Charles Leclerc in disbelief as Ferrari embarrassed in Hungarian GP qualifying

22 July 2023 , 22:16

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Charles Leclerc was stunned (Image: Formula 1)

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was left stunned after witnessing how quick Alfa Romeo were during qualifying ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu superbly bested both Ferrari drivers in qualifying on Saturday, whizzing around the Budapest track to take fifth place on the grid. A shocked Leclerc only managed to gain sixth, ahead of Alfa Romeo's other driver, Valtteri Bottas, while Carlos Sainz failed to reach Q3 in the second Ferrari car.

Guanyu's rapid performance - notably with no new upgrades to the car ahead of this weekend's GP - left Leclerc and co stunned, as the Monegasque driver declared: "They were very strong. Yesterday, the team showed me the simulations of what we think they will be like and honestly they were all right, the simulation ahead of today.

"Yesterday, I was like, 'I think there might be something wrong in that, it might be a mistake' and they proved me wrong today because the team expected it. It's very difficult to understand because of my knowledge, I haven't checked, but I don't think they had any particularly big upgrades for this weekend.

"But then from one weekend to the other, everybody's changing. So it's very difficult to understand. We've got a lot of work to do. Today, McLaren again is showing that they've done a general big step forward because on a track like this, compared to Silverstone, it's completely different characteristics and they are very quick. So we need to do a step forward."

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Leclerc, 25, was left to rue his own qualifying run, adding: "It's not a great [feeling] to be honest because my lap, I was really happy with my lap, and then you look at the board and you are P6. The margins are very close until P4, but then the top three is quite a lot ahead on a track like this."

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For Chinese hotshot Guanyu, however, it was a completely different story as he assessed his display.

"I feel absolutely amazing, really happy," the 24-year-old beamed. "Big thanks to the team of course. To give me the car to be fighting for Q3, and then coming back with a P5, that was definitely not expected.

"But we knew we had the pace this weekend and qualifying, I was literally on the edge every lap. Q1, top of the table, really surprised, then I knew I had a chance.

"Every lap had to be 100 per cent, a few mistakes of course with the track limits, but I was pushing on the limit. When it mattered, we delivered, especially with the last lap in Q3. So, really happy with the starting grid."

Nathan Ridley