Ivan Zinchenko on why Scuderia risks finishing another season without a championship title, but must show its real strength at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
This has never happened before, and here it is again. Ferrari loses the fight of updates during the season, which is a familiar fact for fans and pundits. At the start of the current season and before the Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari had an obvious advantage over Mercedes, as well as leadership in the drivers’ standings and the Constructors’ Championship. However, after Monaco, Scuderia began to significantly lose ground, losing to Mercedes on tracks of different configurations – in Canada, Baku, Austria and Silverstone. Almost everywhere the German team had an unconditional advantage, and the Ferrari cars certainly did not look faster than Red Bull. A familiar situation for a team that hasn’t won anything since 2008, although it has the biggest budget (give or take the same as Mercedes), as well as annual exclusive payments from Formula 1 for “historic status”.
Sebastian Vettel won his last victory two months ago, and in the past four races he came to the podium only once. As a result, having more than 20 points of advantage, the pilot allowed Lewis Hamilton to close the gap to a minimum with good prospects for the British to go into the break with the lead in the overall standings. And this still needs to be remembered for Hamilton’s problems in Azerbaijan and Austria, otherwise the Mercedes pilot could now have a solid advantage. Valtteri Bottas took full advantage of the difficulties of competitors, turning the championship fight into a confrontation between three riders.
It’s hard to say what the reason is, but Ferrari engineers definitely do not know how to improve the car during the season. Even in the last championship, when Mercedes continued its dominance, the Scuderia looked good in Australia and in the first few stages, but then history repeated itself: Mercedes went into the lead, and Red Bull became the second force of the season. Now Mercedes did not start the championship in the best way, but then he just showed his ability to make progress. The same applies to Red Bull, who disappointed in the first part of the season, but now at certain stages he is ready to compete with Ferrari.
Mercedes notes that they initially had a fast car, but with the new technical regulations it was still necessary to set it up correctly and achieve proper work with tires. The German team succeeded in all this, therefore, in the last four stages, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas earned 151 points, while the Scuderia drivers only had 79 points – two more than Red Bull, where Max Verstappen had regular technical problems. In addition to the banal lack of pace in comparison with the leader, Ferrari clearly lacks speed in qualifying. Despite all the efforts of Sebastian Vettel, it is difficult to count on the championship if in 10 races you and your partner won only two qualifying races. Perhaps this is the main problem, and Vettel focused on it before the race in Hungary.
The pilot says that the team is trying to resolve this issue, but Sebastian repeated the same thing a year or two ago. The problem is that Mercedes has a high engine power mode, which the team uses at the decisive moments of qualifying and “lucky” rivals for another 0.3-0.5 seconds. The question is why Ferrari (and also Renault), with such financial resources and experience, cannot replicate this technology? Of course, it is easy to be clever, they say, take it and repeat it yourself, but the specialists of such auto giants must understand how to eliminate such a significant deficit.
It’s just that due to aerodynamics, the Scuderia is unlikely to cover such a gap and will start fighting for victories on equal terms on Saturday. The Italian team confirms that the last four tracks were more focused on engine power, so Mercedes initially had an advantage. Well, the Hungaroring is a track of a completely different order, where the aerodynamic properties of the car come to the fore. This is confirmed by the hopes of Red Bull and even McLaren to show the highest possible result. And the same stage can be key for Ferrari in understanding the further struggle. If Mercedes again gets a confident victory in the style of Silverstone or Montreal, then Vettel’s championship chances will fade into the shadow of a likely fourth title for Lewis Hamilton.
The Hungaroring track really “likes” the Ferrari cars, and here we can recall the 2015 season, when the Scuderia was an outright outsider, but in Hungary Vettel won, and Kimi Raikkonen had every chance of being second. We won’t say that the loss of Ferrari on Sunday will be the end of the championship race, because the teams will have a vacation and two weeks to work on the car and the engine, but the following superfast tracks are definitely more suitable for Mercedes – here is Belgium, beloved by many fans, and home to Ferrari Monza. Already there, Hamilton may well secure a comfortable advantage for himself and calmly control the situation, as Nico Rosberg did last season.
The Scuderia did a really great job ahead of this championship and managed to surprise many, including its main opponent, but now Ferrari needs to show that the team can progress as the season progresses. Initially, Vettel and Raikkonen have fast cars, but the real fight for the championship will only be possible if there is tangible work on the car. The Hungaroring itself, as well as the circumstances of the title battle, are ideal for Ferrari to show their real level.
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
