autoevolution
 

What a Race, Ferrari's Strategy Blunders Allow Mercedes To Catch Up, Another Double Podium

Leclerc Disappointed After Another Bad Race 6 photos
Photo: Formula1
Leclerc Battling RusselMax Celebrating His WinHamilton Back-to-Back P2 FinishesVerstappen's Turn 13 SpinVerstappen's Turn 13 Spin

When George Russel took his maiden pole position at the Hungarian GP, it was clear that the W13 had made some significant progress.  With the young, talented driver who has been an extremely consistent top 5 finisher, a lot of people expected a strong result. While Mercedes has not yet been capable of delivering a win, they took back-to-back double podium finishes.

Russel led the race for the first stint but was overtaken by Charles Leclerc on lap 31, losing the effective leadership of the Grand Prix (yes, overtakes at the Hungaroring, it seems the new cars are delivering on their promise). For a few moments, we thought that was the end of it until Ferrari made a massive blunder. On lap 40, they decided to pit their leading driver for hard compound tires after just 18 laps on mediums.


It remains to be seen what Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has to say about the odd call they made in the Italian media, who will surely be ruthless. It was clear the hard tires were not working for the other drivers in the pack, so it's almost guaranteed that the switch took Leclerc out of contention for the win.


This catastrophic mistake comes as Mercedes is seeing a great run of form and has allowed the Silver Arrows to reduce the gap to the Scuderia to a measly 30 points in the World Constructor's Championship. With Ferrari's reliability being questionable, their decisions even more so, they are now under severe pressure of not only losing any chance at both championships but falling down to a disgraceful third place after showing so much promise in the early races.

Mercedes is in a great position to take advantage of everything coming their way, with recently introduced updates and a Lewis Hamilton that seems more driven than ever to prove his skills in a car not yet capable of challenging for wins. While the W13 has gotten faster, Red Bull and Verstappen still took the cake. Even starting from P10 and having a spin in the second half of the race, Max managed to take what looked like a comfortable win.


However, even failing to conquer the Hungarian GP, it is clear that Mercedes is making huge strides in competing for wins, and it’s only a matter of time until Hamilton climbs the top step of the podium for his 16th consecutive season.

If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Bogdan Bebeselea
Bogdan Bebeselea profile photo

As a kid, Bogdan grew up handing his dad the tools needed to work on his old Citroen and asking one too many questions about everything happening inside the engine bay. Naturally, this upbringing led Bogdan to become an engineer, but thanks to Top Gear, The Fast and the Furious series, and racing video games, a passion for automotive entertainment was ignited.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories