Ex-F1 champion asks Ferrari chief strategist if he was even ‘watching the race’.
Villeneuve questioned if strategist Inaki Rueda was even “watching the race” after he called Leclerc in for Hards, instead of leaving him out on Mediums to stick with the plan.
3 August 2022
by James Clifford

If Ferrari do not sort themselves out over the summer break, the former Williams driver fears that this title race could be an avalanche. “Nothing has been decided yet, there are still plenty of races to go, but if the trend continues, if Verstappen continues to drive at this level and Red Bull also continues to develop, it will be very difficult to stop them,” explained Villeneuve.

Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday from 10th on the grid after more strategical blunders from Ferrari cost Charles Leclerc the win. However, that takes nothing away from the reigning champion’s impressive recovery which, in Villeneuve’s eyes, is further proof that the Red Bull driver is simply out of this world.

“Max is a machine, he’s simply not normal!” he stated. “He wasn’t even tired yesterday, I don’t think he even needs to go on holiday! He is driving so incredibly strongly this year, and the team is not making any mistakes.

‘Watching the race’;

https://formula1news.co.uk/ex-f1-cha...hing-the-race/


Jacques Villeneuve lays into Ferrari: Are they not watching the race or what?
Wednesday 3rd August 2022 10:00 AM
Michelle Foster

Jacques Villeneuve is mystified as to how so many of F1’s strategists, said to be “top level”, could get it so horribly wrong at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Ferrari can count themselves on that list.

The Scuderia made headlines after the Hungaroring race, not because of a shining moment of glory as it should have been for Charles Leclerc but because of how badly wrong they got his strategy.

The team went for a medium-medium-hard tyre strategy for the Monégasque driver only to realise the hards were not working. However, you sense if they had been properly watching the race, they would have seen everyone else who tried the hard tyres struggled for pace.

‘Ferrari Mystified!’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/jacque...ts-hungary-gp/


Hakkinen: Red Bull will finish 1-2 in standings if Ferrari doesn’t respond soon
03/08/2022, 10:09
by Fergal Walsh

Two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen has backed the Red Bull drivers to finish first and second in the Drivers’ standings this year if Ferrari don’t improve its form soon.

Writing in his column for Unibet, Hakkinen has warned Ferrari that it could lose out to both Red Bull drivers soon if it doesn’t better its performances.

“Of course Max Verstappen has the quickest, most consistent car, but the big picture on Sunday is that Russell, Leclerc, Sainz and Hamilton led at some point, and the way the cars can follow each other thanks to the ’22 regulations is very positive,” he said. “There was so much happening and, when you consider Max even had a spin, I think 3 or 4 drivers could have won this race.”

‘1 2 Red Bull’;

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2022/...-respond-soon/


Binotto admits to frustration under his calm persona
Tuesday 2nd August 2022 5:00 PM
Michelle Foster

The Scuderia’s reliability and poor decision making has cost the driver 108 points in total while Leclerc’s own mistakes saw him drop a further 32.

Such was Leclerc’s exasperation after the Hungarian GP, a race he should have won but instead finished P6, that he told the media it feels “like there is always something going wrong” at Ferrari. He’s not the only one annoyed with the situation.

“I’m frustrated no doubt,” team boss Binotto insisted to Channel 4 after the Hungarian race, “even if I’m maybe not showing it too much, but I’m certainly frustrated. Because I know what is the potential of the car, what it has been so far, even if today it’s the first time in the first half of the season that the car was not so great.”

‘Frustration’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/mattia...-calm-persona/


SHOULD CHARLES LECLERC BE LEADING THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
We do the maths on a season of missed opportunities for Leclerc and Ferrari
03/08/2022
James Mackenzie

Once all those numbers are totted up, they would have left Verstappen on 289 points and Leclerc on 297. Of course, a championship is never going to go entirely your way, but it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth knowing how thrilling a title fight we could be experiencing without Ferrari’s operational and reliability issues.

Even with Leclerc’s two errors factored in he would only be 25 or so points back. As much as Binotto refuses to take responsibility for his team’s mistakes, repeatedly claiming they were never expecting to win the race and/or title, it is perfectly clear that it is Ferrari who have yet again thrown away a great shot at the championship.

‘Maths of Missed Opportunities’;

https://www.formulanerds.com/feature.../?nowprocket=1


Why Ferrari launched failed tyre gamble in Hungary
Tuesday 2 August 2022 18:30
Sam Hall

Explaining why, Binotto said: "When we fitted the hard, our simulation was that it would have been a difficult couple of laps of warm-up.”

"They would have been slower than the medium for 10, 11 laps but then they would have come back and would have been faster by the end of the stint and it was a 30-lap stint.”

“We fitted the hard tyres at the time because, with a 30-lap stint, we were trying to protect position on Max. It would have been too long for the soft and our choice and analysis [was that] yes, it would have been difficult at the start of the stint but we could have come back by the end."

‘Failed tyre gamble’;

https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/88...-ferrari-tyre/


Italian media claim Max Verstappen has ‘secured his second title’
Max Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix after Ferrari threw away a win for Charles Leclerc.
2 August 2022
by James Clifford

Verstappen had started the race down in 10th after engine troubles in qualifying, so his victory was labelled a “masterpiece” by Corriere dello Sport. Conversely, Quotidiano Nazionale affirmed that Leclerc “deserves more” from his team right now having been comfortably leading in Budapest.

Writer for the publication, Fluvio Solms, gave a stinging review of Ferrari’s handling of a race that they seemingly had in the bag, and suggested that Verstappen has all but wrapped up the title. “The wave of enthusiasm on which the entire Ferrari team was surfing, dreaming of an irresistible end of the season, has been completely shattered,” he wrote.

“It should never have happened at the Hungaroring, but it did. Right there, on the friendly circuit that requires a key quality of Ferrari – aerodynamic downforce. The Dutchman secured his second title with nine races to go.”

‘Surfing Dream Shattered’;

https://formula1news.co.uk/italian-m...-second-title/