Leclerc: Ferrari ‘paid the price’ in Hungarian GP for lack of pace

Charles Leclerc deemed himself “relatively happy” with his fourth-place finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix but reckoned a better result could have been possible if Ferrari had better qualifying pace.

The Monegasque claimed in Budapest his best result since his home win in Monaco back in May thanks to a solid drive coupled with a drama-free race.

Leclerc enjoyed a stellar start, overtaking teammate Carlos Sainz, and extending his opening stint on the medium tyre to position himself just behind Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

He then successfully undercut Verstappen during the second pit stop to climb to fourth, but Leclerc's older medium rubber allowed the reigning world champion to recoup the position.

However, a chaotic clash between Verstappen and Hamilton later in the race gifted P4 back to the Ferrari driver who finished 4.8 seconds behind Hamilton.

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“I’m relatively happy,” Leclerc said after the race. “I mean, I’m never happy with a P4 but if you do a step back, considering the tough few races I’ve had in the last few weekends…

“We came here saying we need to maximise the team points, we need to maximise the car, and I think we did that today, so on that I’m happy.

“On the other hand, I’m not happy because the performance is not where we want it to be. McLaren is quite a far bit ahead now, Red Bull was a bit closer than what we thought today.

“I mean, looking at the overall picture, we are still lacking a lot of pace in qualifying compared to our main competitors, and on tracks like this we will pay the price.”

Leclerc reckoned that Ferrari’s SF-24 had an edge over Mercedes’ contender at the Hungaroring, but admitted hitting an unsettling swirl of turbulence when running in the wake of Hamilton’s W15

“I felt like we had a bit of an edge, because on a track where dirty air is so important, I mean, it’s so detrimental for the car behind,” he said.

“I felt like I could follow quite nicely, so I think we had a strong car.”

When pressed about the team's current mindset and potential solutions to close the gap to Red Bull and McLaren, Leclerc was unsure if immediate improvements were possible or if catching their rivals would be a gradual process.

“I think Spa will be a real test for the issues we’ve had in the last few races,” he said, referring to the SF-24’s high-speed bouncing troubles that prompted Ferrari to introduce a revised floor in Hungary.

“It feels like a small step forward here. However, it’s not a track that put in evidence the weaknesses of our car, so let’s wait for Spa and see how much of a step forward we’ve done.”

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