Ferrari drivers split on desire for rain after Hungarian GP practice

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The Ferrari drivers were split on if rain would help them after mixed conditions during practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel had a competitive morning at the Hungaroring as he finished within 0.2s of the pace set by Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in third.

Using the same hard tyre as the Briton during the initial dry spell in the afternoon, however, the German was 1.1s slower and ended the session only 13th as rain moved in.

“It was not bad,” Vettel said keeping an optimistic tone afterwards. “I think we have some room to improve, [we were] struggling a bit to get everything out of the car on that particular lap.

“[It's] hard to say where we are compared to the others, we will see tomorrow," he added. 

“I had plenty of margin, I think it’s more important in these conditions that I get the answer for the car rather than the ultimate lap time.”

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With Ferrari expected to struggle more versus Mercedes and Red Bull due to a downforce deficit, Vettel was asked if he'd like the rain to stay, as it could for qualifying on Saturday.

“No I think in both conditions we should be thereabouts," he claimed. “How close, we will see. I think Mercedes look very strong out of the box straight away.”

As for Charles Leclerc, he too struggled for overall pace and does think rain could give the opportunity to be competitive. 

“On my side, I'm not very happy at the moment in terms of the balance of the car, so I need to work quite a lot on that,” said the Monegasque.

“I think in the wet, I was in better shape. Overall we are struggling a little bit with the downforce level that we have.

“It's a track where we need a lot of downforce and we knew it would be a difficult track for us, so we need to work and try to improve for tomorrow.

“It will be all about trying to anticipate what will happen on Sunday. I think everything will be quite different, a lot warmer than it was today, no rain, so yeah, we will see Sunday."

 

         

 

 

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