Lewis Hamilton suggested Mercedes didn’t have enough to match Ferrari in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, believing his team “did quite well” against the Scuderia at the Hungaroring.
The characteristics of the twisty circuit near Budapest always meant the team that has won three of the last four races was going to face an uphill battle as their longer wheelbase car isn’t suited to the less power-sensitive venues on the calendar.
And that was how it played out on Saturday as the reasonable single lap advantage Mercedes have had in recent races was wiped out as Sebastian Vettel ended a quarter of a second clear of Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton himself had to settle for fourth as out-of-balance wheels and an error on his first flying lap in Q3 put him on the back foot.
“It’s not been the easiest, most straightforward weekend,” he conceded. “The car felt pretty good, we made some improvements in qualifying and the laps were generally good apart from Q3.
“We knew that they [Ferrari] were quick, they showed it earlier on today, so we obviously were aware of their pace. I don’t know if they made an upgrade, or whatever it is, but I think we did quite well, considering.”
The three-time world champion was downbeat about his race chances too, with hotter temperatures forecast and overtaking likely to be difficult…
“Looking to the race, maybe strategy or the tyres will come into play in a bigger way,” Hamilton commented. “But Ferrari seems to have the upper hand this weekend and this race is usually a procession on a circuit where it is hard to follow, so there aren’t many opportunities to gain positions. But we will be giving it everything we can.”
Though circuits like the Hungaroring and Monaco are quite unique in terms of their demands compared to the rest of the calendar, Bottas admits Mercedes’ weakness on high downforce layouts does need addressing.
“They [Ferrar] really had the upper hand today; they had a quicker car, clearly very good to drive this weekend and we’ve still got work to do in circuits like this,” he said.
“This weekend yes, we can see we’re not performing as we should, as we want so we have to analyse that.
“We still have work to do with the car, but now we’ll be focusing for the race tomorrow because it’s going to be a long one and sill everything is possible.”
