Max Verstappen immediately knew Ferrari strategy would cost Lewis Hamilton at Hungarian Grand Prix

Follow us on Google Discover

Ferrari’s strategists are under scrutiny once again after Lewis Hamilton finished fifth in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Starting on soft tyres, Hamilton was the first driver in the field to make a pit stop, coming in on lap 13 out of 70. To Ferrari’s credit, that allowed him to undercut Max Verstappen, but he was then caught napping by the Red Bull driver as he lost the position at turn one.

The timing of the second and third stops was more questionable, though. Hamilton scrapped his hard tyres after just 17 laps in the middle stint and was then called in during a late virtual safety car period, costing him two positions on track.

Max Verstappen suspected Lewis Hamilton had made second stop ‘too early’

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Hamilton said it was the wrong call to pit under the VSC. Racing to beat Kimi Antonelli to the safety car line and keep third place (after giving up P2 to Verstappen), he released the pit-lane limiter too early and earned a five-second penalty.

“I definitely don’t think we should have taken the stop, but the call came literally just before the pit lane entry and I didn’t have time to debate,” he said. “You’ve got to trust the decision that has been taken.

“In hindsight, my tyres were totally fine. I was probably going to lose out to Max but I think I could have kept third at least. Then just opened up the door to obviously the penalty that I got in the end.”

The problems can be traced back to the early second stop. While Hamilton undercut Verstappen again, Red Bull were able to give their driver an 11-lap tyre offset.

Should Ferrari have used team orders after Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, or would that have been unfair on Charles Leclerc?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Consequently, Verstappen was catching Hamilton at such a rate that Ferrari felt an overtake was inevitable, with Antonelli also a threat after an even later second stop. If they thought they could hold P2 on track, they wouldn’t have called him in after Oscar Piastri’s on-track stoppage.

Hamilton was struggling in his second stint as he fell 3.7 seconds behind Verstappen and came under pressure from Leclerc, but Ferrari jumped the gun. He was only losing a couple of tenths per lap to the Red Bull and wasn’t seriously compromising his teammate.

Indeed, when Gianpiero Lambiase told Verstappen on lap 40 that Hamilton was coming in, the Dutchman, whose hard tyres were only a lap younger, replied: “That’s too early for us.”

• READ MORE: David Coulthard says Ferrari made a mistake that’s ‘unacceptable’ in F1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Ferrari’s lack of patience would land Hamilton in trouble later in the race. Had he waited another five laps or so, they would have reduced their rivals’ tyre offset and made it easier for the Briton to reach the chequered flag without excessive management or degradation. The ill-fated third stop wouldn’t have been deemed necessary.

Indeed, almost immediately after pitting, Hamilton was asking Ferrari: “Am I going to be in trouble at the end of this race?”

The aggressive undercut worked in the first stint, but then they overplayed their hand. With proper execution, Hamilton could have finished second behind Lando Norris, rather than fifth.