Ferrari has proven that its car is rapid in tight and twisty corners -- that's why it was the fastest car in the last quadrant of the track in Barcelona and that's what helped it get consecutive poles in Monaco and Baku. After Monaco, it was believed that Hungary would be the race that would suit its car the most. In the meanwhile, Ferrari has also improved its tyre degradation issues and enhanced its energy deployment of the engine which has pegged it as one of the favourites at the Hungaroring later this week.
"The drivers have already tempered expectations by saying they hope to be the fastest after Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, but as we saw at Silverstone they can be quite competitive on the right tyre," said Mattia Binotto after joking last week that he expected a 1-2 finish for his team which hasn't been achieved since 2018.
Leclerc led most of the British GP and was voted driver of the day
Last week Charles Leclerc nearly won the race and came P2 while Carlos Sainz also managed a great recovery drive for P6. However, its drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr are playing down the expectations. In fact, this comes despite even F1.com claiming that Ferrari could be favourites to win the race in Hungary given that its cars like the heat which is likely in Budapest and like the tight and twisty corners of the track where its straight-line speed weakness isn't exposed.
"It's good to be an optimist, and I think we all want to be an optimist after such a good performance in the last three races, to be honest," he told Motorsport.com.
"But on the other hand, we also need to be realistic. We are in a good mood, but I feel like going for the win in Budapest could be a bit optimistic. So realistically, I think I will be happy if we are just behind the two top teams," he added.
Sainz argued that Hungaroring had become a high-speed track
Carlos Sainz Jr argued that the Hungaroring isn't the tight and twisty track it used to be but rather is a high-speed track these days.
"Budapest recently has become actually a medium to high-speed track with these cars. If you look at Monaco and Baku there are second or third gear corners. But Budapest nowadays, with these crazy high-downforce cars, you have a middle sector where you are fourth or fifth gear all the time. So it's not a pure low-speed track like it used to be in the past. I don't think it will be such a good track for us. I think it's a great opportunity to be right behind Red Bull and Mercedes, but downforce is still king and we see from data these guys are still ahead," he said.
