Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari being lapped at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix was no surprise, as its difficult start to the 2020 continued.
Vettel qualified in fifth spot at the Hungaroring and came home sixth, having relinquished a position to Red Bull’s Alexander Albon late on, though held off Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Vettel was lapped by Hamilton after 58 laps of the 70-lap grand prix and, after the leader made a late pit stop, was issued with the blue flags once again with two laps left.
When asked whether being lapped was a surprise Vettel replied: “No. You are surprised? I mean it was already clear that he will lap us before the race so it was not a surprise.
“[The pace] was back to normal, obviously Austria 1 was the outlier, Austria 2 didn’t happen, I think probably this was where we could finish, fifth or sixth, but probably not further up.”
Vettel’s result brought Ferrari’s points tally up to 27 but team-mate Charles Leclerc did not add to the score after finishing only 11th.
Leclerc’s race was compromised by Ferrari fitting Softs to his car early on and he tumbled down the order, briefly recovering to the top 10, before slipping behind future team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.
Leclerc suggested he lost performance in his SF1000 compared to earlier stages of the weekend – mirroring comments made by Vettel in Austria.
“It is disappointing but at the end we just need to work now,” he said.
“To be honest I think there was something wrong. It just doesn’t match with the car I had in qualifying and on Friday and we haven’t changed much, the car was extremely hard to drive on my side.
“I always try to motivate myself and I don’t think we are so far off the Racing Point, so we need to work and try and do the best we can with what we have for now.”
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