In the grand prix which marks the halfway point of the season, curves suited to the Red team challenging Mercedes. And here Hamilton has already won eight times
From the disappointment of Monte Carlo to the triumph of Silverstone and the excellent race at Spa, Ferrari launches into the Hungarian Grand Prix, what acts as the watershed of the season, with the belief that they are now very close to Mercedesperhaps able to beat her as has already happened several times this year. At the Hungaroring last year Charles Leclerc took pole position and at the Hungarian circuit Lewis Hamilton has won eight times in his career, taking pole position nine times. In short, signs of optimism are coming from Maranello, even if team principal Frederic Vasseur doesn’t want to go too far.
Optimism and prudence
“We arrive in Budapest after two encouraging weekends, in which we managed to maximize the result thanks to great team work – the words of Frederic Vasseur – this gives us confidence, but we also know that each Grand Prix represents a story in itself. On paper the Hungaroring could suit the characteristics of our car a little better, but this alone guarantees nothing. As always, it will be the execution that will make the difference, we will have to face the weekend with the same concentration, discipline and attention to detail shown in the last races. We have a close-knit team, two super motivated drivers and we know we can count on the support of all our fans: the goal is to continue on our path, working well since Friday to put ourselves in the best conditions for qualifying and the race.”
Ten out of ten
Ferrari’s objective this season has been to undermine the certainties of Mercedes, race after race. But the statistics are merciless and say that the Silver Arrows achieved ten pole positions from as many attempts and this makes it clear that the cars of Toto Wolf’s team are still a little faster than the Reds, especially that of Kimi Antonelli. But then the races enjoy overturning the predictions. Everyone was convinced of a Ferrari victory in Monte Carlo, while at Silverstone and Spa they had assumed a problem-free success for Mercedes. The opposite happened, but certainly now Ferrari is much closer to Mercedes and above all it is the only team that can threaten them in winning the World Championship title given the crisis of last season’s dominant Mc Laren and Verstappen’s difficulties with Red Bull. Antonelli has a 45-point lead over Hamilton, Russel follows the Englishman five points further behind and precedes Leclerc by 28. Anything can still happen.
