Ferrari ended Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying with mixed feelings, but confidence in the team’s race pace remains intact. While the Scuderia delivered an encouraging overall performance at the Hungaroring, several details prevented Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from extracting more from the decisive Q3 session.
Those frustrations have not unsettled the atmosphere inside the Ferrari garage. The team believes the race pace demonstrated during its simulations, together with the overall balance of the SF-26, provides a strong foundation for Sunday and supports the optimism surrounding Ferrari’s prospects at the Hungaroring.
The closing stages of Saturday were also complicated by the possibility of Lewis Hamilton receiving a penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri during qualifying. The incident is now in the hands of the stewards and could alter the starting grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Fred Vasseur explains Lewis Hamilton impeding incident
After the session, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur first addressed the incident involving Lewis Hamilton and explained how it unfolded from the team’s perspective on the pit wall.
“There is indeed a risk. What happened? We warned him that Oscar Piastri was approaching, but evidently we did not do so early enough, as the Australian was already taking the corner.”
Fred Vasseur’s account suggests that the problem resulted from communication between the driver and the team not being perfectly synchronised. The stewards must now decide whether the circumstances justify a penalty for the seven-time Formula 1 world champion.
Any grid sanction would represent an additional obstacle for Lewis Hamilton at a circuit where expectations were already high because of his exceptional Hungarian Grand Prix record.
Ferrari suspect slower track affected final Q3 runs
The other issue addressed by Fred Vasseur concerned the track conditions during the final attempts in Q3. Ferrari’s two cars, along with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, were among the first to begin their second runs but appeared to encounter less favourable conditions than the drivers who completed their laps slightly later.
According to Fred Vasseur, the loss of performance on the final attempt was therefore not caused by a technical problem with the SF-26. Instead, the Ferrari team principal believes it may have resulted from a temporary change in track conditions.
“Our two cars and Max Verstappen’s car, which were the first to begin their second attempts, appeared to be slower than the others. My feeling is that the track was slower at that moment.”
This interpretation indicates that Ferrari did not identify any particular structural weakness during qualifying. Rather, Saturday at the Hungaroring appears to have been shaped by a combination of circumstances that prevented Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from improving when it mattered most.
Ferrari retain confidence in Hungarian GP race pace
That assessment is precisely what is fuelling Ferrari’s optimism ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Despite the uncertainty surrounding a potential penalty for Lewis Hamilton and a Q3 session that was not fully maximised, the prevailing belief at Maranello is that the team’s potential over the weekend has been greater than the final qualifying result suggests.
The race pace displayed during the long-run simulations and the car’s overall balance are both reasons for the team to remain calm. Ferrari will therefore approach Sunday’s race believing it still has the performance required to play a leading role.
Although qualifying left the team with some regrets, the Grand Prix offers an opportunity to turn a solid weekend into a significant result. Ferrari will be hoping its pace over a longer distance allows Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to recover ground and join the fight for the leading positions.
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