In the round-up: Charles Leclerc says he’s unhappy with the “overall lack of performance” from Ferrari
In brief
Leclerc frustrated by Ferrari’s “overall lack of performance”
After he qualified in sixth for today’s Hungarian Grand Prix, two places behind team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr, Charles Leclerc admitted to being unhappy with the lack of pace from his team in Hungary.
“I’m more frustrated just about the overall lack of performance,” Leclerc said.
“I think Carlos have been driving very well this weekend. He finishes P4 which I think is the position of the car really and he did a really good job. I finished P6 a bit behind, not a really clean lap. P5 was possible on my side, but P4 and P5 was the best result we could have hoped as a team. The biggest problem is that we don’t have the pace that we used to have at the beginning of the season.”
Pourchaire “best driver” to call – Brown
After Alexander Rossi was forced out of today’s IndyCar race in Toronto due to injury, McLaren CEO Zak Brown says replacement Theo Pourchaire was the obvious choice to replace him.“We thought he was the best driver, simple as that,” Brown told the IndyCar broadcast during yesterday’s qualifying session.
“He did an excellent job driving for us, he knows the team. Obviously we’ve thrown him in the deep end here, learning the new circuit in qualifying. But he’s a pro, we enjoy our time with him.”
Hadjar family member fined by stewards
A relative of Red Bull junior driver and Formula 2 championship leader Isack Hadjar earned his Campos team a €1,000 (£842) fine after he was deemed to be “loitering” in the pit lane during yesterday’s sprint race.
The stewards determined that Yassin Hadjar – a guest of Campos for this weekend – was “loitering adjacent to the fast lane in the pit lane during the race and was seen to often be focused on his phone”. They fined the team and stated that he would have his pit lane access revoked if any similar infringement takes place again.
Hadjar was promoted onto the podium of yesterday’s race after race winner, Richard Verschoor, was disqualified for excessive plank wear after the race.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Verstappen: ''Alonso podría tener 8 mundiales; pocos podrían hacer lo que hace'' (Mundo Deportivo)
Max Verstappen: ''Fernando Alonso is among the top five in F1 history. I think so. The number of titles - Alonso could have had eight world championships if he had had a little more luck in his career by making the right decisions in the right time. So no, titles don't matter...''
''I risked it and it paid off'': Bedrin’s reaction to maiden F3 win (Formula Scout)
'It was a very challenging first-half of the lap of the race, I would say, because it was quite intense going into turn one with having a car (Prema’s Dino Beganovic) on that side of me. It was a bit scrappy to go there, but I still risked it and it paid off at the end because in turn two I was able to take the lead.'
Formula E round 15: London EPrix race one (Formula E via YouTube)
Formula Regional Europe round 6: Circuit Paul Ricard (Formula Regional Europe via YouTube)
We always endeavour to credit original sources. Got a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport? Please send it to us via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
O̶N̶L̶Y̶ ̶T̶H̶E̶ ̶T̶H̶I̶R̶D̶ ̶T̶I̶M̶E̶ ̶E̶V̶E̶R̶ ̶W̶E̶'̶V̶E̶ ̶L̶O̶C̶K̶E̶D̶ ̶O̶U̶T̶ ̶T̶H̶E̶ ̶F̶R̶O̶N̶T̶-̶R̶O̶W̶!̶!̶!̶
So it turns out we've had 63 front-row lockouts, and 3 in Hungary…
😅 Admin got over-excited in the moment!
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 20, 2024
"That was a very disappointing Qualifying session for us. We will dust ourselves down and come back stronger tomorrow. It will be a long race so hopefully we can create some opportunities."
Toto rounds up a challenging day in Budapest. pic.twitter.com/NcAG18ibWO
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 20, 2024
WHAT A SAVE!
How did @12WillPower hang on?!
📺: #INDYCAR qualifying on Peacock pic.twitter.com/Elua01G9D4
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 20, 2024
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Another disappointing qualifying for Sergio Perez draws this dry observation from Peter…
Perez is improving.
He’s managed this weekend to out-qualify a Mercedes.
Peter
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Dirceu!
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
21st July 2024, 3:57
I wonder if Ferrari are regretting the driver decision they made earlier in the season.
Sainz might not have the absolute speed that Leclerc does, but overall seems to be less prone to making the sorts of mistakes that he makes all too often.
I suspect he’d have made a better partner for Hamilton and would still have delivered good results consistently whereas Leclerc’s win or bust attitude may hinder progress and potentially cause clashes.
Still… to late to do anything about it now.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
21st July 2024, 5:25
I get the impression Leclerc is quicker when the car is working well and is competitive. He seems to lose his way when things aren’t in the sweet spot for him. Sainz seems better at extracting the best from a mediocre car, kinda Alonso style. On the balance of things, I think I’d have kept Carlos. He seems more consistent now. I’d have expected Charlie to have ironed out his unforced errors by now. But who knows, if Ferrari nails it next year or 2026, I expect Charlie to be back on it.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st July 2024, 12:45
This is also my impression regarding leclerc vs sainz’s strengths.
Sup
21st July 2024, 14:15
You guys should stop talking f1. Charles is better then sainz in evrey single way. Charles has beaten sainz over and over and over for multiple year’s now. Stop talking about stuff you clearly have no clue about
Sup
21st July 2024, 14:16
Just because carles has a bad stint right now and the team is screwing him over and over you think sainz is better
anon
21st July 2024, 8:49
@dbradock would you necessarily have said the same thing when the decision was made before this season started, and you would have been comparing Sainz’s and Leclerc’s form from previous seasons?
From 2021 to 2023, Leclerc tended to qualify slightly higher than Sainz, finish ahead of Sainz a bit more often than Sainz managed to finish ahead of Leclerc and tended to edge Sainz in terms of podium finishes and points scored. Given those results, I suspect that, if you’d asked people here before the start of this season whether they’d prefer to keep Leclerc or Sainz, you would have had a higher percentage of people opting for Leclerc than now.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st July 2024, 12:48
That’s for sure and I guess that’s also what ferrari’s decision was based on, leclerc is the best performer when you get a good car such as 2022, and in order to win you need a good car: sainz might score more points in a season like this, but you wouldn’t win the title even if you had the best driver of all time this year.
Sup
21st July 2024, 15:47
Sainz dosent score more point’s in any season. Most of the time Charles is getting screwd by bad stratagy like today ferrari again made stupid stratagy choices