Bojan Vrbnjak
In the second part of the Hockenheim race, the fans drew hope when they saw how Sebastian Vettel he literally flew down the track and eventually won second place, even though he started the race from scratch. But on Hungaroring Scuderia brutally fell back to the ground of reality. Already in training they were against Max Verstappn iz Red Bull Racing and twin Mercedesa Lewis Hamilton in Valtteri Bottas without a chance, so they had to settle for starting places 4 (Charles Leclerc) and 5 (Sebastian Vettel) in the end.
Team boss Mattia binotto he did not portray the performance of his team and says without a hair on his tongue, although this is nothing new: “Our race car generates too little vacuum. Although we weren’t fast enough to take part in the fight for the pole position, the difference to the top was smaller than we expected. That encourages us. For this reason, we believe that we are on the right track in the development of our SF90 car."
But the course of the race in Hungary does not support his words. Leading Max Verstappen has disappeared from the horizon, only Lewis Hamilton he managed to keep his rhythm. After 20 laps, they had Ferrari racers Charles Leclerc in Sebastian Vettel already 20 seconds behind. At the end of the race, Scuderia won third (Vettel) and fourth (Leclerc). If Valtteri Bottas in the first round I wouldn’t collide with a young Monaco if I could Pierre Gasly at least partially following Verstappn’s speed, then the Reds fans would have experienced earlier what was a definite fact that day: Ferrari is only a third power! The best Ferrari in a goal one minute behind the winner, that’s more than just a bold muffin in Formula 1.
Binotto: "The summer break is important as the team worked hard. We’ll take another look at the data in peace, and then we have a few days off to recharge our batteries."About the race in Hungary, the Italian said:"Sebastian handled his tires very cleverly in the first part of the race. Another strategy would not have been possible because the tires on Charles ’race car were completely destroyed.”Vettel lasted until the 39th lap with the first tires of the middleweight compound, and then he was put on soft rubber tires, with which he managed to overtake his teammate just before the end of the race. Leclerc, who replaced the tires in the 27th lap.
In the end Mattia binotto he adds: "Our weakness in terms of vacuum showed even more at the distance of the race than we expected. We were also not helped by the fact that Sunday was hotter than was the case on Saturday. The shape of the race car varies from track to track, but we can’t paint and wrap in cellophane here, our best race car came to the finish line a minute later as the race winner. Because we are not strong enough."
