“It was a disaster,” said Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was publicly fuming after the defeat to Hungary, pointing the finger at the team. While Max Verstappen won the Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix on Sunday, his rival Charles Leclerc was only sixth. Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto in particular received compensation after the race after a weak apology, blaming the car and again not admitting huge tactical errors. Mistakes like this mean Binotto is very likely to leave Ferrari, according to an F1 pundit.
Max Verstappen can go to the summer holidays completely relaxed. The world champion has an 80-point lead over Charles Leclerc ahead of the F1 Classic at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium at the end of August. There are still nine races to go and Ferrari will need to improve significantly if they are still to have a chance of winning the title they crave. This is now, of course, highly unlikely.
Verstappen wouldn’t even need to win another Grand Prix to successfully defend his title. His cushion is so big that even second place in the remaining nine races of the season would be enough. But that doesn’t concern the 24-year-old at all.
“As a team we want to win more races and that’s what we’ll try to do after the break,” said Verstappen, who has no plans for a beach holiday just yet.
Things are getting tense for Ferrari team boss Mattia Binoto; for the fact that Ferrari actually has the most powerful car in the field, surprisingly few countable results come out. Charles Leclerc lost another 17 championship points to the dominant Verstappen. The car didn’t work at all in the cold Hungarian temperatures, not that many others did either, but most importantly Ferrari’s tactics and tire choice completely ruined Leclerc’s chances of victory. Something he would do if he followed Mercedes’ racing strategy.
Leclerc agreed, saying on boxing radio: “I made it clear that I wanted to keep the media as long as possible, but we went to Hards very early.” He said he could not understand the decision. And “The last part of the race was a disaster. Then we lost the race.” The Monegasques thus directly criticize pit wall and team boss Binoto, joining the chorus of anger in the Italian press yesterday READ MORE ON THIS STORY
Former F1 driver and Sky pundit Ralf Schumacher also criticized the extra pit stop for Leclerc in the final phase, where they finally switched to soft tyres:
“The suspension is not entirely understandable,” says the 47-year-old, “as a result two more places have fallen.”
Therefore, Schumacher believes that Binotto is likely to be fired: “I can see that his job is in danger. When you get the gift of being able to compete for the world championship with Ferrari and throw it away so casually, it’s bittersweet and it should be difficult.”
Probably the mood in Mercedes will be much better for now. For the second time in a row, Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell got on the podium together. They are taking advantage of Ferrari’s weakness and improving more and more after a disastrous start to the season.
“It’s incredibly satisfying to see the progress we’re making,” said record world champion Hamilton, who is aiming for his first win of the season after five successive podiums since the summer break: “It’s fantastic for the team that we’re both ahead of Ferrari.”
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