Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished 4th in the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, outlining that despite the strong race pace, qualifying and track position was the key to a potential podium result behind the dominant McLarens.
The Monegasque stated that pitting early in the final stint made things really tricky. He had extended his first stint on mediums, and he used his hards to quickly catch Hamilton and Verstappen in front.
However, they boxed like Mercedes at the end of lap 40, with Leclerc on used mediums versus Hamilton on hards. There was never an opportunity to pass.
Verstappen went longer and passed Leclerc, but the Dutchman’s incident with Hamilton gave the place back to the Ferrari driver.
Leclerc believes that strategy decision was a decent call but ultimately fell short of the podium.
“I felt like the pace was quite strong, then a track like Budapest is very difficult to actually overtake, but we were in a good place, the first stint was strong, the second stint was also very strong.
“Then we had to make a choice for the last stint, whether we boxed with Lewis and we took the place to Max, or whether we stayed out with Max, we decided to come in, which I think wasn’t a bad choice.
“But that made our last stint very tricky because I was on used medium and very used medium when Max came back, so it was a tricky race.”
Despite having strong race pace and ample tyre management throughout the Grand Prix, the 6-time race winner was left unsatisfied and stated that Ferrari had to pay the price of a weak qualifying as the track is notoriously difficult to overtake on.
“The pace was there, so that was good, but that’s not enough to satisfy me. I mean, looking at the overall picture, we are still lacking a lot of pace in qualifying compared to our main competitors, and on tracks like this we pay the price.”
Leclerc expected Ferrari to be close to Mercedes in the race, but in the end he believes he had a small advantage over Hamilton on the day.
“We expected to be very close, but I felt like we had a bit of an edge, because on a track where dirty air is so detrimental for the car behind, I felt like I could follow quite nicely, so I think we had a strong chance there.
“Yes, I don’t think we could have done much more [result-wise], considering our starting position, so I think we did good.”
Talking about where the team is at the moment in comparison to McLaren, Leclerc stated that the qualifying pace shows the work Ferrari has to do. Sainz did a very good lap in qualifying but could only get P4, four tenths behind polesitter Lando Norris.
“I mean, I think with the qualifying pace, especially with Carlos, who had done a very good lap, I think that’s the gap.
“So it might be specific to this track, but on a track like this, we were four tenths behind, and I don’t think there was much more in the car.“
Leclerc says the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix will be the big test to see if they have got on top of the issues with their car. With plenty of high-speed corners at Spa, the SF-24 could face bouncing once again.
“On a track like Spa, I think this is going to be a real test for us, because it’s probably the track where I would expect our issues to be the most visible.
“And then we’ll see if we have the confirmation that there’s still a lot of work to do before we get our issues fixed, or whether the upgrades of this weekend helped us make a step forward for those tracks.”
He is not confident that they can be able to fight for wins if they are unable to fix their problems and add more performance to the car.
“Not really, I mean, now if we stay like this with our car, I don’t think so. Monaco is a very, very specific track, which, yeah, we were very strong, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll be fast anywhere else during the season.
“So no, I don’t think that on paper we are favourites anywhere.”
While Leclerc stated that they are getting to the right direction, the porpoising the SF-24 currently faces makes it difficult.
The Monegasque driver isn’t sure that the modified floor Ferrari brought to Hungary is enough to be able to limit the bouncing of the car coming in to Spa.
“The understanding [with the floor] is there, it’s going in the right direction for sure. The thing with the kind of issue we are facing is that it’s either on or off, and it’s very difficult to see the improvement.
“Maybe you have it for less time, and what I’m speaking of is mostly the bouncing, but it’s not like you improve the intensity of it, so whenever you have it, you have it.
“So we are doing steps in the right direction, whether it will be enough to not have it, I’m not sure yet, and I will expect that in Spa it can be an issue again.”
Leclerc added that they’re down in outright performance to McLaren, stating that the bouncing issues they’re currently experiencing forces Ferrari to make a compromise just to make it drivable.
“Pace, just performance in general, and also you have to take compromise, even if it’s not a track where you have lots of bouncing, you have to take compromise in order to not create it anywhere, even if it’s only two high-speed corners.
“So we are maybe also not optimising everything, just because we still have a bit of those issues.“
