Ferrari suffered yet another below par qualifying session this season, during Saturday’s 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying, showing that they are still very much off the pace of their rivals.
Updated regulations to the session meant that Hard compound tires were mandatory for Q1, with Medium tires for Q2, followed by the Soft compound throughout Q3. This made for a very interesting dynamic during the Saturday session, which saw some teams and drivers struggling to adapt, while some were able to deliver some incredible results. Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes W14 took pole position in a shock twist of events from Max Verstappen and Red Bull, by just 0.003s.
George Russell, saw a bad run of form continue, as he could only manage to stay 18th fastest, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant being the only drivers behind him.
Ferrari’s day did not go to plan, with Carlos Sainz down in eleventh place, and teammate Charles Leclerc faring slightly better, locking in sixth place ahead of Sunday’s race. The former struggled to show any signs of comfort with grip or adaptability, coupled with the new rules having a shuffling effect on the pecking order, left the Spanish driver down in P11.
Speaking to the media after the session, Sainz had this to say:
“I’m not happy to miss out on Q3 for the first time this year by only two thousands. I haven’t been comfortable with the medium compound all weekend and I paid the price today, in the tightest qualifying of the season so far.
“It won’t be easy tomorrow with the traffic and the high degradation,” the driver of number 55 continued, “but we’ll try everything to overtake and gain positions to bring home some good points.
A wide gap in the performance spectrum for many teams, Ferrari included, as some teams have one driver starting outside of the points positions, and another one starting much higher up.
Ferrari look to bounce back and show more signs of progress on Sunday, during the Hungarian Grand Prix, which is round eleven of the 2023 F1 world championship.
Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari
