzing his team’s race, however, Toto Wolff showed moderate satisfaction, underlining that there is still a gap between Mercedes and Ferrari/Red Bull. “At least we have a result we can work on – concluded the Austrian manager – we had a bad Friday, so we know what not to do. Spa-Francorchamps, however, is a very different track. We are not celebrating yet, because we are still behind. It must be recognized that Max with Red Bull and Charles with Ferrari are ahead of everyone.” – Toto Wolff concluded.