Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has sidestepped speculation stirred up by George Russell over his lack of pace at the Hungarian Grand Prix, insisting that the situation was “a lot more complex” than the Mercedes driver suggested.
Leclerc’s Hungarian struggles were especially painful given that it looked like his best chance of victory in 2025. Starting from pole, he briefly led the race before fading badly after his second pit stop, eventually slipping behind Oscar Piastri and Russell to finish fourth.
Ferrari later pointed to a chassis-related problem, but the incident only added fuel to speculation about the team’s performance ceiling. Russell stirred the pot by suggesting that the Scuderia had deliberately compromised its car’s pace in the second half of the race to avoid a technical breach related to plank wear.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Leclerc was asked to address Russell’s claim. But the Monegasque unsurprisingly kept his cards close to his chest.
“I am not going to comment on that,” he said. “I don’t really mind about what George said after the race. The situation is a lot more complex than he portrayed. I am not going to comment too much.
“As I said after Budapest, we’re not going to go into the details of what happened. It’s something that we’re trying to fix and we’re all working towards. The only thing I can say it’s a lot more complex than that.
“It’s not the kind of thing that we will fix from one race to the other, unfortunately. It hurts more once you are fighting for a win, which was the case in Budapest. But it wasn’t the first time we had that issue and it’s probably not the last time.
“But I think we understood what we could have done better and going forward we’ll try to avoid that as much as possible.”
While McLaren continue to dominate, Ferrari remain the only team among the top four without a grand prix victory this season.
Leclerc has claimed five podiums and a pole but hasn’t tasted champagne on the top step since Texas last year. On the other side of the garage, Lewis Hamilton has endured a rocky first campaign in red, with fourth place his best result so far.
Despite recent frustrations, Leclerc insists Ferrari are on the right track – pointing to the decision to extend team principal Frédéric Vasseur’s contract as a major step in the right direction.
“For sure, I mean, I’m sure that this has played an important part in just giving serenity to the team,” he explained.
“Obviously when there are these kind of rumours as a team, you’re always trying to be completely unemotional and not being attached to these kind of rumours and just to not listen to them.
“But I’m sure that it has some kind of influences when there are these kind of things in the air.
“It was good and I think it’s great for the stability of the team. And Fred is great, has a very clear vision on what he wants to achieve and we are both super aligned – and not only us but the whole team. We’re going in the right direction.”
With the Dutch Grand Prix looming, Leclerc may not have shut down the intrigue around Budapest, but his focus is clear: it’s on Ferrari’s long game, not Russell’s soundbites.
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