Vasseur critical of Ferrari's Hungary performance

(opens in a new tab)Sign InSubscribeF1ScheduleResultsStandingsDriversTeamsF1 UnlockedOpen menuFIA if(window.f1MobileDetection.iOSSafari) { var meta = document.createElement("meta"); meta.name = "apple-itunes-app"; meta.content = "app-id=835022598, app-argument=https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/everything-went-wrong-vasseur-critical-of-ferraris-hungarian-grand-prix-performance.7u9mA10W6pQaMYYNe7q1Y5.7u9mA10W6pQaMYYNe7q1Y5"; document.head.appendChild(meta); } {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/everything-went-wrong-vasseur-critical-of-ferraris-hungarian-grand-prix-performance.7u9mA10W6pQaMYYNe7q1Y5","url":"https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/everything-went-wrong-vasseur-critical-of-ferraris-hungarian-grand-prix-performance.7u9mA10W6pQaMYYNe7q1Y5","mainEntityOfPage":"https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/everything-went-wrong-vasseur-critical-of-ferraris-hungarian-grand-prix-performance.7u9mA10W6pQaMYYNe7q1Y5","datePublished":"2026-07-27T11:19:40.220Z","dateModified":"2026-07-27T11:19:40.220Z","headline":"'Everything went wrong' – Fred Vasseur critical of Ferrari's 2026 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix performance","author":"F1","description":"Fred Vasseur believes that \"everything went wrong\" for Ferrari in last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, as both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton failed to reach the podium.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://media.formula1.com/image/upload/t_16by9Centre/f_auto/q_auto/v1784976930/trackside-images/2026/F1_Grand_Prix_of_Hungary___Qualifying/2287573742.jpg"},"isAccessibleForFree":"true","publisher":{"@type":"SportsOrganization","@id":"https://www.formula1.com#organization","name":"Formula 1","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.formula1.com/etc/designs/fom-website/social/f1-default-share.jpg","width":"480","height":"120"}}}Frederic VasseurFerrariHungaryShow more tags'Everything went wrong' – Vasseur critical of Ferrari's Hungarian Grand Prix performanceDespite showing promising pace in practice, a strong result failed to materialise for Ferrari in Hungary. Fred Vasseur believes that "everything went wrong" for Ferrari in last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, as both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton failed to reach the podium. The Scuderia were expected to show strong pace during Sunday's 70-lap race at the Hungaroring, with the track's tight, twisty layout suiting Ferrari's 2026 challenger. Hamilton and Leclerc led the way in Friday practice and were expected to take pole position, but were denied by Lando Norris, while Hamilton was demoted three places for blocking Oscar Piastri. Both Leclerc in P2 and Hamilton in P5 started on the soft tyre compared with those around them on the medium compound in a bid to make places on the opening lap, but instead Leclerc finished the opening lap fifth, directly behind Hamilton. While Leclerc never challenged the leaders, Hamilton battled Max Verstappen for the podium, the seven-time World Champion initially jumping him after his first pit stop before the Red Bull driver passed him into Turn 1. A late third pit stop dropped Hamilton just behind Kimi Antonelli into fourth, with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane eventually putting him into P5 behind Leclerc. Team Principal Vasseur was critical of Ferrari's performance at a venue where they were expected to mount a challenge for the win. "It's difficult to really understand the pace because you learn the fact that first it's not a good Sunday because when you are P1-P2 on Friday you expect much more than P4-P5," said Vasseur. "And at the top you make too many mistakes today starting with a start, with a penalty, with the fact that Max overtook us on track, at each time that we are doing a pit stop, we are losing our position for 0.2 or 0.3 seconds. Everything went wrong, but for sure we have to do a much better job in some way." With Antonelli finishing third, the Mercedes driver extended his margin over Hamilton in the Drivers' standings to 50 points as Formula 1 heads into the summer break. Although Ferrari have steadily closed the performance gap to the Silver Arrows over the first 11 races of the season, Vasseur admits that upgrades alone are not the only area where the team must improve. "What we have to improve is that if I draw a conclusion based on today, I would say execution, but execution so far has been a good one for us from the beginning of the season," he said. "We know that we have to improve on the engine side and we will do it. The inertia on the engines is much higher than on the chassis. The most important would be to be able to keep the pace into the development. "McLaren did a good job for a while but they don't have exactly the same philosophy because they are waiting on a big package and this is the last one. "For sure, each time that they are doing something, they are making a huge step, but we have a different approach, trying to bring parts every race. "And we have to keep this momentum, because there are still races to go, you know, it's a lot. And we are going for improvement, and you should see everywhere, and we have to keep this pace." Download the Official F1 AppYour ultimate companion into
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