04 | 08 | 2019 GP Hungary | Seb on the podium
Scuderia Ferrari picked up its eleventh podium of the season thanks to a third place finish for Sebastian Vettel in today’s Hungarian Grand Prix, held at the Hungaroring. Charles Leclerc came home fourth right behind his team-mate, the two drivers having run different tyre strategies.
Start. The two SF90s got away cleanly when the lights went out and, on the short uphill straight prior to turn 4, Charles made the most of the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to pass the Finn and move up to third. The two cars touched at this point and Sebastian also got past.
Strategy. Charles was third until lap 27, when he pitted, as his Mediums were degrading significantly at that point. He took on Hards with the aim of going all the way to the chequered flag. As for Sebastian, he managed to complete 39 laps on the Mediums and that meant, unlike his team-mate, he was able to take on Soft tyres at his one and only stop.
Overtake. From then on, the German did an excellent job of managing his tyres in the opening lap of this stint and towards the end of the race, so that he closed down a gap of almost 20 seconds to Charles. Sebastian caught up to him with four laps remaining, overtaking him next time round. This is Sebastian’s sixth podium of the year. The championship now takes its usual summer break before the action resumes with the Belgian Grand Prix on 1st September.
Sebastian Vettel #5
“We leave Hungary and for a few weeks we can console ourselves with the fact that we made it to the podium in a race in which we knew we were going to struggle.
Today, we simply could not match the pace of our rivals. In terms of strategy, the idea was to come up with something different to try and do better than fourth. I managed to extend the first stint to 39 laps and that allowed me to fit Softs and have a stronger pace than Charles in the closing stages.
Now we can recharge our batteries and prepare to battle once more in Spa and Monza, tracks where we ought to be more competitive. We know there is still some performance to come from the SF90 and we have to work on that, but I am convinced that there is a margin to get better results.”
Foto © www.motorsportpics.de | Jerry Andre
03 | 08 | 2019 GP Hungary | Overtaking is difficult here, but not impossible
The Scuderia Ferrari drivers will start the 34th Hungarian Grand Prix from the second and third rows of the grid, when the race gets underway at 15.10 CET tomorrow. Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest in 1’15”043 and Sebastian was fifth with a lap that was just 28 thousandths of a second slower than his team-mate’s.
Q1. In the first part of qualifying, the Monegasque and the German easily made the cut to Q2 with time of 1’16”337 and 1’16”452 respectively. But on his second run, Charles made a mistake, crashing into the barriers on the outside of the final corner. The driver of the number 16 car managed to get back to the garage where the mechanics rushed to change the rear wing, and made repairs to other parts that had also sustained minor damage.
Q2. Charles was therefore able to carry on as normal in the second part and both he and Sebastian fitted medium tyres. Leclerc’s first run produced a 1’15”807, which he then dropped by 15 thousandths to 1’15”792. Sebastian made it through to the top ten shoot-out with a 1’15”885 set on his first attempt. It means that both drivers start the race on the Medium compound.
Q3. For the final part, both drivers went out on Softs aiming for maximum performance. Leclerc’s first attempt was a 1’15”437, while Vettel beat it with a 1’15”346. Pitting for fresh rubber, they set out again, Charles improving by almost four tenths to 1’15”043, which was 28 thousandths quicker than Sebastian’s 1’15”071.
Sebastian Vettel #5 “Today went pretty much as we expected and reflects what we have seen in the last few races. Our car is very quick down the straights but it’s not the best through the corners and that means we struggle to keep the tyres alive right to the end of the lap when we are trying for a quick time. You can see that from the fact we are quickest in sector 1 and then we suffer over the rest of the lap.
In fact, it will be a very difficult race in terms of tyre management and given the characteristics of our car, it would suit us to see high temperatures tomorrow, because we would then be able to put our competitors under pressure. If that’s not the case, then it will be a one stop race and it’s less likely that we can be in with a chance. Overtaking is difficult here, but not impossible, so let’s wait and see how things go tomorrow.”
Foto © www.motorsportpics.de | Jerry Andre
02 | 08 | 2019 GP Hungary | Not the most useful of Fridays
Friday’s free practice sessions for the Hungarian Grand Prix were not the most productive for Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, as indeed for the other 18 drivers out on track. The first session was slightly affected by light rain, but heavier more consistent wet weather was a feature of the 90 minutes of afternoon track time.
FP1. In the morning, the two Ferrari drivers ran the Soft tyre while working on dry set-up. Sebastian and Charles completed 54 laps between them; 25 for the German, the best being a 1’17”399 which put him third on the time sheet and 29 for the Monegasque, the quickest a 1’18”188, making him sixth.
FP2. A few minutes after the start of the afternoon session, rain fell again at the Hungaroring, so that everyone headed back to the garages. Up to that point, Charles Leclerc’s best time was a 1’18”852, which put him seventh on the time sheet. Sebastian Vettel stopped the clocks in 1’19”254, which in the end made him 13th fastest. The rain then intensified as the session progressed and the drivers went back out on intermediate tyres to gather data, as so far this season, this type of tyre has not been required much at all. In the second session, Sebastian did 24 laps, three more than Charles.
Tomorrow. The forecast suggests there should be no more rain for the rest of the weekend, so the third free practice session which starts tomorrow at noon CET, will be vitally important to prepare for both qualifying, which starts at 3pm and for Sunday’s race which gets underway at 3.10pm.
Sebastian Vettel #5 “The morning session wasn’t bad. I’m sure we can improve quite a bit because I don’t think we got all the potential out of the car on my quickest lap. In fact, more than going for a lap time, I was trying to get a good feeling from the car, which is why I think we can make progress. Having said that, we must wait until tomorrow to see where everyone stands and we know there is still work to do.
There’s not much to say about the afternoon, even if, in sessions like the second one there is always something to learn. For example we were able to do a few more laps on the intermediate tyres, after those we did in Hockenheim and that was useful for me.
As for the aero updates, it’s difficult to assess, but I can say they worked as we had expected.”
Foto © www.motorsportpics.de | Jerry Andre
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