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Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur hopes his squad fares better in Hungary’s race on Sunday, particularly after their ‘lacklustre showing at the British Grand Prix’.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz slumped to ninth and 10th on race day in Silverstone, due to what Vasseur believes was hesitation from the team in terms of tyre life — an area they have apparently been pushing to improve after a spate of early-season struggles in relation to their main rivals.
With F1 moving on to Budapest and the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, Vasseur hopes the layout of the circuit will better suit Ferrari’s SF-23.
“On the paper, yes,” the Frenchman said on the official F1 website. “But then you have the set-up, it’s not just a matter of [the] package fitting with the track.
“The set-up that you are doing, the preparation of the weekend, the Friday that you are doing are key. It will be probably even more [so] in Budapest because it’s so difficult to overtake that it will be crucial.”
As the season approaches its halfway mark, Ferrari holds fourth in the constructors’ standings sitting behind Aston Martin, Mercedes and Red Bull. Sainz and Leclerc hold fifth and seventh respectively in the drivers’ battle.
The favourite going into race weekend is Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen because of the team’s long streak of consecutive wins.
While racing pundits say the track might not suit Red Bull’s car as much as usual, the Monaco Grand Prix proved that the squad is more than capable of adapting to any conditions.
Verstappen now has a 99-point lead in the World Championship and his teammate Sergio Perez will be looking to find his qualifying form again.
Of course Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and even McLaren are trying to topple Red Bull’s record-equalling run of 11 wins.
The Hungarian Grand Prix will be the 11th race in the 2023 Formula 1 season, which is the exact halfway point in the schedule. It will also not be the final race before the summer break because it will be followed by the Belgian Grand Prix a week later.
