Charles Leclerc Treading Carefully Despite Visible Improvement At Hungary

If you are Charles Leclerc at the moment, then what are you thinking post Hungary? Well, here’s a context.

There are, if not more, then three ways of describing Ferrari’s most recent performance at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix. First being that unlike the massive disappointment faced at the Canadian Grand Prix (held earlier in June), where both drivers finished sans a single point, the Hungaroring was a fine result in that the exact opposite to Canada transpired for the team.

As a matter of factly, both Ferrari drivers finished inside points with Charles Leclerc scoring more than Carlos Sainz on this occasion in a refreshing turn of events for the Monegasque. But the second way to describe the action at Hungaroring is that it was an event where neither Ferrari driver was able to manage a podium finish. Surely, that is not the most positive outlook at the end of the day.

Finally, the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix was an occasion where, if the eternal optimist was to put it, Charles Leclerc actually managed his best race result in the sport since his famous win back at Monaco.

Truth be told, it makes more sense to read into the most positive impact or result at the end of the day, which is something that maybe Leclerc too, would agree with- don’t you think?

Well, as it turns out, the yet-to-turn 27 thinks the opposite.

Not that Leclerc derided his effort at the end of the day, but as it turns out, the famous driver has refused to misread the vastly-improved result that he was able to achieve with his SF 90. This, without much doubt, was a clear positive in that Charles Leclerc was able to score points for the first time in a race after failing to do so on multiple occasions, including the Grands Prix at Austria followed by Great Britain.

While a wrong choice of tyre strategy at Silverstone saw Leclerc shooting himself in the foot, a race earlier, his team didn’t opt for the optimal and timely tyre strategy to assist the vastly talented multiple race winner.

That said, Charles Leclerc’s own perception of his Hungary output deserves a read

Upon the completion of round twelve of the ongoing F1 season, Charles Leclerc alluded to the fact that the Ferrari performance was not where the team exactly wants it to be.

Facts first, though.

In all, Leclerc and Sainz were responsible for scoring no fewer than 20 points from the Grand Prix.

But on the matter of where the car stands presently, given what its weaknesses seem like, the following is what Charles had to offer in his discussion with F1.com:

“I’m not happy because the performance is not where we want it to be. McLaren is quite a far bit ahead now, Red Bull was a bit closer than what we thought today. But I think we had a pretty good race pace, we were just a bit stuck because it’s a track where you cannot really overtake.”

Having said that, with one half of the season complete and another to begin come the hopefully action-packed Spa Francorchamps weekend at Belgium, if there’s a team that will clearly wish to rise to prominence, then it is undoubtedly going to be Scuderia Ferrari.

The famed Italian marvel is nowhere to close to the kind of resurgence that someone like McLaren has shown thanks to the sensational touch that both its drivers have brought to the fore. Can Sainz, whose 2024 podium count is one shy to that of his teammate as seen so far in 2024, and most importantly, Leclerc together lift Ferrari in what’s to come?