The Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team has stated that a thorough investigation will be essential to determine the cause of Charles Leclerc’s mysterious car issue, which denied him a podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Leclerc secured an unexpected pole position, surpassing McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, and maintained the lead during the initial stages of Sunday’s 70-lap race. He appeared to be on track for at least a podium result until his SF-25 experienced a significant drop in performance in the final stint.
This included being overtaken by both McLarens, as well as Mercedes’ George Russell towards the end, and Ferrari expressed surprise at Leclerc’s abrupt decline.
Initially, their driver suspected that a front wing adjustment made by Ferrari during the second and last pitstop had negatively impacted the car’s balance, but he later revised his view after being informed of the underlying car problem.
Team principal Fred Vasseur stated on Sunday evening that it was premature to pinpoint the precise cause, but he indicated that the extent of Leclerc’s loss of speed exceeded the typical adjustments made to protect against plank wear in the latter portion of a grand prix.
“When we experienced a decrease in pace [in prior races], we lost two or three tenths. Today, we lost two seconds. It’s quite different,” Vasseur noted.
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images
“The last stint was a disaster, very difficult to drive, the balance was not there, and honestly we don’t know exactly what’s happened so far.
“We have to investigate if we have something broken on the chassis side. At one stage I thought that we would never finish the race, that we were lucky to score points for fourth. It’s surprising, because if we had known before [we would have solved it].”
Leclerc also insisted that the Hungarian Grand Prix situation was a unique event. “No, it was a one-off,” he stated. “We need to examine it thoroughly to prevent it from occurring again, as the car was simply undriveable. However, I don’t anticipate it being a recurring issue elsewhere.”
Russell, on the other hand, indicated that Mercedes suspected Leclerc’s issues were related to Ferrari’s commonly discussed ride height concerns.
Leclerc’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, faced disqualification in China due to excessive plank wear, and Ferrari has since implemented measures to avoid further legal complications. These include raising the car’s height, adjusting engine modes, and increasing tire pressures to prevent the cars from bottoming out.
“The sole explanation we can conceive of is that they were operating the car too close to the ground and had to increase the tire pressures for the final stint,” Russell shared with Sky.
“Because they were utilizing an engine mode that reduced engine speed at the end of the straight, which is where the most significant plank wear occurs.”
