How Leclerc witnessed the stress Red Bull put to his Ferrari squad

During the first stint of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc appeared to be in a solid position to win, but everything suddenly started to fall apart for the Monegasque driver when he was forced to make a second pit stop.

In the second stint of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s response to Red Bull pitting Max Verstappen was, according to Charles Leclerc, undoubtedly a crucial factor in how the team lost the race.

Leclerc had a great beginning from third on the grid and finally overtook pole-sitter George Russell and driver Carlos Sainz to take the lead.

Max Verstappen, who was closing fast, chose to pit first in the second round of stops. In response, Ferrari chose to bring Charles Leclerc in, where they fitted his F1-75 with a pair of the Hard tyres.

Verstappen and Russell, who were both racing the Mediums, gained an advantage over Leclerc as a result of Leclerc’s inability to warm up this compound.

Leclerc was finally forced to make a third pit stop by the Scuderia in order to swap to the Soft tyres, but this dropped him to P6 by the finish line.

Leclerc estimates the time lost due to the Hard tyre

Leclerc said in a post-race interview that he had intended to use the Medium tyre for “as long as possible” during the first stint and stated how much time he had gained by using the Hard compound.

“I think the pace was very good today on the Medium,” Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365.com.

“But then on the Hard, obviously, we lost all the pace. We did one stop more than everybody, losing 20 seconds.

“Plus the five or six laps we were on the Hard we were losing a second per lap, so this is a lot of race time.”

Leclerc agreed that while the Soft tyre still had some graining, it was nothing compared to the problems with the Hard.

“On the Medium it was very good, honestly, the feeling was very good. The tyres were always good, basically,” he said.

“On the Soft, yes [there was graining], but we had to pit quite early because the Hard was just incredibly difficult so the Soft was the only tyre left.

“We grained at the end but nothing that surprised me. The Soft we were expecting to grain.”

Where the race was lost for Leclerc and Ferrari

According to Leclerc, switching to Hards was where everything started to go awry because the beginning tyre was the best choice.

“I think starting on the Medium was the right choice. I think stopping for the Hard was the turning point of the race,” he added.

The Ferrari racer also thinks that the squad’s decision to respond to Red Bull’s stresses by pitting Verstappen was a major element in their defeat in the race.

“I’m pretty sure that this was [Verstappen’s] call, to put us under pressure,” Leclerc continued.

“But I don’t think we should have maybe reacted to that because then it was a snowball effect for us, and we lost a lot more than what we should have.”

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Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, F1, F1 2022, Ferrari, FIA, Formula 1, Hungarian Grand Prix, Grand Prix, Red Bull, Max Verstappen